Scribbles

I am a flower, a daisy who used to live on top of a mountain. I lived among other daisies, some grass, and a few trees. Life as a daisy was very peaceful and enjoyable. Every morning I woke up and gazed at the crystal blue sky; it promised me another day. The sky would darken later on and the stars would say goodnight to me. I lived on a lonely hill, not many humans visited it. I liked it that way. I felt safe on the hill. I felt safe knowing that I had the grass, the trees, and other daisies around me. I felt safe knowing that the sky was blue and that is promised me another good day. I felt safe when the stars said goodnight to me and when the sky would darken. I liked living on the hill…correction, I loved living on the hill. One day the sky didn’t wake up crystal blue, it was One day the sky didn’t wake up crystal blue, it was gray. I saw people on the hill. The people walked over to the other daisies. I watched someone pick one of the other daisies. The human couldn’t hear her sh

Author:  Zadie Smith Pages:  464 Price:  INR 599 Genre:  Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction Swing Time  is Zadie Smith’s fifth novel and for my money her finest. A “best friend bildungsroman” in the Elena Ferrante mould, the novel tells the story of two girls growing up on the wrong side of town. Residents of neighboring housing estates in London, the pair meet at a community dance class, one (the unnamed narrator) clever and self-doubting, the other (Tracey) confident and self-destructive. As with the Italian bestseller, the talented friend is the tortured one – prematurely sexual, rebellious at school, ungoverned at home – while the less gifted is an able student, determined to make it out of the neighborhood. It gives little away to say that she does, becoming an assistant to a pop star called Aimee. It is by Aimee’s side that she travels the world, jetting from winters to summers. For its plot alone,  Swing Time  makes for truly marvelous reading. The narrato