Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less - Jeffrey Archer

Suspense and high intrigue form the core of this novel from Jefferey Archer, which happens to be his first. As an afterthought, the movie 'Ocean's Eleven' follows quite a similar theme. The story revolves around Harvey Metcalf, a young Polish man who grows into a millionaire businessman by making his fortunes through his knack of deceiving and defrauding people.

Harvey plots a scheme to make big money when the British Government invites applications for oil exploration in the North Sea. He registers a company called Prospecta Oil and employs David, a young Harvard graduate to work at the firm's London office. The company's directors drop hints to David that they have hit upon large oil deposits, and the company's stock is set to soar. David spreads the word around to a few people, and soon four individuals have invested a collective million dollars in the company and naturally, Harvey dissapears with the money.

Stephen, an Oxford professor, Robin, a physician, Jean-Pierre Lamanns, a French art dealer, and James Brigsley, an English lord, all find themselves swindled by Harvey who has left no legal track leading back to him. Stephen summons the other gentlemen to form a group and they vow to swindle thier money back from Harvey, including expenses for planning and execution (and hence the title). Each of the four play to thier strenghts (professor, doctor, art dealer and a English royal) to come up with convoluted schemes to get back thier money.

Jeffrey Archer is a great storyteller, and the story keeps moving at a fast pace from England to Monte Carlo to Boston. However, the scams executed by Stephen and the others are barely beleivable, and the fact that a man of Harvey's stature would be so naive as to fall into traps laid by amatuers is a bit hard to digest. Nevertheless, one of the strengths of the book is the way that the author drags you in and gets you to believe that these exotic plots can work.

Interesting to note that this book had saved Jeffrey Archer from bankruptcy back in 1976, and he has written many best selling books ever since. This is a good short novel, with lots of suspense and much to admire.

Between the Assassinations - Aravind Adiga

Aravind Adiga's second book, Between the Assassinations is a set of short stories which describe life in Kittur, a fictitious town in coastal Karnataka. The title refers to a period of time between the assasinations of two former Indian Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi (1984-1991). The stories are set during this time frame, when India yet had to liberalize its economy, and had not seen the economic growth witnessed during the latter half of the nineties.

Although I am not a big fan of short stories, Adiga's storytelling makes for some really delightful reading. Comparisons with his more famous 'Man Booker Prize' winning "The White Tiger" are inevitable, and I felt this book was equally enthralling. As is the case with 'The White Tiger', most of the stories deal with crushing poverty, casteism, the innumerable injustices and ironies of Indian life. Each story describes a certain aspect of life - a clash of ideologies, the fury of an underprivileged worker etc.

I could not help comparing the book to many of R K Narayan's stories from another fictitious town Malgudi. I think a major similarity between the two writers is that R K Narayan's stories are simple, delightful tales of everyday life of a common man. 'Between the Assassinations' is similar, the striking difference being that Adiga depicts casteism and excruciating poverty and the gap between haves and have-nots in India in close detail.

Some thought provoking words from Aravind about his books:

"At a time when India is going through great changes and, with China, is likely to inherit the world from the West, it is important that writers like me try to highlight the brutal injustices of society (Indian). That's what I'm trying to do -- it is not an attack on the country, it's about the greater process of self-examination."

His books are about self-examination alright, 'brutal' self-examination, if I might add. You will love it if you have liked 'The White Tiger' or even R K Narayan's writings.

The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton

After reading a lot of non-fiction it was starting to get a bit dry and I wanted to read a fast paced thriller. So I picked up Michael Crichton's 'The Andromeda Strain', and I must say I was not entirely satisfied in terms of what I was looking for. Maybe the movie would have been more interesting, or I am not entirely into thrillers dealing with a heady mix of biology, physics and chemistry. Let me give just a brief inkling of the plot and not play spoilsport in case you may want to read it.

‘The Andromeda Strain’ refers to a class of virus which is not found on earth, and enters the planet via a satellite probe that was sent to orbit the earth for military purposes. Once exposed to open air, it rapidly kills humans by blood coagulation, based on the chemical composition of the individual’s blood. Project Wildfire comprises of a team of scientists trying to study and neutralize the possible dangers of an alien life form entering the planet. The project's facility has all the technological know how to quarantine and neutralize any extra-terrestrial life forms. There are a few survivors on whom the virus seems to have no effect, and the team of scientists gets to work of studying and testing the strain of virus to discover how it replicates and kills humans. They find its amazing ability to mutate and adapt to the environment. Crichton frequently explains concepts ranging from biology to physics in order for the reader to understand the developments the scientists are making. The novel alternates between being thrilling, informational and fictitious. This is a decent thriller, and you can finish it in one go. I plan on getting my hand on another of Crichton’s books the next time I am bored with non-fiction.

