Review: The Little Liar

The Little Liar by Mitch Albom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hooter: "Sometimes a lie is merely truth that is yet to happen."

Holocaust is a heavy topic and there is a lot of material around it but what stands out once again for Mitch is his writing narrative which is easy on the eyes yet heavy on the heart. From the boy who reminds of the tiny protagonist of the movie "Life is beautiful", extremely innocent and pure as snow in his outlook of life as he convinces the trains filled with Jews about the better life they can expect at the destination.

Like the Book thief had death, truth is the narrator of this story as four parallel stories with a few intersections over time take place as we pace through World War 2 and how it impacts each of the protagonists in their own way. Based in Salonika which had the highest number of Jews in Greece pre World War, Mitch makes them to life with human emotions of envy, competition and love.

His usage of parables like the white tower and how "A man, to be forgiven, will do anything." is a quote that drives Nico's life through out , Sebastian's envy for the attention his brother always got to Fannie having to fight life to live her choices and the characteristic villain in the garb of an officer face conflicting choices through out - yet live through life in a mix of heart warming and heart wrecking decisions.

While we turn through the pages of history, it is the wide array of evergreen human emotions that we stumble onto through this pageturner of a book.

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Review: Murder Under a Red Moon

Murder Under a Red Moon by Harini Nagendra
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: Yet another murder mystery in Bengaluru circa 1920s

Kaveri has made her name in Bengaluru as a detective after stumbling onto solving a murder mystery in the first book and now expands on it as she finds another one. As a murder mystery, you smell the plot twist from miles but you don't mind darting around with the misdirections the author throws at you - only because it captures more of the sights and sounds of Bengaluru of the yore. For someone who loves understanding the history of Bengaluru, Harini's research has always been a strong facet of her writing and that shows as you breeze through Bengaluru a century ago. Every newer generation has rebelled and pushed against the conservativeness of the prior generation and Harini plays on that with Kaveri's character - a woman with privilege who looks to leverage it for change from the status quo of society - whether it is befriending individuals from diverse backgrounds, driving a car or solving murder mysteries.

In this particular episode, her mother in law's cousin calls for help to solve an embezzlement case only to have her husband murdered and everyone closest to him is a suspect especially his daughter and his wife.



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