Book Review: Secret Box: Searching for Dad in a Century of Self by Tony Page

The Book:

The true story of a psychologist who takes off his professional hat and returns to his ‘60s childhood. His quest is to solve the mystery of what happened to his father and his family. Guided by diaries, letters, photographs, visits and family recollections, he finds out what made him a psychologist in the first place.

File Size: 525 KB

Print Length: 258 pages

Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1999960718

Publisher: Telling Stories Press (February 11, 2018)

Publication Date: February 11, 2018

I thank the author for providing me a 

Reviewer's Copy in exchange for an honest review!

My Review:

I don't think I have ever read a book that handles the issues of digging the past so realistically.
The story, very simply, follows the second-hand reconstruction of a man's life (and of those around him) in a quest for answers and explanations. If you are a product of the silent generation, you will know what this means. I can faintly recall this scene from my favorite TV show New Girl,
Jess: Families talk about things.
Schmidt: No. Families ignore things until they go away.

This is what makes the story and the book in entirety so different, but also a highly risky narrative: we cannot know someone's story for sure, and in my hyperbolic opinion, we cannot even know our own story completely ever. But as the book mentions too: the act of storytelling is curative and therapeutic. Closures are sought by all of us and they are highly underrated. Or in the words of the author, 'Silence denies us understanding while truth lets us live and breathe.'

I know there are things I would like to lash out at my family for- and I am only 22! So looking at the narrator's journey of weaving together these remnants seems painfully realistic, and raw.

My favorite bits were two. One was the fact that the story wold often pause: to take a look back at the ethical quandaries involved- sometimes within the process that our protagonist/narrator was pursuing, sometimes on the actual incidents being talked about:
‘As a writer you permit no privacy to the dead: if they leave diaries you have to read them and in this we are utterly unsentimental. To be a writer means to tell the truth you need to tell’.

The other favorite bit was the psychological tangent it took: and kept, realistically. For example, it doesn't exaggerate it as a moment of epiphany for the whole family just to make it a great, fun plot. It just states the truth: The truth that often the passage of time creates an unease for you, but the others may not feel it with the same intensity of unease, or even, at all. So the rest of the family isn't presented to be as bothered, or restless by the turn of events.

A lot of research shows, and often concepts have been explained from an informed perspective which is reassuring, but also the jargon seems unnecessary in the larger scheme of things.

In a way, this book to me is the written adaptation of the movie Dil Dhadakne Do, and my review for both stays the same: a long-awaited look at the aftermath of living in dysfunctional families and semi-functional individuals, scarred and marred by what the rest of the world offered them- with the story stretched just a bit more than the reader wants to stay for, before losing it.

‘Don’t make it a box of secrets, as people did in the old days, because untold stories are poisonous, and as soon as a story is told, the healing begins’.

Find the book here:

Book Review: Sayni and the Windowjet Brothers

About the book:

(Sourced from Goodreads)
Sayni and the Windowjet Brothers is about the importance of finding your own individual path regardless of the pressures to conform to a straightforward, mainstream route through life. Follow young Sayni as she seeks to find her passion in life by searching for pieces to build her life's compass. Every child's compass must be made very precisely, and each one is unique. As each compass develops, its child can follow theirs and find their way to a life of fulfilment and purpose. Sayni faces confusion when the opportunity arises to settle for a ready-made compass from a factory. Will she grasp the opportunity to own a completed compass, or continue in her struggle to build her very own? One thing's certain: the Windowjet people will have something to say!

Paperback: 44 pages

Publisher: FriesenPress (April 19, 2016)

Language: English

About the Author:

(Sourced from Goodreads)
I grew up in a small city called Guelph, and have loved drawing, writing, and above both, making stories my whole life.
Check out my children's book Sayni and the Windowjet Brothers that I self-published in 2016. 
I also update a webcomic weekly on Mondays, check it out here: http://www.paperlesscomic.com/

Born

in Guelph, Canada 

Website

http://www.garthlaidlaw.com/

Twitter

GarthLaidlaw 

My Review

The reason I love reading Children's books is that the words they contain are the ones that kids acquaint themselves with, at a formative stage. So it is immensely intriguing to me to see what the books are talking to them about. This book is a greatly satisfying read from that perspective. It takes a fundamental lesson of life, simplifies it to its very core, breaks it down into a fragment of fiction and presents it in a very understandable form: you need to get lost to find yourself. 

Getting lost is so underrated in the literary narrative, and to bring it to the fore in a piece of children's literature is especially a feat. 

Another very pleasing part of the story is the metaphor that the compass becomes by the end of it: it is your life. You build it from your own memories, friendships and love for each other. These things together, in a concoction guide you through the ups and downs of your life. So profound, yet so simple. 

