Review of 50 Shades of Grey

This book by E.L James is a little short of pornography. How then has it become a bestseller? It's because it is porn with well sketched characters and taut tension filled situations. The girl Anastasia Grey, a young, virginal, poor girl is strongly attracted to the young, handsome, incredibly wealthy tycoon Christian Grey as soon as she comes to interview him for her school journal. He too seems to reciprocate her interest and they meet meet once or twice by chance. Stuff of mills & boon stories with smouldering glances and swooning moments. The fun starts when Grey refuses to even kiss the poor girl who is desperate for him without her signing a contract where she agrees to become her sub as in submissive to his superior or something of that sort. After that the porn starts which is pretty sick and repetitive in parts. The other characters in the story are quite superficial. The girlfriend Katherine Kavanaugh , Grey's brother, family etc are pretty simple straightforward types. The main focus is on the two main protagonists and their interactions.

Review of the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Just finished reading the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It is a pageturner allright. The story is set in the future where America is no longer present. The new nation Panem is divided into 12 districts where the powers that be hold a game of survival and death every year - the hunger games where one girl and one boy of each district has to participate by a draw of lots among all citizens of the districts. The game of survival of the fittest can have only one winner and the herione of the story Katniss Everdene becomes a contestent when she opts to take the place of her little sister who is unluckily chosen in the draw of lots. The story unfolds along the lines of a David and Goliath theme where other contestents are much more powerful and clever than her. Yet her skills as a archer and hunter helps her to win against all odds. There is also a love angle as the other contestent from her district a baker's son Peeta, is also in love with her. The fast paced plot, action and nicely sketched characters add to the story. Though the end is a little tame and predictable the book has all the elements of a fascinating read.

Review of Diary of Bridget Jones

This book is written by Helen Fielding, about the life of Bridget Jones a young financially independent woman, touching thirty, who is constantly on the lookout for a partner, is obsessed about her weight. Every chapter is prefaced with her calorie intake, alcohol intake, cigarattes consumed and boyfriend status. She has an affair with her boss Daniel Cleaver, who turns out to be inconsiderate and immoral. He dumps her and gets married to another woman even before their affair comes to an end. Bridget's parents also have problems of their own, with her mother going away with a younger man & father crying over this. Her mother tries to fix a date for her with Mark Darcy, a divorced rich man who is also their family's long time acquaintance but he does not seem to fancy Bridget. She turns up in the most hilarious costumes & also has verbal diarrhoea. The dialoges in this book are very strange, peppered with words like 'fuckwittage' used liberally. The author is hugely inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice hence the similarity of the title of the leading man 'Darcy'. All's well that ends well when in the end Bridget finds out that the rich eligible man Mark Darcy loves her.
The book story is not new, though the dialogues and situations are novel and funny. Specially the messages Daniel sends her about her skirt are funny. Some of the writing gets boring and repetitive at times. The end where Mark Darcy comes around and confesses his love for Bridget is rather trite and commonplace. All in all it is a rather interesting story about love and relationships in the present generation. The film too is very interesting with excellent acting by all the leading protagonists