Thursday, September 22, 2016

People vs OJ Simpson

We started binge-watching this mini series and are almost through, and we shook our heads muttering, "how is this a true story", almost all the way. It's a show with a lot of insights: into race, celebrity, fame, justice, domestic violence, even friendship ... but here's the one that struck a cord with me most deeply: the sexism faced by a working woman every day, no matter how successful she is professionally. For that insight alone and the way it's portrayed (no efforts wasted on subtlety, but to hell with that), this series is worth watching. 

P.S. Also watching 'The Night Of', again lot of insights, but gives me too many nightmares about my own son!!

Monday, September 05, 2016

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

The title of the book is completely (and I suppose purposefully) misguiding. My personal associations with vegetarianism are non-violence, cruelty-free living, and a denial of the carnivorous human instincts. And the narrative of this book is quite the opposite on all those counts. It's a very, very strange plot, headed by a most unfathomable main character and the most explicit moments one could come across in a book written by an Asian writer. It's so beyond the boundaries of what's considered normal, it became plausible in some weird dimension, and did actually move me to tears at a couple of points. A book that leaves you with a heavy heart...