What helps the story of the book is the illustrations. The author is a talented illustrator- there is absolutely no doubt about that: the colors lend an aura to the story, which is in tandem with the theme and the ambiance created hence. Again, the hues and illustrations are comforting. 

A great piece of children's literature that should definitely occupy more shelves! 

I would definitely yearn for a sequel to this. 

Here is a short clip on the making of Sayni and the Windowjet Brothers. 

Readers with miserable attention spans: the oxymoron of our times

I log in to my social media accounts. Scratch that, I never logged out.
So, I hop on to social media for my daily dose of words. There are reams of stories there: micro-fiction, nano tales, haikus, memes and flash fiction.
I will lick through some Terribly Tiny Tales, or chew some Scribbled Stories. Might swallow a lot of memes and digest some flash fiction. It should be no more than 200 words. Two sentences, abrupt and unjust as they may be, should do the trick. You can find word count more clearly embossed on your screen than your own words in Word processors and website templates.

Because reading is now measured.

I click on a link that leads me to an important piece of long-form journalism. But the first thing I notice there is "6 min read". They are telling me it would take me 6 minutes to read this. Well, dear publisher, are you so sure of the mediocre quality of content on your page that you know I am not going to hover over a sentence I find well-constructed? You know for sure that I am not going to read such a long piece if it takes up more time of my day than my daily dump does? Of course you do. You care about content, not words. Words don't sell. Content does.

Because reading is now measured.

Savoruing a book, flipping through its pages, underlining quotes that you like, making a note of those quotes in a special diary, dog-earing pages, inserting multiple bookmarks, putting up post-it notes within pages, finishing the book, going back to these quotes, reliving the story in snippets: the stupid old-school reader seems to have the luxury of time. I think she doesn't have a goodreads book challenge to finish. Someone will tell her about it. Or it will slip into conversations innocuously when she'll be asked how many books she has read this year.

Because reading is now measured.

And yet.
We are all readers. Our loyalties lie with words. But we are not ready to see pages wither away, the book spines breaking apart, the words fading away, the trickle of blood from a paper cut.
We are all readers, even though reading is now measured.

Book Review: Dream Job by Janet Garber

About the book:

Title: Dream Job, Wacky Adventures of an HR Manager

Paperback, 178 pages
Published March 16th 2016 by Janet Garber via Lulu

Rating: 4/5

Blurb: Single sexless Melanie Kohl's trying to keep it all together at Axis Mundi Medical Center in NYC where misbehaving doctors and immoral staff line up outside her HR office for solace and solutions. Hey, she's got her own problems! Where is her life? Just as she's starting to melt down . . .

Join Melie for a wild ride through a landscape dotted with comical mishaps, murder, and romance. Will she learn to balance work and life? Have you?

About the author

Janet Garber toiled in the trenches as a HR exec in NYC for xx years, using those experiences to indulge in her prime passion: Writing. She focused on careers (WSJ, NY Post, trade journals), reviewed new books (www.neworldreview.com and simplycharly.com), movies (Stage and Cinema, Senior Film Files), and published a non-fiction book, assorted articles, essays, poems, short fiction, and, in March 2016, her first novel, Dream Job, Wacky Adventures of an HR Manager.

Find the author here: 

My Review:

I will start from the cover of the book. It has management and HR written all over it.
With a silhoutte of a face and dream job inscribed on it, it is hard to miss the irony and the multiple meanings lent to it.

At first I found it an exercise and a tough one to delve under the skin of the book but there was an inundation of names making it a bit tougher for me to get through without going back every 5 sentences or so.
But then the humor and the cases of HR take over, and my reading caught up speed.
There's the tricky area of sexual harassment cases, and makes me want to double up how grievance redress can be so annoying and for the lack of a better word, cathartic at the same time.

The protagonist is an interesting portrait herself who at one point was just okay with the idea of having a boyfriend, but as it turns out romance isn't every ones domain of expertise.
Bottom line: the job of an HR manager is not an easy one. If anything, it is the resignation to a morbid tell-tale of people's complaints and dealing with the most difficult creatures on this planet: humans. Oh the relief it is to have defused a major catastrophe.

Her subway escapades had me sympathising with her. And the description was so life like.

Links to the book:

Source of the review copy: Author

To get your book reviewed, read my review policy here. And then contact me here.

