Magic of a different kind - Salman Rushdie

Rushdie, Salman. The Enchantress of Florence. Jonathan Capre: Great Britain. 2008. ISBN 9780224061636

Post modern writing takes liberties with history and fiction and produces some of the most delightful books. Rushdie's latest novel is pure storytelling. There is magic of fantasy and imagination combined in canny proportions with history. Akbar and his nine gems are real enough. Mogor dell 'Amore and Qara Koz are imaginary, but in Rushdie, fact mingles so well with fiction that the borders finally vanish. One feels like one is looking at hard, real and tangible objects through the shimmering and blurring wave of heat rising from the desert sands.

Akbar as a man, as a sensuous lover, as an administrator, as a cultural enricher, as a father ever in doubt about his devious sons' plots to overthrow him and as a lover of illusory characters - this Akbar is certainly not the stately and dignified Emperor of an Empire. He is of flesh and blood and so comes closer to you than in the pages of history.

Qara Kaz, whose beauty holds men in thrall and her Mirror wield magical power over the lands that they traverse. Is it an enchantment of herbs and beauty or is it the magic of spells and incantantions? Agra and Florence come together in this Queen of Enchantment. Their fates seem intertwined...the advent of foreigners leading to the fall of the Mughal Empire and the rise of the British Empire is implied in the entry of Mogor.

For one who has found Rushdie a little difficult to understand, this book has been absolute magic.

The magic is more in the mind.

Another Cook - another thriller

Cook, Robin. Crisis. London Pan Books. 2006. ISBN 135798642

For all who believe that the Hippocratic Oath is sacrosanct and that doctors are demi-gods, Cook shakes the very foundation of such beliefs.

Dr. Jack Stapleton is SOSed by his sister to help with her doctor husband's indictment in a case of negligence and indifference leading to the death of his hypochondriachal patient. The truth behind the death shatters the idyllic concept of concierge doctors -doctors who personal medical care to hand-picked few patients.

The lives of patients who place implicit trust in their doctors who should, in principle, treat them like royalty, may be in jeopardy from these very trusted doctors. The truth, when it comes, hits you hard.

To add spice to the proceedings is the long term celibate Dr.Jack Stapleton's, the protoganist of many of Cook's stories, engagement to Laurie. To one who has been following the lives of Jack, Laurie, Lou Saldona, Chet and Warren, the question is - what next? Will it be the birth of Jack's children?

Medical mysteries and revelations are not so much a part of this story as is the medico-legal aspect. However, the court room intrigues cannot hold a candle to the Perry Mason court room battles.

The book was O.K. O.K. only.

Queen, Ellery - My new find

Queen, Ellery. The Siamese Twin Mystery: A Problem in Deduction. Victor Gollancz Ltd. Great Britain. 1993
ISBN 0 600 200752

The foreword by J.J.McG in the July 1933 edition of the book makes one wonder if this adventure did really take place. So, was Ellery Queen a real-life detective?
The locale of the story is a lodge set high on a dry mountain plateau; the lower reaches of the mountain are on a ravaging and fast spreading fire. Caught unawares by it, the Queens, father and son, take the only road there in the hope of escape from the fire.

They come to a land of no return, since the road ends at the top of the mountain plateau and the only way out is down the same road. They are forced to tak erefuge in the lodge with the seemingly eccentric and haunting presence of a scientist, his wife, a pair of Siamese twins, a monstrous servant, a silent cook and the beautiful mother of the twins.

Then comes the shock for the reader. One murder follows another. As the fire creeps closer to the lodge and the searing heat becomes unbearable, so does the anticipation of finding who the killer is.

As one guess after another by the reader falls flat, one begins to sweat it out in the heat within the pages of the book and the mind of the reader.
The neat conclusion and denouement is unexpected. The reader is left with the satisfying sense of having been there and seen it all.

There is something of a good musical piece in this - a simple opening, an exploratory middle, the rise and the fall towards the end and the lingering note at the end.

I am happy to have discovered Ellery Queen.