Reviews of Fiction and Non-Fiction Books by The Hindu seo.section.displayname=Book Reviews

‘On Citizenship’ review: Rights and guarantees

Four intellectuals explain threadbare the law on citizenship, the role of Parliament and the Constitution, and why giving it a religious basis must be condemned

‘The Marginalized Self: Tales of Resistance of a Community’ review: On the periphery of change

A narrative on marginalised communities questions the top down prescription of development

‘Space Life Matter: The Coming of Age of Indian Science’ review: The struggles and triumphs of India’s scientific fraternity

A journalist traces the country’s endeavour to becoming a knowledge society after Independence, overcoming many challenges, including lack of funds

‘Landscapes of Loss: The Story of an Indian Drought’ review: Distress in Marathwada and its wider repercussions

An investigation into the lives of farmers in a drought-prone area of Maharashtra raises questions around sustainability and policies

‘From Rebel to Ruler: One Hundred Years of the Chinese Communist Party’ review: A chequered century

Harvard professor Tony Saich’s definitive history of the Communist Party of China chronicles the rise, fall and rise again of the CPC, discounting the official linear version

Faces in the water: Rakhshanda Jalil reviews ‘From Volga to Ganga’ by Rahul Sankrityayan, trs Victor Gordon Kiernan, Kanwal Dhaliwal

Rahul Sankrityayan’s rare erudition and imagination power this chronological series of vignettes recreating the past

‘Believe’ review: Pushing the boundary

Limited-overs specialist Suresh Raina offers a glimpse of his cricketing life and its highs and lows

‘The House of Scindias: A Saga of Power, Politics and Intrigue’ review: Power and responsibility

Chronicling the long reach of the Scindia dynasty on Indian politics

‘Notes on Grief’ review: Grief and sorrow as a celebration of love and relationships

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writes a moving tribute to her late father as she tries to come to terms with his loss during COVID lockdown

‘India Versus China: Why They Are Not Friends’ review: Your country, my country

Kanti Bajpai has a clear-eyed view of the present, but not necessarily of future relations between India and China who share a 3,500 km boundary and impressive trade relations

‘Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest’ review: History as drama: an eyewitness recounts Tiananmen unrest

A former diplomat argues that the students’ protest was not a democratic revolution but reflected a power struggle which the Chinese Communist Party put down

‘Leopard Diaries – the Rosette in India’ review: The conservation of big cats

A wildlife biologist explains why the elusive leopard needs more natural reserves to survive

‘The Fourth Lion: Essays for Gopalkrishna Gandhi’ review: An acute ear for nuance

Plurality, empathy and diversity are the lifeblood of a democracy, and shape the ideas of scholar, writer and administrator Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who is at home in India and the world

‘The Braided River: A Journey Along the Brahmaputra’ review: Rolling on the river

Travelogue meets memoir in this 1,000 km plus descent down the Brahmaputra

‘Off the Beaten Track’ review: The right to make a choice

How Saeeda Bano became the first woman Urdu newsreader for All India Radio

‘The Soul of a Woman’ review: A soulless attempt to challenge gender stereotypes

In her quest to address too many issues from violence against women to problems of old age and euthanasia, Isabel Allende loses focus

‘Languages of Truth: Essays 2003-2020’ review: The real and the imagined

From interesting biographical nuggets to literary criticism and the philosophy of language, these crackling essays provide a wonderful insight into the making of Salman Rushdie, the writer

A stone, a star and the pearlthread surf: Meena Kandasamy reviews Ranjit Hoskote’s ‘Hunchprose’

This dazzling collection is poetry of the highest order, poetry as an affirmation of life as well as a silent grieving for the end of times

The odour of dreams: Vikas Dhoot reviews Rochelle Potkar’s ‘Bombay Hangovers’

Stories that take you close to the sights, sounds and sweat levels unique to Bombay

Shadows of the mind: Review of Venita Coelho’s ‘Dark Tales: Ghost Stories from India’

Stories that combine political and social commentary with horror and the supernatural

‘Redesign the World: A Global Call to Action’ review: A radical form of humanism, the Sam Pitroda way

The telecom innovator offers new ideas to change the future, in which people and the planet are at the core of all ideologies

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ review: A sense of life’s diverse currents

In his customary prose and wry humour, Ruskin Bond observes the world and the pandemic

‘The Premonition: A Pandemic Story’ review: Looking back at the origins

With his no-holds-barred indictment of the way America mismanaged the COVID-19 health crisis, Michael Lewis holds a mirror for the rest of the globe

The cat that turned into a handkerchief: Sukumar Ray’s nonsense verse

Sukumar Ray’s nonsense verse makes uncanny sense even today, perhaps especially today, and maybe that is why it has made it into Calcutta University’s English syllabus

Airy nothings: Review of Riksundar Banerjee’s ‘The Book of Indian Ghosts’

Most of the stories here are penny dreadfuls of the kind broadcast on popular radio channels

Familiar but new: Review of Vivek Nath Mishra’s ‘No One An Outsider: Varanasi Tales’

These powerful stories tackle heavy subjects with a remarkable absence of drama

‘Places of Mind: A Life of Edward Said’ review: In exile, rooted to Palestine

A new biography of Edward Said maps his Arab and American selves and illustrates how his writings on Palestine, music, public intellectuals, and literature intertwine

‘Big Cat Tales: Vintage Encounters and Stories’ review: Into the wild

A collection gathers man-animal encounters with and stories of tigers, leopards, lions and others

‘Impact of COVID-19, Reforms and Poor Governance on Labour Rights in India’ review: Sweeping changes in labour laws and their impact on rights

An economist decodes the reforms and rues the absence of effective consultations with trade unions on issues concerning workers and the economy

‘Musical Excellence of Mridangam’ review: The science of a rhythm

In seven segments, three writers describe the mridangam, partly adapting ideas from C.V. Raman’s seminal paper

Anthem for doomed youth: Review of David Diop's ‘At Night All Blood is Black’

This year’s International Booker Prize winner is a brutal tale of war, told in sharp, spare prose

The poster girl from Dhanbad: Jinoy Jose P. reviews Sarah Joseph’s ‘Budhini’

History meets mystery in ‘Budhini’, in this vivid translation from the original Malayalam

‘Bengal and its Partition: An Untold Story’ review: Roots of a division

A writer argues that colonial Britain’s policies impoverished Bengal, impacting the whole country

‘1232 km: The Long Journey Home’ review: Seven days and nights

A filmmaker chronicles the story of India’s migrant workers who were forced to walk home last summer, fearing death and hunger amid the pandemic and the sudden lockdown

‘Hostility – A Diplomat’s Diary on India-Pakistan Relations’ review: Why India, Pakistan relations are fraught and interrupted

A former Pakistan High Commissioner to India writes a candid account of his posting, the Kashmir issue, and the politics of the foreign office

Uncle Sam and the philosopher’s stone: Review of Sanjena Sathian’s ‘Gold Diggers’

You hear several characters echo the same question: what does it mean to be both Indian and American?

Djinn without tonic: Ranjana Sengupta reviews A.A. Jafri’s ‘Of Smokeless Fire’

The book ranges over an extended checklist of themes centred on Pakistan, with all of them jostling for attention

‘All Roads Lead North: Nepal’s Turn to China’ review: Nepal’s links with China

A journalist’s scholarly research takes the long view on a small country’s foreign relations, even as it often finds itself caught between two neighbourhood giants

‘Intimations: Six Essays’ review: Work from home and other anxieties

Essays on the lockdown and how the virus has impacted lives

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