ಮನಕ್ಕೆ ನೆನಹಾಗಿ...

After Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, I picked up Gunter Grass' Cat and Mouse. The fact that both have strong nexus with WWII is coincidental.

The style Grass uses in Cat and Mouse is so starkly different from Ondaatje's, specially after the long time I took to complete the previous novel. In The English Patient, the characters are too solemn, too melancholy. They seem to be too indulgent and take themselves too seriously. The author also is involved with his novel and the characters. All of these to good effect. On the other hand, in Cat and Mouse, the author's narration is that of a rustic, and at times even comical nonchalance. They are comical in a comical way, and serious in a comical way. Again all of these to (reasonably) good effect (thus far). Cat and Mouse is a story of a German wartime legend as recollected by an old classmate of his.

On a related note, have read one fifth of Memories of My Melancholy Whores during the last two brief visits to Landmark. What else can you do if a book of 120 odd pages is overpriced at Rs. 425? How I wished Landmark had some place where one could sit down. Marquez has written a novella after several years. I think he hadn't written a novel since Love in the Time of Cholera. This novella seems to be pretty easily accessible. So, I think it will be very popular. Perhaps that is why I have not yet found it as compelling as his other works. Of course, there is some unmistakable vintage Marquez stuff like - "Sex is an excuse for not getting enough love". I guess I should make a long visit next weekend and finish it.