Navigating Solutions and Darkness

Upon my oath, I am not a violent man. - Sergeant Jackrum, The Monstrous Regiment

നമ്മൾ അനുഭവിച്ചറിഞ്ഞ ഒരു സംഭവം അങ്ങനെ അല്ല സംഭവിച്ചതെന്ന് ആവർത്തിച്ച് കേൾക്കുമ്പോഴും, അല്ലെങ്കിൽ, അങ്ങനെയൊന്നും ഒരിക്കലും സംഭവിച്ചില്ലാ എന്ന് കേൾക്കുമ്പോഴും, തീവ്രമായ മാനസിക വിഷമം നമുക്ക് ഉണ്ടാകാൻ സാധ്യത ഉണ്ട്.

Crossposted from Feminist Quill , written December 18, 2015 Title: Aftertaste Author:  Namita Devidayal Year of Publication:  2011 Series: N/A #: N/A Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 2.96 Goodreads Rating (Mine):  4 Spoiler Alert Might I start off by saying that I  cannot believe this book has a average Goodreads rating of below 3, when  SO MANY terrible books are rated 4 and 5 out of 5 stars? Plot Description:    The powerful matriarch of a wealthy business family (they sell sweets) has suffered a strke, and lies dying.  Aftertaste  is the story of how her children and her children-in-law deal with her impending death, while also fending off personal troubles of their own. In addition to metaphorical interpretations, the title also directly refers to the theme of Indian sweets that runs through the book in the form of the Todarmal's business. The one word I'd use to describe this book is "stark". Stark as in "stark realit...

Originally written, August 17, 2015. Crossposted from here . Title:  Stray Author:  Rachel Vincent Year of Publication:  2007 Series: Shifters #:   1 Goodreads Rating (Avg.):  3.81 Goodreads Rating (Mine): 2 I find this cover disturbing rather than alluring. If you have a strong female protagonist, the least you can do is show her face. SPOILERS Plot Description: Faythe Sanders is a female werecat and a rebel. Her happy go lucky days at college come to an end when it becomes known that there's a rogue werecat out there kidnapping tabbies - female werecats. Faythe's family bring her home to keep her safe, but she ends up running into the kidnappers anyway, leaving it up to her to save herself and her cousin. Despite my Goodreads rating of 2/5, this will not be a Negative Review. There will, however, be a lot of ranting. Brace yourselves, please. Stray  had me extremely conflicted. I think it had something to do with the combination of...

Photo by  Alice Alinari  on  Unsplash Nymeria was lithe of figure and enigmatic. Enigmatic to me, despite how hard I tried to understand her. Perhaps she did not seem that way to anyone else - perhaps they did not attempt to understand her the way I did. It has often seemed to me that the people in that place were content to stick labels on their fellows and leave it at that. There was little introspection, and no one wondered whether they'd made the right assessment.  Perhaps nobody cared enough to do that for anyone else. Perhaps it wasn't right to care. I do not know. As the years pass, my understanding of that place diminishes rather than grows, and I too become content to stick labels and forget all about it. Nymeria was light to me in a dark place. I loved her - I know that now. Perhaps I grew jealous - of her female friends, certainly. Male friends she had few.  The Nymeria I saw was strong, even headstrong. She thought deeply, she liked...