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Book Review: I Love My Pet Elephant by Lauren Micchelli

About the book:

Title: I love my Pet Elephant

Published on: May 5th, 2015

Pages: 49

Genre: Children's fiction

Rating: 5/5

Blurb:A colorful tale of friendship and fun between a little girl and her best friend- her pet elephant! I Love My Pet Elephant is a delightful medley of reality and fantasy, with shenanigans and adventures brought to life through vibrant illustration and simple rhyming text. An adorable story that tickles the imagination and captures the hearts of young readers

About the author

Lauren Micchelli is a newly published author, having penned her first book in 2014. She has since continued the Snootzytime Adventures of Maddie and Murphy series, and went on to publish A Day Of What Ifs and I Love My Pet Elephant. Micchelli grew up in West Caldwell, New Jersey and currently resides in northern New Jersey

My Review:

I have never read such an adorable book.
The book is very short and sweet, and it summarizes the relationship that the child shares with the elephant. It is the best depiction. It does not leave out any part of the child's day, and with it's adorable rhyme scheme, it does not cease to entertain for even a while.

This is the kind of book you'd like to gift a child- it so beautifully captures a child's fancy as she spends her day - the accompanying pictures are no less of a treat.
By beautifully capturing the imagination of a kid and the relationship of friendship, this book is the perfect example of a children's book
                                                      

Links to the book:

Source of the review copy: Netgalley

To get your book reviewed, read my review policy here. And then contact me here.

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Author Spotlight and Interview: Shikha Kumar

The author joins us for an interview. Here we go!
To check our review of her debut book, read this.
Interview:

1. Congratulations on getting published. When did you decide that you'd pen down a book?

SK: Well, honestly I decided to write because I believed I had stories to tell. Writing for some reason came natural to me despite of having any formal training or education in Literature. But then not just me, there many such aberrations in publishing world. So one fine day, dream shaped up into determination and rest what followed was course of action.


2. How did you manage to get time out from your professional demands to engage in the solitary pursuit of writing?

SK: We all have an alter-ego which we at times even keep away from the world with fear of being mocked up. But I decided to embark an journey in unknown terrain with just one funda “I have nothing to lose”. Time management was certainly a challenge, but when the self-drive is so insanely lethal I think even odds starts working in your favor.

3. The novel is an easy read, yet with twists and turns, ending predictably as all love stories go. Was writing this genre your desire?

SK: Well, happy ending could be predictable but how they reached there is the USP of the story. Easy read was intentional as I wanted my story to reach all age-groups. I didn’t write to flaunt my vocabulary, I get enough opportunity at work. Yes, writing Romance was my absolute choice because unfortunately despite being most crowded Indian genre it has nothing new to offer. I feel very satisfied when I’m congratulated for my strong story and true-to-life characters.

4. Is any character inspired from real life, Kunal and Shreya are so real, we cannot help but believe that they have indeed been an alteration of some real persons!

SK: Let me put it this way, they are absolutely fictitious but they have a traits familiar to each one of us. The anguish, stubbornness, co-exists in us with unshakable belief in love and unceasing desire to work towards happy-ending.

5. You have been immensely involved in the promotion of your book on social media platforms too. What do think defines a book's success today?

SK: I very strongly believe that marketing plays a very crucial role in not only success of the books but also in author's identity amongst readers and inside publishing world. I patiently waited a month to hear early reviews; it was when I heard encouraging response of my book I thought my horse is a safe-bet. Then it was no looking back and I’m leaving no stone unturned to reach readers. Rest every book does take it due time. I can only do my best, which I will better than best of capabilities.

Author website:

Book links:

Book Review: He fixed the match, she fixed him by Shikha

About the book

Shreya – I'm a highly qualified Delhi girl earning an enviable salary. My parents are having a tough time finding a suitable groom for me. However, recently they have a proposal from this very interesting guy from Mumbai. I almost get mesmerized when he starts talking to me. I think I like him very much. Kunal – I'm owner of a textile company in Mumbai. My Mom wants me to get married. Again. She has recently suggested a suitable girl from Delhi. What my Mom doesn't know is that I've met Shreya before once in my life and I've been looking for her ever since. I have a vendetta to settle. The author takes you along on a journey via roads of revenge, agony, remorse, attraction, titillation, tantalization and romance. Do Shreya and Kunal make it, or do they fall prey to their past?
Paperback: 292 pages
Publisher: Vitasta Publishing Pvt.Ltd; 1St Edition edition (1 November 2014)
Language: English

About the author:

Shikha Kumar has a B-Tech degree in Computer Science from Bharati Vidyapeeth, Delhi. Professionally she’s as a Manager with Tata Consultancy Services. She has travelled to, and worked in different countries. She enjoys travelling, reading, writing and watching movies. This is her first attempt to present her writing abilities to the world.

