I read an advice from Tim Denning today that went something like, "the only way to write well is to read more and write more". I think that's a really good advice- while I have tried to consistently blog here and have not been that successful, I did do some journaling on Notion and found that it gave me clarity of thought. Even on this blog, when I restarted in 2020, the posts got better and better! (No really, check them out 😀😀)
I read the book Amma: Jayalalithaa's Journey from Movie Star to Political Queen by Vaasanthi recently, so let me restart (again!) blogging with a review of it.
Amma is not exactly a biography, its more of a collection of important events (narrated chronologically) - the events that shaped the Thalaivi. I knew Jayalalithaa was a strong leader to have emerged a winner despite the constant sexist attack on her meted out by the men in the opposition but this book helped understand how shrewd she had to get to navigate the toxicity.
It talks about her childhood- how her mother, also an actress, wasn't around that much while she grew up and how she longed for her and then takes us through her life. Jayalalithaa, despite not being interested in movies, got into them and became a superstar. Not only that, she got into politics because of MGR and won at that too! She was elected the CM of Tamil Nadu 4 times! That is a true winner- no matter what she touched, it became gold because of her hard work and sheer charisma.
This book seems to suggest she was drawn to married men. That might be true but I would not treat it as a true telling of Amma's story as she is not one of the sources. Yes, a few chapters are based on her own writings in a magazine years ago but that's that. Whether this book had her blessing, I am not sure.
It also talks about her missteps - her close relationship with Sasikala and the corruption during her time as the CM. The book goes on to say that Jayalalithaa being alone needed company and she chose Sasikala as a "sister from another mother". I guess that could be true. All of us have been there, life gets easier with someone by our side - a spouse, a sibling, a best friend, etc.
The writing was extremely mediocre in the first few chapters but as you keep going, the language gets progressively better (I don't mean to trash writers because a lot goes into this craft. It's just that the expectation from them is higher, which is why, those chapters in the beginning didn't work for me). It's written in simple language too, which makes it charming in its own way- you get to focus on what is being told than how it is written. It's brevity also plays to the positives of this book- there are no unwanted or boring chapters, this alone was enjoyable for me.
The best part is it stays true to its character of a simple retelling of the events that shaped Amma and and not a biography (which it doesn't claim to be). From that POV, it does its job well. In places, you can see that the author has brought in her own opinions but again, she puts is across as that and not as the truth. So it works out fine.
I would give this book a rating of 4
Of late, I have been interested in reading life stories of formidable leaders- have started reading Obama's A Promised Land (this is not my first attempt at this) and Katherine Frank's Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi. Hope to finish them this year- both the books are more than 500 pages long!
No comments:
Post a Comment