Richa Reads

I didn’t expect this book to hit as hard as it did. This American Woman isn’t just a memoir — it’s a permission slip. A loud, unapologetic, no-holds-barred reminder that you don’t have to fit into the damn mold — not your family’s, not your culture’s, not society’s. Reading it felt like watching someone take off a mask I didn’t even realize I was still wearing. My favorite parts of the book were the stories from her childhood and growing-up years. In many ways, they felt like the greatest love story of her life—a time and place she still seems to long for, even now. PS : I am Zarna super fan, helps that we are from the same city and are of similar age.

It's not a divorce book—it's a love story, from beginning to the end. Almost everything in the book felt relatable, the evolution of a relationship as a couple decides to start a family, the nurturing mother, the hardworking father, and the gradual transition from partners to parents were all portrayed beautifully. What was truly shocking, however, was the complete abandonment of it all by the husband. It was so extreme that at times it felt almost unbelievable. In the end, Belle finds her way and shares her experience for the benefit of other people and her children. What I especially admired was Belle's self-awareness in understanding what had happened to her and how she processed it and shared it. It must have been very cathartic experience. Wishing you all the very best for the future, Belle.  

This book caught my attention as it was rated the Best Fiction book by Good Reads in 2020. For me, the book has lived up to the hype and maybe even beyond. I would like to start the review with an excerpt of the book : She had a fire inside her. She wondered if the fire was to warm her or destroy her. Then she realised. A fire had no motive. Only she could have that. The power was hers. This is the story of Nora Seed, 35-year-old, living in her hometown Bedford working at String theory, a local music store. As the story unfolds, we get to know that she has been a kind of wiz kid, excellent at many things like Swimming: She was the fastest swimmer in her metropolitan area with a path that could lead to representing her country in the Olympics Music: She was a lead songwriter and singer of a band called “The labyrinth’s” with her bother and a few others, with a record label offer So, what happened? Why is she trying to kill herself? This is where the author’s usage of phi...

Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar, is about an author’s struggle with being a Muslim in America. The rich narrative, part biopic, part fictional in the book offered via his visits to Pakistan, mother’s deep attachment to her birth country and father being a super successful doctor treating Trump, has the qualities of a racy thriller, as well as deep nuanced thought. The combination of both, is simply heady! I thoroughly enjoyed the banter between the father and the son in the book. His father, a famous doctor when he makes the progression from being a researcher to private practice, after a few successful years, the practice goes belly up. He gets wrapped up in a legal battle. The entry of capitalism in the medical space had led to the private practices like his, being bought up by MBA led firms. These firms, insist on maximizing the number of patients that the doctor sees, thereby reducing the doctor patient time together. It’s a good example of when capitalism runs a practice, and it...

Pachinko is a compelling story of individuals who struggle to face historical catastrophes. I particularly loved the fact that it’s a story of ordinary people.  The book starts in 1910 Korea and marks it’s end in 1990 in Japan. It is an intergenerational story of a family. Sunja, the main protagonist is a first-generation immigrant from Korea, moving to Japan post marriage, looking for better life. I like the way the narration is omniscient: the narrator speaks from the characters point of view. Its makes for a great community narrative, which I think has worked very well for this story as there are so many stories interwoven in it. This kind of narration has made all characters come alive for me. There are clear major plot lines, but minor plot lines provide critical support to the story. Stories of the main characters looked fuller as the characters around them filled up the vacuum beautifully. While thinking about the name of the book, Pachinko, an interesting parallel came...

The urge to read about north-east of our country was triggered by a what's app group chat. In a close knit what's app group of 250 (smirk), someone spoke at length about Jharkhand and how it's part of the North East of India. It irked me immensely, as I have grown up in Bokaro Steel City, very much a part of Jharkhand. A friend from north east on the same group replied to the tune of, "Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation."  The book is written by an investigative journalist "Avalok Langer". He falls in love with a Naga Girl, Azo and follows her to Nagaland. Avalok’s love life doesn't fructify, but his love for North East does and it shines through very clearly in the book. The book captures the root causes of the dissension in North East via multiple interviews with the underground's / rebels. It dwells in great details and lays out the entire ...