Hues of soul

  Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine  Gail Honeyman Eleanor, a thirty year old finance clerk in Glasgow, finds herself socially misfit.  "It seemed , no Eleanor shaped social hole for her to slot into." She holds onto life with a routine of lunch time 'Daily Telegraph' crossword, evening  tv and books and vodka boosted weekends She struggles to solve the puzzle of herself. Eleanor carries  some grandiose ideas instilled in her by her mummy. Such ideas which are expressed in the form  of her formal interactions  even during casual settings add to her social awkwardness. But her witty social observations make the book a stimulating read.  Socially isolated, unable to shuffle away the engulfing lonliness and enui, she tries to flush out her traumatic past  with vodka. But, the "thoughts of past would not be drowned- like ugly, bloated corpses, they continued to float to the surface, in all their pale, gas-filled ugliness." She belie...

Mother Mary Comes To Me Arundhati Roy  Penguin  'Mother Mary Comes To Me' is a memorial grove Arundhati Roy built for her mother, Mary Roy. The epitaph on it says, " In these pages, my mother, my gangster shall live. She was my shelter and my storm." Mrs. Mary Roy was a warrior for the cause of women. She successfully challenged the Travancore Christian Succession Act which left daughters no right on their father's  property. She was a go-getter who built a reputed school out of a barren hill ( a 'mottakkunnu'). She was a bold woman who  never forgave ill-treatment, be it her own mother on the other side. But shouting at her children in front of others, making them  leave the car or the house according to her mood, punishing them for the slightest perceived incompetence, Mrs Roy was a difficult mother, if not an abusive one. During her frequent bouts of asthma attacks, she used to tell her little girl that if she was dead, she would end up in t...