Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra (1 star)

I'm giving up! Sorry Mr. Chandra, I've given you 227 pages, and that's all the time I have to waste. This book has been on my list ever since I read Shantaram, but I thought I'd better have a break from epic Indian novels before I started this one. It is definitely epic, at 900 fairly dense pages.

My main objection is that the plot is just not interesting enough. The main story that follows Sartaj and Ganesh Gaitonde has some good moments, but even these are overpowered by the vast array of boring side stories. These are often lengthy chapters, and while I was reading them I had to fight the urge to flip pages to get back to the main plot.

There is a lot of untranslated Hindi mixed in with the text, but I didn't mind that at all. I thought the writing was reasonably good, but not enough to appreciate it on its own in the absence of a decent story.

If Chandra had a competent editor and re-told the same story in 500 pages would it be good? I doubt it. Shantaram is a far better book about the Mumbai underworld. I've also heard some good things about Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta, so I might give that a go in the future.

1 star.

Neuromancer by William Gibson (4 stars)

Neuromancer was a re-read for me, it is a book that almost defines the science fiction genre. It coined the term cyberspace, and was the first book to win the science-fiction grand slam - the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award.

Incidentally, misuse of the word 'cyber' annoys me pretty much every day. As far as I'm concerned, unless you're jacking in with electrodes attached to your head and are in constant danger of flat-lining (brain death), it isn't cyberspace, it's just the Internet.

Neuromancer is amazingly forward-looking considering it was published in 1984. I really enjoyed the book, but it is definitely not an easy read. Characters are not introduced, concepts are not explained, and for most of the book I felt I was only just understanding what was going on. I think an amazon reviewer put it best:

Gibson's narrator gives you a vague patchwork of the plot - it feels like a drunk's telling you about the movie he just watched.

Everyone should read it, if only to see what all the fuss is about.

4 stars.

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (4.5 stars)

Great book, heaps better than the first in the series. Salander grows ever more intelligent and amazing the more we find out about her. Not only is she a hacker wunderkind, a master chess player, a boxer (come on, really?), she also happens to be a genius mathematician despite the lack of any mathematical training. Of course she can solve Fermat's last theorem just by reading a pop-culture mathematical history textbook. Sigh. Incidentally there is a great book about Fermat's last theorem if you are interested. And why did Larsson make her a boxer? So ridiculous, I was perfectly happy with her as a hacker with a taser.

Speaking of ridiculous, the ending was one of the most overdone, totally implausible, stupid things I have ever read. I don't want to give away any plot here. You'll know what I mean when you read it.

Larsson has an annoying habit of inserting massive amounts of unnecessary detail. Consider this boringly complicated description of a dinner at Blomkvist's sisters' family:

Annika had two children: Monica, thirteen, and Jennie, ten. Her husband Enrico, who was the head of the Scandinavian arm of an international biotech. firm, had custody of Antonio, his sixteen-year-old son from his first marriage. Also at dinner were Enrico's mother Antonia, his brother Pietro his sister-in-law....

Of the eleven people he introduces in this passage, none of them play even the most minor role in the story. We never hear from them again. Where were you editor?

Speaking of editing, I found the use of the word 'dyke' fairly offensive in some places, even when it wasn't supposed to be (ie. Faste didn't say it). In Australia (and most of the English-speaking world I believe) it is typically derogative. I suspect the same is not true in Swedish and it was just a bad translation choice.

Oh, and every single character in this book is going to have serious health problems from the amount of coffee they drink - it's like Phillip Marlowe, but with caffeine instead of alcohol.

One more thing. Berger is a complete bitch for even considering deserting Millenium at the time of crisis.

Now that I have all that off my chest, I need to say again this is a great book. I didn't pick the major revelation about Zala, and thought it was quite clever. I couldn't put it down and stayed up to 1:30am to finish it.

4.5 stars.

Update: I forgot something else that really annoyed me! What is with the product placement in this book? It's everywhere!

She went shopping at H&M and Kappahl department sores and bought herself a new wardrobe...

Her most extravagant purchases were from Twilfit...

...sat down at her PowerBook...

...a jumbo pack of Billy's Pan Pizza...

Ikea should have payed thousands of dollars for the advertisement below - I'm expecting a "Buy Lisbeth's Salander's Furniture" link on the Ikea website any day now. I suspect the Larsson estate didn't make any money off the gratuitous advertising since the contracts would have to be in place before publishing - so why is it still there? I think Anna is right about them being reluctant to edit, see her comment.

She drove to Ikea at Kungens Kurva...She bought two Karlanda sofas with sand-coloured upholstery, five Poang armchairs, ... a Svansbo coffee table and several Lack occasional tables. From the stoage department she ordered two Ivar combination storage units and ...

Checked the Ikea website, and most of those models don't even exist anymore.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (3.5 stars)

This book won the Booker in 89, and has been made into a movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It has a lot of critical acclaim and is beautifully written. I enjoyed reading it, although I always felt that the real story was just around the corner, and then it ended. Stevens' revelations about his life are quite depressing, as are his absurd allegiance to his employer such that he waits at table while his father dies upstairs. A deserving winner of the prize but I'm not going to pretend I loved it.

3.5 stars.