 Home Town - Delhi, India

Official author website: 

My review:

I will begin with the best thing about this book: despite being a complete love story, this is a fresh plot, unlike the stale, overused plots of hatred-turns-into-love sequence of events. While this may come as a surprise considering the plot lays down this story only, the difference lies in the fact that here both the protagonists had a legitimate reason for hating each other to death. The author uses the element of surprise very well. Until the plot twisted into the love-hate story that it is, I couldn't even imagine that the simple plot will metamorphose into something so wicked, crooked and full of revenge. I liked the characters too! They were throughout just as they had been described initially.

I had feared that the vendetta settlement might get ugly, thankfully it didn't. The author has kept it a light-read, and Here i would mention how the Indian scene would benefit from such god quality chic-lit.
Having read the whole boo, I now find humour in the opening line: It's advisable to be careful about what you wish for; a cold breeze could be tornado approaching.
The cover and the title are so full of flavor and mischief, I adore these.
More on the characters: etched very carefully, they are diverse personalities with a past. the story proceeds over how their pasts intersected and landed them to the present. Both of them are broken, possessed by revenge in varying degrees, and professionally sound. Marriage seems to be the only thing offering them some solace, to mend their broken souls. Real life, as it turns out is different. the marriage that was supposed to be a panacea becomes the latest challenge in their lives. I especially loved those scenes and sequences where the families and parents were involved. For a refreshing change, the parents were not intrusive in a way that hampers or negates the love, rather propelled it.
Obviously, it had a cliched ending, but then, don't all love stories do?

Only one thing I found awkward was the forceful mention of one of the brands, time and again. While I am all for sponsorship and marketing, I am still to rethink on my idea of promoting brands for the sake of promoting them in a book! While this was done seamlessly in two cases, one of them was very misplaced.

My Judgement:

A fun, light-read, with all the idiosyncrasies of the Indian society, and love at its best, this is worth a read.

Author website:

Book links:

All images and information sourced from goodreads and/or author website

Book Review: Beyond school by Chitra Anand

About The Book:

Beyond School centres upon the weeks leading up to 17-year-old Shail s final board exams, as his world becomes a pressure-cooker and the weight of preparing for the exams sends him fleeing rebelliously in the other direction. Along with Shail s journey from boyhood to manhood, Beyond School vividly weaves between the narratives of four main characters, seamlessly uniting the past and present of Shail, his parents-Urmila and Sushil and his mentor-Gladys, in a story that is honest, funny, heartbreaking and ultimately, incredibly human.

About the Author:

Chitra Anand was born in Mumbai. She is a postgraduate in Physics and holds an Education degree. Beyond School is her first novel inspired by her journey as an educator.

My Review:
written in a lucid, and friendly narrative, the book seamlessly follows the story of Shail, a 17 year old, who is torn between his parents' expectations of him to perform well in Board exams and his own ambition to ace the soccer tournament.
Frog Books, an imprint of Lead Start Corp, Is churning great pieces. (Unconventional ones like The Devil's Gate). The writing is very real. And so is the plot. Very relevant. Very apt. Identifiable.
With just a little scope of improvement in editing, the plot and  story is ironically and undeniably tickling, heartbreaking at one time and so full of hope at another.
Above all it is so real, so bare and so open that one can almost dive into the book and look at things from Young adult's perspective.

Gladys' (mentor and teacher of the protagonist) character elicits a special, special mention. He character and its stort gives fodder for thought while simultaneously letting the plot seamlessly stretch, spanning two generations dealing with tgeur adolescence issues.  What Gladys is to Shail, her father was to her.
Her charcters probpem is quoted as "The girl worried: you needed to be nornal to exist peacefully in the school world-squint free eyes, twist less nose, correctly sized ears, unclipped lips, straight arms, stammer free speech, stupidity free brain ..."
Which makes us think, isnt this stuff we battle through our teenage. And then it strikes us dumb how real these stories are. Which is also the best part of the novel.

In the portrayal of Shail's skirmishes with his parents, advises lie with him for an untold gestation period and then at the least expected time, they come to fruitition.
His thoughts are an echo of this age of young-adult. When a teacher chides him calling him a terrorist,  he ponders why appreciation is never as intense as censure. And that such insults are too serious to get over, no panacea works for the wounded ego of the young-adult. No pacification, no compromise, no redemption.

More of such insights into the mind of people this age and more examples of how these are indeed our formative years, grab your copy. Although I doubt if this is temptation enough to buy a copy of ones own, but I would still have all school library shelves and all teachers and parents have a read.

Copies Available at all online stores:

1.    Flipkart:

2.    Amazon:  

Know More Inside Stories, Connect with The Author:

Twitter: @chtranand

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