KhepiAri

Book Review: Almost Midnight by Rainbow Rowell and illustrated by Simini Blocker Quote: More like...skipping ahead. If you like someone, you should have to make an effort. You should have to get to know the person--you should have to work for the first kiss. Almost Midnight is the story of Mags and Noel, it's a glimpse into their lives through that one day of the year, for the next four years. On every 31st of December Noel and Mags go Alicia's house for new year's eve party and every year Mags refuses to dance with Noel, and Noel always kisses different girls at midnight bell. We see them through these snippets, Mags and Noel are thick as peanut butter sandwich, and Noel is allergic to nuts so Mags is his proxy food tester. The brownies and lasagnas he can't have, Mags eats them all for him. She is always on alert about the food he is gouging on. They have a close intimate circle of friends, Simini the shy, Pony the tall emo, Natalie, Frankie, Cornor...

Book Review: Poonachi by Perumal Murugan and Kalyan Raman Quote: ONCE, IN A village, there was a goat. No one knew where she was born. The birth of an ordinary life never leaves a trace, does it? Even so, her arrival was somewhat unusual. The story of an orphan goat, given to an old man by a giant, whom he calls Bakasuran. Named Poonachi after a kitten his old wife once had. You open this book and you woosh past it in one sitting. Animal Farm meets Female Dalit Narrative meets the Golden Geese story. It's a love story, a tragic love story with some tropey classic scenes, but it is the love story of goats. After a long time, it's a book I thoroughly enjoyed as well chocked on. The language so caring, lucid and sensitive that it comes out as a witty because it is paralleled with the harsh life of a female goat. The animals in the story think, feel, question the working of society. The nameless old man and old woman are as human as they could be, their economic ...

Book Review- Adhira Mohi: Beast of Vichitrapur, by Ashwin Kalmane, and Emilio Utrera, and Vibhav Pandey Quote: I did say I wanted to have fun, didn't I? Besides, humiliation is a small price to pay for finding your dog, wouldn't you agree? The above-mentioned quote is said by a nasty kid, suddenly you find the narrative atmosphere of a promised horror comedy turning dark like it's colour scheme, and it's series protagonist Adhira and Mohi are nowhere in view. The second book opens in a South-Indian village named Vichitrapur. A boy named Meyappen is searching for his dog Parshu in midst of full moon night. The puppy is being hunted by a monster, but no one believes little-timid Meyappen, neither his parents nor his village mates. Vichitrapur is an apt name, you know something is wrong here, the animals don't seem right, the population is quick to temper, kids are looking hollow and drained. This village has too many secrets and grand themes for its 36-page...

Book Review: Annarasumanara by Il-Kwon Ha  (link at the bottom) Quote: You know there is an amusement park on the hill...That went out of business. There is a magician that wanders around the amusement park. Yun Ai's life is harsh, her father is on the run from debtors, she lives with her younger sister in a single room complex, she can't afford new stockings and skips lunch to manage the household. When Ai was young her dream was to become a magician, but reality bit hard. One day in an old abandoned amusement park she meets a handsome L, who is a magician with a talking parrot. L shows her magic and from there story is a bewitching tale of lavishing and experimental art and narrative. On another hand Il-Deung the handsome class topper, who is suffering from mental pressure has a crush on Ai, they share seats and notes, he too becomes interested in magic when he wants to win over Ai. This comic also draws focus on the cause and effect of parental/social pr...

Book Review: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman Quote: It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people. Aziraphale and Crowley, an angel and a demon, deputed on earth for last six thousand years have become friends when you are immortal and on opposite sides, you attract each other is what I believe. Anges Nutter, the 17th-century witch who changed the meaning of 'nice' for me, has also predicted the exact date of Armageddon. A classic case of changeling goes super wrong, the antichrist ends up growing up in a village instead of the house of cultural attache. And he is named Adam! Aziraphale is adorable, a bookworm first an angel later. Love for books is what makes him join Crowley's plan to delay the Armageddon, a demon who cares for himself first loves technology and gar...