The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Rating - 4/5
Copy - Kindle
Genre- Fiction

The plotline of the “The Girl on the train” is based on a woman who keenly observes a family from the train (when it stops at the signal) ; the plot thickens when the woman in the family the main protagonist observes,  goes missing from the suburban town on Ashbury. The plot then takes the usual off-the-mill crime-thriller book we know so well. Is she dead or has she ran away? Was she having an affair? The husband is hot-headed, so he must be the prime suspect. Throw in the missing woman’s messy past to the over-used mixture. The usual questions arise when the news breaks out & the reader wonders what’s different.  

Two things that blew my mind while I was reading the book ( in one sitting I may add!). First – the author has developed the characters so beautifully that you become invested in their journey as you see them sort themselves out. Obviously you would want to know how the story ends, but you aren’t keenly looking forward to the end of the book so that you can close the circle; instead the characters in the book take much of your mind’s space – their current conundrums, their vices & their everyday routine. The situations are described so beautifully so one can picture them. Second – the unusual narration style of the book. The book, from the start to the end, has the POV of three women who are central to the story. The POV’s switches seamlessly from one women to the other without a break or a bump to the story-telling.  It is fair to say that the most of the characters are unidimensional in the way they are portrayed. The ending is a bit of a let-down & as it goes with any thriller – you try to find some loopholes and it is disappointing to say, a loophole is present.     

Land Of Seven Rivers by Sanjeev Sanyal

Rating -3/5Copy - Amazon Kindle 

Sanjeev Sanyal, in a highly readable book that gently takes you through the twists & turns of India’s history from the standpoint of her geographical nature – rivers, mountains, flora & fauna. This book immerses the reader as the book keeps up the constant engagement & does not over-burden the reader with historical facts & meandering stories. Along the way, we pass thought the familiar places & clans that serve as cornerstone to Indian history– the Harappa, the Aravalli ridges, the Mughals, the Guptas the British & their mapmakers. A noteworthy departure from the flow is the passage on the genetic testing which has led to linkages between Europeans and North Indians. 

The book is more on the impressionist survey of India’s geography & how the geography shaped India’s history. The passage on Age of Lions & its connection through decades is a revelation. However, the author meanders away from the Geography & steps into the episodes of power struggle in empires. The book also makes little attempt to cover the agriculture evolution, the relationship between the Indians & their environment. 

Often we come across the passage that offers grandiose but fails to go a step deeper:“The brand new city of Gurgaon, is constructed right next to the Aravalli ridges, the oldest discernible geographical feature. If you look north from one of the city’s tall office blocks, you will see the Qutub Minar, built by a Turkish slave-general to commemorate the conquest of Delhi.” 

From the time the first humans enter India from the Persian Gulf to the culmination of the rise of modern India, the author deftly takes you through the long sweeping history of India. What is lacked in the analysis & insights is made up with an impressive flow of the book. 

Night by Elie Wiesel

Rating - 5/5
Copy - Personal Paperback
“I Have lost faith in everyone except Hitler. He alone has kept promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.”

One of the many instances the reader will come across while reading Elie Wisel’s autobiographical account – instances that sends chill to your bone. The NYT rightly reviews the book when it says - a slim volume of terrifying powers. While reviewing this book, it is difficult not to be emotional . Each word denotes a singular breath of the author. The experiences are described in the most simplest words but carry the most powerful experiences.

“Night” is an unsettling account of daily life in the concentration camp – the never ending hunger, the sadist doctor who pulls out the gold crown from his tooth, the account of his father getting beaten up to the inch of his life. The experience that jumps out of the book is the honesty in which the author faces his guilt. The guilt of not shedding a tear seeing his father beaten up, the guilty relief at his father’s death. 

“Night” raises profound questions about God and existence. The events of Holocaust is decades behind us. In the preface Wiesel explains why he wanted to write this account – “duty to bear witness for the dead & living” He probably exceeded his duty in keeping the tragic memory of inedible dark mark on humanity alive. 

Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Cicero #1) by Robert Harris

Ratings - 4/5
Copy - Amazon Kindle 

If I were to describe this book by Robert Harris in the most simplest terms , a book filled with Latin jargon & Roman innuendo, it will be the "House of Cards starring the revered intellects of Ancient Rome". The events are told from the standpoint of Tiro - the events, the outcomes of those events, the characters in those events are colourfully addressed by Tiro. Tiro is the confidential secretary & something he never forgets to remind the reader, a slave of Cicero.

Apart from the breathtaking political manoeuvring by Cicero, easily the most exciting part of the novel is when the Julius Ceaser makes his maiden appearance coupled with Tiro's off-the-cuff description of him.The book chronicles the journey of young Cicero from the time he sets off to master oratory taught by Demosthenes to the time when he wins the Roman counsel-ship. The book is littered with characters who makes an impression on the reader- from Pompey the Great to Cicero's great rival - Qunitus Hortensius. The book or rather Tiro, does not hold back to describe Cicero's personal relationship with his wife or his younger brother. Cicero stumbles throughout the book, from one seemingly tangled knot to the another. The author ensures that the book does not miss a beat as he neatly weaves one aspect of the story to another. The book is peppered with quotes that still finds relevance today. Sample this: 

" Power brings a man many luxuries, but a clean pair of hands is seldom among them" 

" Words words words. Is there no end to tricks you can make them perform? " 

" No one can really claim to know politics properly until he has stayed up all night, writing a speech & delivering the following day. While the world sleeps, the orator paces around by lamplight..."

"Content does not matter to me. Only three things count in oratory - delivery, delivery & delivery" 

What makes the book more exciting is that the events (rather politics) has taken place in reality - the author ends the book with the caveat " the majority of the event dud actually happen ; the remainder at least could have happened". The book ends on a high making you want to read "House of the Card starring Cicero Season 2"

Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower by Henry Paulson

“It was then and it remains to a greater extent today that China is governed by men and not by laws” – one of the many no-holds-barred statement by Hank Paulson in his memoir of China. Hank Paulson had an unprecedented access to the top leadership of Communist Party of China (CPC); an access that caused an envy even among the Government Officials in China. The book divided into 3 parts – 1/3 on his experiences from putting a foot of his firm in China to his firm getting synonymous in any deal related to China; 1/3 on his experiences as a Treasury Secretary and the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED); 1/3 on general commentary which revolves around the Political Leadership and the Way Forward for China.

As the head of Goldman Sachs and then as the Treasury Secretary during the Bush administration, Hank Paulson seamlessly switches track from “doing specific deals “to “Policy specifics” in the course of the book. The book is peppered with instances related to the culture and mannerism of the Chinese officials. Paulson is credited to opening the doors of China to private enterprises and he takes us through the deals of IPO’s and strategic investments his firm had conducted during his tenure. He manages to give a reader a top-level view on how China has pivoted from a trade-outsider to a backbone of world economy. The fight for economic reforms, bank loans & corruption cleansing are well documented. I got a sense of Déjà vu while reading about bank loans gone rotten; a fight that the incumbent RBI Governor is undertaking for Indian Banks.



A nice side-track is Paulson’s involvement in developing a Management course in Tsinghua university. Upon the request of then Premier – Zhu Rongji, Paulson used the expertise of deans in HBS and INSEAD, and host of leaders in Global Enterprises to make an executive course . In typical Pauslon style, he points to the Cultural Revolution during Mao’s regime that prevented a generation of men & women who lost their education during university shutdown. 

Paulson takes the sensitive issues head on - freedom of press, censoring of internet, censoring of dissent, pollution & environmental concerns. The book gives you a balanced view point of China but after finishing the book , I felt underwhelmed . The top view approach remains a top-view. The author does not really dissect the issues to deep-down level. If the author had written the views of his junior colleagues who would have dealt with the Chinese Officials at a different level, the actual workings of China would have been in display.