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Review of Norwegian wood by 'Haruki Murakami'

Genre: Tragic Romance, Psychological Fiction Published: 1987 Pages: 351 Tags: Death, Trauma, Bildungsroman Okay, I gave it a second chance, but I’m still skeptical. Although I enjoy reading emotional stories rooted in real-life suffering, I often struggled to grasp Murakami’s point in several places. Set in 1960s Tokyo, the story is narrated by Toru Watanabe, a 37-year-old man who is suddenly pulled into memories of his youth when he hears the Beatles' song “Norwegian Wood.” Watanabe is the kind of character who seems to attract — or be drawn toward — deeply troubled, emotionally complex people. Norwegian Wood explores a tale of love, loss, and the unsettling feeling of things left unfinished. The traumatic bond between Watanabe and Naoko, a fragile woman grieving the loss of her boyfriend Kizuki (Watanabe’s best friend), seems to be born from shared pain. Later, we’re introduced to Midori — vibrant, bold, and unpredictable. Watanabe finds himself torn between the tragic pull of h...
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Review of "The Mistress of Spices" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

 

Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Published: 1997
Pages: 317
Tags: Fiction, magic realism


At some point in our lives, we all have wished to be a part of magic, an escape from the never ending troubles of our lives; I know i have. "The Mistress of spices" is one such story, a girl born with mystical powers in a small village. The powers she was so proud of, later turned out to be a curse losing everything she once took for granted. 

when in search of vengeance, she who has been given several names discovered a path to help herself while serving the people. The stories she heard sailed her across the ocean to a distant island where she found the "Old one," as they call her. The old one trains the sisters to become mistresses who later go on helping people through the spices magic. Divakaruni carefully depicts the struggles faced by the immigrants in an unknown land far away from the warmth of their home country. Throughout the novel, the author expresses gratitude towards the spices and the culture it is bought from, with the magic of spices, relationships are mended, lives are saved. Each person is offered a spice based on their troubles, life stories and the pain.  

Tilo, the protagonist who is fond of snakes and can talk to spices, offers a warm smile and an apt spice to the people who come up to her store to seek refuge in the cultural familiarity, hoping to find resolutions to their challenges. Tilo is a reluctant rebel, as they say with great power comes great responsibility, in order to become a mistress of the spices she had to give up any human emotions and relationships that can hold her back. she must always stay in the shell which is the store called "spice bazaar" that she owns and manages. The Spice bazaar here serves as the bridge between the magical world and human world, a tiny hope of light in this unknown world for immigrants to seek solace. 

The story also drives towards a romantic subplot when tilo, the mistress finds herself falling for raven. I picked up the "The mistress of spices" because i admire divakaruni's way of story telling and her very humane portrayal of emotions. I won't lie i was a little dissapointed because i expected the book to venture into raven's mysterious past a little more. Having read a couple novels of divakaruni, i can tell that her writing compels the reader to move to the next page without overwhelming them. 

Tilo, once dreaded the ordinary life, desperately wanted to live in a world of magic, found the island, the old one and became mistress. After dedicating most of her life towards this fantasy realm, will everything change when she comes across a lonely American who seems to carry a secret just like herself?

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