BTW, does the name ‘Michael Crichton’ ring any bells? No? He was the author of the original novel ‘Jurassic Park’. The movie became part of popular culture, and had me spellbound as a kid; it showed Hollywood’s expertise in bringing a plot to life. Later dozens of other movies of similar genre came out and computer graphics became mundane.

The Andromeda Strain was made into a movie in 1971 and a TV series in 2008.

A number of scientific documents are presented to support claims for the strains characteristics. I later came to know that this fabrication of scientific documentation (numbers, charts, etc.) is part of a false document literary technique. This is fiction written about apparently real, but actually fake documents.

American Pastoral - Philip Roth

'American Pastoral' by Philip Roth is the story of third-generation Jewish-American Seymour "Swede" Levov. A legendary Newark high school athlete and local hero, Swede serves in a military role at the end of WWII and eventually inherits control of his family's Newark glove manufacturing business. Some family strife results from his choices of marrying Dawn, an Irish-American, Catholic former Miss New Jersey, and moving into an old Jersey country farmhouse far outside Newark, but his life mostly resembles a suburban fable of peace and success.

Swede and Dawn have a daughter Merry, who transforms from a delightful child into an angry teenager consumed with violent leftist fanaticism. Roth's protagonist in the novel Nathan Zuckerman was a childhood acquaintance of the Levov family. Decades later, after meeting with Swede and later his brother Jerry, Zuckerman explores the Swede's story, and most of the book is Zuckerman's account of the Swede's disintegrating life during his middle age.

The united States faced some turbulent times during the late 1960's and early 1970's like racial discord, the Vietnam war, the Weathermen and Watergate all of which feature prominently in the novel. The reader needs to have a basic understanding of these historic incidents in order to fully understand Merry's reasons for her extreme views.

Swede's father bemoans the transformation of Newark into a blighted, crime-ridden failure, and urges his son to move the glove factory elsewhere. Even though the plot fades towards a somewhat unsatisfying end, this novel offers strong, memorable characters powered by vivid human emotion. Philip Roth's writing is arduous to comprehend at times for his first time reader, but also is very genuine and well written where dialogue among characters is involved.

Some trivia from wikipedia:

"The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 and was included in "All-TIME 100 Greatest Novels"."

"The film rights to it were later optioned by Paramount Pictures. In 2006, it was one of the runners-up in the "What is the Greatest Work of American Fiction in the Last 25 Years?" contest held by the New York Times Book Review."

In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India - Edward Luce

"In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India" By Edward Luce is a collection of memoirs based on discourses and interviews which Edward Luce, the British journalist makes with politicians, religious and business leaders in India. Edward Luce presents the challenges faced by the Indian state while growing as a major world power.

This is in contrast to Fareed Zakaria's 'The Post American World' which also talks about India, but is more focussed on its position in world economy and its future effect on it. Edward Luce talks about what conspires at the grassroots level in politics, administration, and in the lives of people in the country.

The narration would probably astound most westeners of the intricacies involved in Indian administration, caste politics and general way of life. The complexities of vote bank politics as practised by all political parties in India, more so in the cow-belt regions of UP and Bihar are deciphered. What makes regional politicians and political outfits having no agenda succeed and how state machinery and administration works in the region is well explained, although the author's political opinion hints to be biased at times. Some of the facts would hit hard as new revelations even to Indians, mainly those who have had no exposure to the functioning of government in rural areas.

There are varied theories about how the caste system was conceived (Vedas, Manusmriti..etc), but there is little meaning or sense in continuing with the system in modern times. Its only significance in today's age is to be a tool for politicians and feudal lords to exploit people of thier rights, and divide them in order to stay in power. It makes us no different from fundamentalists who promote extremism across the world. It is our excessive obsession with religion and caste that has become the biggest hurdle to development. Is there a lesson for us to learn in it from China? Again, this being a sesitive topic, every Indian has varied and passionate personal opinions.

Another important point mentioned: Indians have the habit of counting thier chicken before they hatch. India is a rising power indeed, but they Indians like to beleive they are already a superpower, whereas it has several challenges to address in order to get there. This is a characteristic evident in our nature.

