Nishanth
This books takes us through the minute by minute incidents happened over 3 days - 29th April, 30th April when Hitler commits suicide and the days after that. The narration includes the experiences from many people through interviews and diary entries who are fighting the war. Americans, English, Russians, Japanese and etc. The book also tells us the overall situation of second world war. Even though the character list is huge, we do not feel any disconnect between the pages. The timeline of events feels seamless while reading. One can feel the intensity of the war and its effects on millions of people by reading this and I cannot help but feel sorry for the victims who died in the name of war. The propaganda spread by the Nazi Germany had fooled the German citizens and I wonder do they regret about it looking back after 75 years. The allies of America, England and Russia did well in stopping the catastrophic regime under Hitler but the damage had already been done. Over 6 million Jews were killed 4 years between 1941 and 1945.
When the allies inch closer hour-by-hour to capture Berlin, headquarters of Nazi government the German officers starts to panic and depend on Hitler for the course of action to be taken. But Hitler still believed that he can defeat the allies and when he finally realizes that Berlin has fallen, he decides to take his own life and do not escape. The followers of Hitler who were mesmerized by his charisma also decides to stay with him till the end and most of them commits suicide.
My only complaint if I can use that word is the lack of pictures. There are 4 pictures in total which is not justified for the sheer importance of the book.
A must read book for anyone who is interested in history. Well recommended.
This book impresses the readers with nifty design and the way it is told. The pictures in almost every page are very beautiful and convey the story. But the way the book is written is quite boring and makes it difficult to continue. Main reason for this would be the sheer quantity of material that is there in Greek Mythology. There are 8 major characters on which the book is divided. And each characters' part is filled with numerous stories where there are so many minor characters are involved. The book makes it hard to follow up with characters since each stories are short lived. And these characters though smaller comes later in the story with a major plot point but it is difficult to remember each of the characters. After each story there are author's notes to help relate the story into Hindu and/or other mythology and Devdutt Pattanaik will surprise us with the connections he draws between the stories across civilizations. We come across different types of creatures with unimaginable qualities and it is interesting to learn about it.
My major difficulty on the book is the way such a humongous story is written in 250 odd pages. It simply is not possible and a Herculean task (pun intended!) and we have to appreciate the author for the effort.
If you want to get a quick dose of Greek mythology in a simple and as a easy read, you should read this book. But do not expect to remember everything which is in the book because it is enormous like the god Argus Panoptes who had over 100 eyes and Hydra whose 9 heads keep re-spawning even after beheading them continuously!
Review written for the reading challenge 2018
The novel depicts the jazzy life of Mohanalal who is gifted with great musical knowledge but he doesn't have anyone who could say his name after his era. His few disciples (all of whom women) whom he also has sexual relations with, cut off from him because of his uncanny nature. Through out the book, we see the story unfold from these characters.
The book teaches us a good bit of Classical music and makes us fall in love with it.
