Amrita by Usha Rajgopalan

"Amrita" by Usha Rajgopalan. This book is published by Rupa & Co. in 2004 and has 333 pages.

Gauri visits Raghu, who is her biological father (but he does not know it). Raghu's daughter, Amrita (a mentally retarded girl), has died on the day of her younger sister Maya's marriage. Gauri talks to Raghu's wife, Raghu and Maya.

What does she talk with them? Do they open up to her? Does she tell Raghu that he is her father? How was Amrita? How did Amrita die?

It's a story that is told through the memory of three main characters. It's the story of Amrita, the mentally retarded.

The story is slow. Narration is semi interesting. Just about manages to keep you interested. Though you feel it could have been better.

The mystery of Amrita's death is what keeps you reading. It's revealed at the very end. However it was possible to guess how it happened. I would have preferred if the book was a bit shorter. The book did not stand up to my expectations after reading the synopsis on the back cover.

Give it a miss.

Veronica decides to die by Paulo Coelho

"Veronica decides to die" by Paulo Coelho.  This book was first published in 1998. A film, based on this book, was released in 2009.

Veronica, a deluded  beautiful young lady from Slovenia, decides to die by committing suicide. She takes pills but finds herself in a hospital (sanitorium). Here she meets a number of people. The main characters are Zedka a lady who is victim of depression, Marie who was once a well known lawyer before she started getting panic attacks and Eduard who is a schizophrenic and had visions of paradise. They are treated by Doctor Igor, who keeps experimenting on his patients in hope to become next Einstein.

Veronica is told that although she had escaped suicide, her heart has become weak and she would not live more than a week. This is when she forges relationships with the three inmates. She escapes Villet and elopes with Eduard.

What happens next? Is anyone cured? Is anyone released? What does Veronica learn? What are the experiments? Does Doctor Igor prove anything?

Paulo Coelho is a writer who writes at a very different level as compared to other writers. His books are full of philosophy and spirituality and he has a knack of making it simple for the readers.

In this book he has shown what the bland life of a typical young European lady would look like, from becoming young to becoming old, in few pages very effectively. He has also provided answer to 'what it means to be crazy' in a couple of pages beautifully and we can not contest it.

The book explores the lives of mad and deemed mad people. He defines madness as something that is different from the majority. The book asks who is mad? The people branded as mad or the rest of the world? The book ends on a positive note.

This book has a catchy title. Although this book is not bad, it is not as good as some of Paulo's other books. Veronica, the central character becomes a secondary character in the middle portion of the book.

You can give it a miss.