Some excerpts:

"India, as the writer V.S. Naipaul said, has become a land of a million mutinies, some are mutinies of lower orders against the upper orders; there are also mutinies of upper orders (and some lower orders) against Muslims; and there are mutinies of both lower orders against each other and upper ordersagainst each other. But India is also a land of unexpected alliances: between enemies of enemies, between Muslims and lower castes, and between people who disdained each other yesterday and may tomorrow do so again."

"India has a way of confounding you and still making you laugh about it"

The Day of the Jackal - Frederick Forsyth

Frederick Forsyth's first work of fiction, 'The day of the Jackal' is a suspense thriller belonging to the spy fiction genre. Forsyth keeps the reader glued to the plot by building up the suspense piece-by-piece, brilliantly aided by his gift of amalgamation of fact with fiction. His immaculate research and knowledge of the background of his plot is evident as he touches upon concepts ranging from the functioning of police, detective and spy agencies around the world to the general niceties of protocol and life of civilians and diplomats.

The story is set in the 1960's, and deals with one among the numerous plots to assasinate the then President of France, General Charles De Gaulle. As with 'The Odessa File', the plot begins with a background of OAS, the French underground militant organization and thier reasons and justifications to assasinate the President of France. The plan is to hire a professional hit man to do the job, and one of the best in the business, codenamed 'The Jackal' is hired.

The story is divided into three parts. 'Anatomy of a Plot' deals with the Jackal preparing a sketch of his scheme. During 'Anatomy of a Manhunt', the French secret service agency gets wind of the plot and launches a worldwide manhunt coordinating with spy agencies of several countries.

Since an operation of such magnitude would require immaculate planning apart from being skilled in intrigue, the 'Anatomy of a Plot' is more interesting from a reader's point of view as it explains the conception and design of the plot by the assasin. This is where the Jackal proves to be a true professional in planning out the entire operation to perfection.

The book was also made into a movie 'The Day of the Jackal' in 1973, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Edward Fox as 'The Jackal'. Following are some interesting notes on the cultural impact the book had made, as found on Wikipedia:

"The method for acquiring a false identity and UK passport detailed in the book is often referred to as the "Day of the Jackal fraud" and remains a well known security loophole in the UK. The technique was most recently used by John Darwin to obtain a new passport after he faked his own death in a canoeing accident."

"Would-be assassin Vladimir Arutinian, who attempted to kill US President George W. Bush during his 2005 visit to the country of Georgia, was an obsessive reader of the novel and kept an annotated version of it during his planning for the assassination."

The Post-American World - Fareed Zakaria

The Post-American World deals with bygone, current and predicted world trends. It gives one a historian's, and an economist's view of the rise and fall of nations, political and regional undercurrents and the issues confronting the world at large. The book begins by putting forth the notion that major acts of terrorism have been on the decline, and more terrorist organizations and their activities are being subdued than ever before.

Zakaria analyzes the rise of the Asian giants, the elephant and the dragon, explaining why the set of challenges India and China face are different from each other although being two of the oldest civilizations on the planet. How the system of government and age old ethos played a part in the rise of these nations has been explained in good detail, and predictions based on a study of world economy backed by statistical data have been made on the rise of China as a superpower in the future, and of India as a major world player.

Even with the gross neglect of infrastructure and development in most regions of the country and people are taken for a ride by rulers in India, the system itself is stable.

".....the messy politics of coalitions - someone, somewhere can always block a proposed reform - and you have a recipe for slow movement, one step forward and three-quarters of a step back. It is the price of democracy."

China, on the other hand can force reforms with grater authority as it has been doing, since its system of government can subjugate protests and dis approvals, thereby concentrating all its efforts on development and reform.

The book moves on to the Old Blighty and the United States, on how the balance of power shifted from England to America. The effect of the world wars took a toll on all countries, but mostly on Great Britain which had to relinquish the reins of being the world's only superpower to the United States. Gradually Britain's control of its colonies began to wane and this was the point where many of the colonies gained independence.

Finally, the pillars of American might, Universities, industry, economy, defense and social life and what makes them tick are delved upon. One profound difference among American and foreign methods of learning has been explained as follows.

"While American system is too lax on rigor and memorization-whether in math or poetry-it is much better at developing the critical faculties of the mind, which is what you need to succeed in life. Other educational systems teach you to take tests; the American system teaches you to think.

It is surely this quality that goes some way in explaining why America produces so many entrepreneurs, inventors, and risk takers. In America, people are allowed to be bold, challenge authority, fail, and pick themselves up."

Even though the educational system faces a lot of flak for being not competitive enough, the quality mentioned above makes it much superior to any other educational system.

Fareed Zakaria produces a well researched and excellent analysis of modern world issues and trends.