Inherently at a Loss/Book Review: The Inheritance of Loss and other such books



Inheritance of Loss. A great book. Great reviews, prestigious awards, the whole hog. When it comes to movies people like their occaisonal tragedies, but when it comes to literature, they are a sucker for tragedies. I have concluded that unlike me, they dont look to reading for an escape from a hectic life, like we do with movies, TV and music. They probably think of it as an improving habit (which, most actually do). And people seem to think that tragedy being more sobering, less frivolous shows more knowledge and maturity. Inspite of all these arguments, my point is The Inheritance of Loss sucks. Bigtime.

These novels like Inheritance of Loss, The Namesake show glimpses of their authors as Salman Rushdie Wannabees. What is striking about the novels of Salman Rushdie is that he has an abundance of thoughts and analyses of the human nature that he wishes to share. And instead of writing them as a collection of Essays and thoughts or blogs that will never see the light of day, he weaves them together in the form of a loose storyline. The point of difference here
is, Rushdie comes up with better stories, his thoughts are more profound, his analysis more thoughtprovoking. Also whats missing from the books of these wannabees is the often in your face, often striking, often biting, often subtle sense of humour.

Call me an idiot or a philistine but to me these authors are people who have something to say but not very important. What could've been achieved by blogging they chose to string together in the form of a flimsy story and then somehow got noticed. Another common point, call it a coincidence, among these wannabes is, they are usually female. And as such are simply unable to present an unbiased point of view. They somehow manage to inculcate the eternal female struggle or championing of the female cause..Puh..leaze...Gimme a Break.