Shreya's Treasures

THE METAMORPHOSIS FRANZ KAFKA FIRST PUBLISHED:1915 “Father. You must just try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor. The fact that we’ve believed it for so long is the root of all our trouble.”  ‘Metamorphosis’ is one of Franz Kafka’s known works. Written from the vantage point of Gregor Samsa, Kafka provides readers with an individual’s sudden transformation into a vermin and the corresponding impact it has on his family, identity and state of consciousness. His family is forced to adjust lives to accommodate to living with a human-sized insect in the house. In The Metamorphosis, Kafka explores the four stages of isolation through symbolism, plot, and contrasting characterizations of Gregor and his family. One of the many symbols is a picture that hangs on Gregor’s wall. Kafka describes Gregor’s surroundings in great detail, making sure to include a lengthy depiction of a cut out picture of a lady “sitting upright, dressed in a fur hat and fur boa” . The lady sits, ...

THE PIANIST DIRECTOR : ROMAN POLANSKI RELEASED : 2002 “The life of a human being, let alone his personal freedom, is a matter of no importance. But the love of freedom is native to every human being and every nation, and cannot be suppressed in the long term. History teaches us that tyranny has never endured. And now we have blood-guilt on our conscience for the dreadful injustice of murdering the Jewish inhabitants.” Roman Polanski's "The Pianist" tells the story of a Polish Jew, a classical musician, who survived the Holocaust through stoicism and good luck. This is not a thriller, and avoids any temptation to crank up suspense or sentiment; it is the pianist's witness to what he saw and what happened to him. That he survived was not a victory when all whom he loved died. It is a cold, harsh approach to a cold, harsh subject and the film treats its history with the utmost respect, detailing the experiences of one man and one journey whilst implying that...

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE JD SALINGER FIRST PUBLISHED : 1951 J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye has become, since its publication, an enduring classic of American literature. The novel is a favorite because of its humor, its mordant criticism of American middle-class society and its values, and the skill with which Salinger captures colloquial speech and vocabulary.   The basic story of The Catcher in the Rye follows the adventures of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, an independent, self-indulgent, idealistic, and sentimental figure of adolescent rebellion, during a forty-eight-hour period after he has been expelled from Pencey Prep, the latest of three expulsions for Holden. His brother, Allie, died only a few short years before. H is growing anxiety about what people will think and make of him when they found out that he failed his academics again, forces him to impromptu decide what action to make.  After confrontations with some fellow students at Pencey...

                                          SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION                       DIRECTOR: FRANK DARABONT                       RELEASED: 1994  “Hope is a good thing, maybe even the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” The Shawshank Redemption is a movie about time, patience and loyalty – these qualities grow on you during the progress of this story, which is about how two men serving life sentences in prison become friends and find a way to fight off despair. More so than just the brilliant acting by Mr. Freeman and Mr. Robbins, the cinematography is quite flawless and the film has a consistent flow to it. The Shawshank Redemption is a very humane story with a lot of powerful, and emotional scenes that have captivated millions of viewers...

JOJO RABBIT DIRECTOR  :  TAIKA WAITITI RELEASE : 2019 Creating a World War II comedy-drama that counts on getting laughs about one of history’s greatest monsters is a big swing. But Waititi uses this humor to illustrate how easily fascism feeds off human flaws.The shift in tone comes when the film stops focusing on the banal and showcases the brutal horrors of the situation. Beneath the fanaticism, Jojo(Roman Griffin Davis) is a frightened boy whose sister has died and whose father has disappeared in battle. But his mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), has a secret: she’s a covert anti-fascist who is hiding a Jewish girl, Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), in the attic. When Jojo stumbles upon Elsa, he is initially horrified, believing her to be a monster. But gradually the pair strike up a love-hate relationship that infuriates Imaginary Adolf and causes Jojo to start to rethink his allegiances.The film’s dramatic focus is how Jojo deals with this sprightly J...

THE ALCHEMIST PAULO COELHO FIRST PUBLISHED: 1988 "My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," The boy tells the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky. The alchemist replies "Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse that the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a seconds' encounter with God and Eternity." We too easily give up on our dreams, yet the universe is always ready to help us fulfill them. Paulo Coelho paints the reader's mind with surreal settings, a fascinating story-line, and a simple style of writing full of meaningful insights that will leave the reader feeling warm-hearted, inspired, and ready to shoot for the stars. The settings in this book are so vividly described that the reader can feel the lush, cool grasses of the Andalusian fields; the soft glow and warmth emanating from the buildings of the town...

