#13// murderer's ape, fridge space & baking comics
adventures ahoy!
Dear Reader,
How are you? The pouring rains are really getting out of hand here and I am hoping they become less ferocious soon. This week has been sunny in my part of the world. So it is a relief. And I’ve got some perfect book recommendations for you.
Read
A new addition to the list of books that I really enjoyed reading — The Murderer’s Ape by Jakob Wegelius, translated from the Swedish by Peter Graves. Every time I stumble upon a good book as this, I feel so happy. Like bursting out of seams happy. I do not like reading e-copies unless on a Kindle. If I absolutely have to, I split the read over many days to avoid straining my eyes. But here I was speeding through this wonderful middle grade book on Scribd in half a day (there was no audiobook) because I just couldn’t stop reading.
The story, clear from the title, is about a very clever gorilla whose employer ‘Chief’ (works on his cargo boat) is wrongly acquitted of murder. Wait, did you think our star gorilla was a he? No. Meet Sally Jones (never Sally, please and thank you) who can understand human speech (but not talk), repair accordions, write (but there’s hardly any writing, that would make the story too easy and boring), fly airplanes, play chess—yes this gal is very very clever. Is there anything she cannot do? I don’t think so.
The book is set in Lisbon, India and ships. When a deal goes wrong, the Chief ends up behind bars for murder. Being a devoted friend, Sally Jones, who escaped, is determined to prove her master’s innocence. The story keeps throwing surprises. After hiding in a new friend’s (Ana) apartment and mending musical instruments, Sally Jones embarks on a trip to Cochin, India, as a grease monkey on a ship to find the truth about the murder. She has to escape people who do not want her alive. She is diverted in her plans when she becomes a courtier to a maharajah, becomes a spy and later goes around Mattanchery, Jew town and other places in Cochin search of the truth. The Murderer's Ape is a beautiful story about friendship and loyalty. And also celebrations and clue-hunting. There is some history towards the end when truths unravel and I loved it too. At parts, the book is really witty, especially when Sally Jones comments on humans. ‘They did not look anything like me. All gorillas look the same to humans’—on her ‘WANTED’ poster.
While I do not think there could be an ‘Ayesha Narayanan’ in Kerala during this time period (Also makes me wonder how the author came up with the name, who advised him, and if at all I am wrong in my thinking and there might be something named like this during the period), I thought Wegelius did a splendid job in penning out an entertaining adventure story. I was also pleased that his settings in India weren’t bland or flat, but brimming with life.
This was such an enjoyable, thrilling ride and permanently raised my bar for middle grade fiction. I gave it five stars and I’d recommend it whole heartedly for yourself or as a gift.
Amazing deals
Another five star read—if you are looking for adult fiction—I recently read is Girl Made of Gold by Githa Kolanad set in 1920s Thanjavur, revolving around devdasis and dance. Beautifully written. Check this longer Twitter thread where I say it would’ve been a loss if this book was not published. Picky book buyer—this is a safe bet.
For an engrossing tome—deeply atmospheric and lip smackingly good atmospheric novel that offers a visual treat, check out The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar where the mermaid is but a minor thing but the novel so good! I read it over a weekend and it was a delicious romp through 1700s London (read my thoughts).
Amazing links
- Graphic essay – Read twice this essay on benevolent sexism and workplace politics. (Emma, The Guardian).
While you are at it, also look at Emma’s 2017 graphic essay on ‘The gender wars of household chores—But you never asked’. Really, every woman running a house can relate to at least one point in this comic. Dear men—doing half isn’t really half the work load. If you see yourself mouthing/acting this way, it is time to introspect.
- To Love, Honor, and Share Fridge Space (Samantha Irby, Food and Wine)
Has anyone ever gotten divorced citing “too many assorted milks?”
- Losing smell (Shruti Swamy, The Paris Review)
“Like anyone, I am often preoccupied with the petty anxieties and logistics that rule my days: it’s just that, from time to time, and sometimes more often than others, a window opens. I catch a gust of fresh air, of language. A sentence forms in my head. When I am able to live this way, I understand who I am, even if I am not writing”
- My Big, Fat Indian Lunch (Padmarpana Ghosh, Paper planes)
"Here is where I should also tell you how my days are split — “before lunch” and “after lunch”… For me, lunch is the fist-pumping champion meal of the day. The one that is eaten in full view of the world. It is the most visible of all meals, a universal hat-tip to fellow workers that we are not “all work”. I take particular pleasure in watching people eat lunch. Workers nested in tight, concentric circles around food stalls that work with industrial efficiency, bench hoggers scarfing down deli sandwiches in moist cling wrap, lone lunchers on the greens, office mates on a sneaky beer lunch, a “lunchtime runner” hurrying back, probably to a smoothie lunch."
- Woman on the balcony (Nandini Nair, Open)
“It is a painting that reminds one of every parent and grandparent who has told girls to sit with their legs together. It is a painting that shows us that Thérèse is present in the room physically, but mentally she is far, far away. And that is why this painting speaks directly to our Covid -19 times. It is about rebelling against societal diktats in one’s own room, it is about travelling distances within one’s room. It is about seizing agency in one’s own den. The room itself can grow into a platform for protest.”
- Indian Matchmaking exposes the easy acceptance of caste (Yashica Dutt, The Atlantic)
"Though the show is called Indian Matchmaking, it portrays no couples who identify as Muslim, Christian, or Dalit—communities that represent close to 40 percent of India’s 1 billion... Mundhra’s biggest blind spot is her complicity in the normalization of Hindu upper-caste culture as larger Indian culture. Many Indian Americans argue that it’s unfair when works of pop culture expose the ugly underbelly of our societies for the rest of the world to witness. But it would be wrong to assume that these issues no longer exist or don’t affect most people, especially Dalits such as myself, who sometimes spend our entire lives being wounded by these cultural minefields."
- Graphic essay : Give and Bake (Sofia Warren, Catapult)
“If the muffins had been good, we’d have eaten them and gone to bed. But the story of their catastrophic badness: that, we could forever savor.”
- Graphic essay : What it’s like to lose your first language (Hasanthika Sirisena)
“A year and half after my mother’s death, I was driving home with my father when he suddenly spoke to me in Sinhala"
For magazines — The Paris Review, The Atlantic, New York mag, Writer's Digest, Time — books and movies,
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Until next time,
Resh x
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