Dear Mrs.Naidu - Review

Dear Mrs.Naidu is a letter that a child writes to the late Mrs Sarojini Naidu, the freedom fighter.  If you are wondering why, the child draws more and more inspirations and strength from her life, the life we all know so little about.  We would think we had learnt about our national leaders sometime in our history class.  But we are wrong.  It was for marks and nothing else.  Learn, vomit and forget.  I had never had such insight into Sarojini Naidu's life like I had from this novel.  Also the author has made effort to bring the story and the life of Mrs. Naidu parallel so that our protagonist draws her will and inspiration from her. 

The whole book is based on the Right to Compulsory Education act of 2009.  This book has brought a whole new light on how this act has been drafted to help the community and how the schools are made to participate and how they escape using loop holes.  Though what I have said can be rather boring, the book makes it interesting.  The author has made a very good effort to educate and hook the readers disguising the educating part very well.  Though it is a children's read, it can very well be enjoyed by the adults too. 

The author has also made an effort to elaborate the meanings and usage of idioms and words in an attempt to educate the children.  It is in fact a  worthy mention as this is a children's novel.  The author deals with issues that we normally shun ourselves or downright neglect to look at.  The book deals with the life of people below poverty line and that makes us think if we can take a step forward to make their lives better.  What we take for granted is something they work really hard for. 

The society has stereotyped these economically weaker section as a bad influence and this book explains how those children would feel when they are treated unfairly and denied opportunities.   Here we are trying to convince and coax our children to cut off the screen time and be more proactive towards creativity and learning, whereas these poor kids are more (street) smarter and are drawn towards books and learning like a bug to a flame.  But the irony is that they never have the opportunities or the money.  The end is predictable but thats what happens if it must inspire the young hearts.  I would not categorise it as just a children's novel, it is a light but informative read for the adults as well.

The Lucky One - Review

This was one of my impulsive buys a decade earlier.  Since it was Nicholas Sparks, I didn't even go through the summary before buying and I hadn't regretted it.  Now its these Corona lock down days and I ended up reading it again.  I remember how much I liked reading the intro of each character, especially how they got introduced into each others life.  And each chapter is named after the main character, so we are totally hooked and never realise the pages or the no. of the chapter.  when I first read it, it made me think if I am going to cry after reading this. (FYI: I cried buckets for a couple of days after reading The notebook).  But as predicted one of the main character did die, but it didn't leave a painful feeling at the end (like nights in Rodanthe or a walk to remember). 

The human emotions and bonding which is the forte of this author has been peppered through out this novel.  Be it the bonding between the mother and son or between two lovers or between two ex or even be it the dog and its owner has been well portrayed.  The logic as to whether to believe in luck or not, forms the crux of the novel and towards the end, it is simply a test of faith. what I mean is the author didn't go too overboard and handled 'the luck or lucky charm' part very well.  The plot, even though being predictable, has its own kind of twist and turns.  I remember reading the epilogue with bated breath to see who lost their lives, because Mr. Sparks tends to kill a protagonist at the end.  If you are a sap for romance or Nicholas Sparks novels go for it.  Though its kind of too late, I still have to watch the movie part of this novel.  I heard it is as good as The notebook or Nights at Rodanthe.