ANNA KARENINA LEO TOLSTOY FIRST PUBLISHED: 1878 “All happy families resemble each other; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” We all have books that imprint a lasting memory on us, not simply for the entertainment value, but rather for the way in which they communicate the truth of the human person. For me, Tolstoy’s  Anna Karenina  is an exemplar in character development and as such presents an unparalleled disclosure of the human condition and the effects of both sin and virtue in the life of man.  The story follows four individuals arranged as couples.  The first, for whom the novel is named, is Anna.  When she comes on the scene, she is nothing short of captivating: beautiful and mysterious in every way.  Anna is married, albeit unhappily.  As the story progresses, she falls into an illicit affair with the young Count Vronsky, who pursues her with both intensity and persistence.  The third is a young woman named Ki...

DEAD POET'S SOCIETY DIR: PETER WEIR RELEASE: 1989 I don’t want to go into the details of the directors and actors of this piece of art. I call it art, because it is lot more than just a film, it is life itself. On a platter. In front of us to embrace it. This masterpiece is about a teacher, Keating (Robin Williams), who influences and changes the course of his students’ lives; teaches them how to appreciate poetry, literature, music, art. Tells them about Carpe Diem- and makes them practice it. Teaches them how to live their own lives and not follow the herd... using all unconventional ways in a school whose moto is “Tradition, Honor, Discipline, and Excellence”. Keating is that teacher who guides his students against all odds. But unfortunately, one of his students, Neil (Robert Sean Leonard), commits suicide because of the parental pressures he faces. And that is when things change and we see the students standing up to Keating’s principles and making him un...

MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN HISTORIOGRAPHIC METAFICTION SALMAN R USHDIE FIRST PUBLISHED: 1981 Salman Rushdie was knighted due to his literary work and this career of his started with Midnight’s children, his second novel. It was ground-breaking in its treatment of history, memory, and fantasy. Rushdie used all three avenues in a compendious effort to grapple with the history of India just before and thirty years after it gained independence from the British. It is the biography of Saleem Sinai, a child with psychic and (later) olfactory powers, born on the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947. His destiny is inextricably linked with that of India (this gets reflected in the entire story), the country that gained independence at the exact same time as he did. Saleem quickly establishes himself as an unreliable narrator; he makes factual errors and tells lies. However, he is a very engaging and endearing storyteller because of his humor , his sense of foreshadowing, his uni...

LOLITA EROTIC LITERATURE, TRAGICOMEDY VLADIMIR NABOKOV FIRST PUBLISHED: 1955 Vladimir Nabokov is probably one of the very few writers who wrote a book which is so shocking yet remains to be a  favorite  among the readers. Lolita, his disturbing masterpiece, revolves around the story of middle aged Humbert Humbert, and his tragic love story with his 12 year old step daughter. What's interesting is, the entire novel has been written considering H. H 's opinions - his feelings, his thoughts, his actions, his introspection. Not once has Nabokov mentioned about what Lolita feels, what is she going through, or what she actually thinks of her relationship with her stepfather. As a consequence, we know Humbert is wrong(evil so as to say) , but we also know that he knows he is wrong(he considers himself a murderer in fact).So we actually hate him and also strangely develop a sense of pity for him (due to his childhood incident) at the end of the novel when Lolit...

HANDMAID'S TALE DYSTOPIAN LITERATURE MARGARET ATWOOD FIRST PUBLISHED: 1985 The story is about a woman Offred, who lives in a dystopian age. The population is shrinking due to a toxic environment, and the ability to have viable babies is at a premium. (In today’s real world, studies are now showing a sharp fertility decline in Chinese men.) Under totalitarianism, the ruling class monopolizes valuable things, so the elite of the regime arrange to have fertile females assigned to them as Handmaids. This name Offred is composed of a man’s first name, “Fred,” and a prefix denoting “belonging to”. Within this name is concealed another possibility: “offered,” denoting a religious offering or a victim offered for sacrifice. Offred’s real name is not revealed; probably because she represents the multitude and also, it doesn’t really matter.  The Handmaids are forced by the Aunts to join in what is called the “slut-shaming” of one of their members who is being made to recount how s...