~~ Mini Reviews - Of Movies & Books ~~

Originally written on 12-Dec-2015..

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~~So, we went to watch the 3-D movie – The Good Dinosaur today noon! It’s been a while since we watched a movie in theater!!! Poor kid, was quite excited, about this whole movie thingy and so was I – of course, not to mention, my love for popcorn, which she shares too! She didn’t touch her popcorn throughout the trailers in the beginning and reprimanded me when I sneaked in one or two (oh no, not from her bucket, but my own)!! Though she kept munching on and watching intently during the initial cutesy dino family growing up phases, things got worse as in any movie it does, and poor kid had to finally end up sobbing through most part of the movie… whenever there were thunderclaps and lightning flashes in the 3D scale combined with the sound effects -she wailed, gushing waters-she wailed, dino fell from a cliff-she wailed!  Well, this is not her first movie experience in theater, we have watched a few animated movies before but she had never ever wept like today! Poor kid, loves such movies, and I am sure, would have probably liked the movie if we had watched it @ home rather than in the theater!  So if you have a < 5 year old, I would say, better skip the movie! Even otherwise, I wouldn’t say it’s a must-watch kind!

~~Speaking of movies, the latest I watched on TV was Bahubali… I knew that the movie ends abruptly indicating a part-2 in the rise, but when I actually watched it, I didn’t expect it to leave me overwhelmed and cheated at the same time :P I didn’t want the movie to end – yeah, I just didn’t want the movie to end and I kept staring at the TV unbelievably, thinking that it must be a mistake :P I would have definitely loved to watch this one in the theater!  May be the second part next year.

~~ Any of you watched Talvar? Read Aarushi by Avirook Sen? I did and it left me shaken for various reasons! Not that I was unaware of the case before and not that I haven’t read any crime fiction or thrillers before – but the movie and book somehow freaked me out, book more than the movie, maybe because it is not a work of fiction… So much so, that, as soon as I was done with the book, I kept it back on my shelf with the cover page with the title facing the wall so I don’t have to look at the cover page again (I somehow feel the cover page could have been a bit less intimidating for weak hearted souls like me, but I guess, it was so to make a point) …. I am not sure if you would understand when I say this – I don’t like lending my books, but then, for the first time in my life, I finally gave a book away asking it not to be returned but just being passed on……

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~~ Mini Reviews: The Fault in our stars & Looking for Alaska ~~

Originally written on 08-Dec-2015:-


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~~ So, I am going to try and post few mini-reviews of long review-pending books.. I recently went through the reviews that I have posted earlier – they are awfully huge, almost like a chapter from the novel that I have reviewed…  :P I have been always that way…. During the beginning of my career, I would write lengthy emails to my onshore counterparts and my team mates would yawn and then start reading them! I have toned down on emails now, but should work on the reviews…. So this attempt! I must warn you, there are spoilers even if these are just mini-reviews.. So proceed only if you don't mind and of course, do let me know your reviews on my reviews :)

~~I read 2 of John Green’s novels back to back a few months ago.. The Fault In Our Stars & Looking for Alaska.. Honestly, I probably would have written a review immediately, if I had read it as a teenager! I just read it a tad late, but nevertheless, they both still managed to move me and bring tears to my eyes!! If you are going to read these, please do remember that this is teen/young adult fiction and few of the stuff will be a bit dramatic or childish for us mature minds (if I may say so) :P

~~The fault in our stars is about Hazel Grace (I love the way how Augustus, hero of the novel keeps referring to her this way) who is a cancer patient and meets Augustus, an ex-cancer patient in a cancer support group meeting which she actually till then detests to go to! Its about how the dying Hazel Grace & just recovered Augustus fall in love slowly, through their sickness, through their realities, through their insecurities.. Its about how Hazel Grace keeps thinking how she would be the first one to go, but is finally left alone to bear that extra pain of losing a loved one….Its about how a novel that’s her favorite is read by Augustus and how both discuss about the cliffhanger ending.. which then further fuels their quest to find out what happened next from the elusive author who agrees to answer only in person, even if it means, they have to travel to a different country altogether…Its how they go through the shock together, of realizing that their favorite book’s author, who they took all the pain to travel albeit their sickness and come meet in person, just doesn’t care and is a mere drunk and to add to it, an abusive person! Its how Augustus who was supposed to live longer than Hazel Grace, succumbs early and during his final few days, tries to write the sequel of that favorite novel, on his own for the love of his life… Well, at the end of the book, you are engulfed with so much sadness that you want to stop reading and just live your life! At the end, you are just thankful to the life you have, because you know, that there are lives out there, living a much more sad & pain-filled life without complaining, and well, you just have no reason to cry and complain about yours!

~~Looking for Alaska is all about looking for Alaska Young, the young beautiful confused teenage girl, but in the process, just finding self! Its about friendship, school, hostel life, pranks that friends play on each other,  and how serious these pranks can get, sad secrets that seemingly happy and care-free teenagers try to hide, how friends look out for their best buds, how when even one link in that tight friendship-bond is broken – everyone feels lost and nothing is ever the same again, how sometimes life just abruptly changes with no explanations whatsoever and how we should just move on, instead of dwelling on the “Closure” part….. The book in itself leaves you with a lingering sadness, mourning, but still looking for Alaska!