Song of Kali by Dan Simmons Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Song of Kali
Book Review: Gut Wrenching
Summary: 4 Stars
I picked this up to read on the plane during a recent vacation and couldn't put it down. Simmons' writing never fails to engage the reader. Song of Kali started off a little slow, but picks up the pace and drags you in; and down to places you probably don't want to go.
It would have rated 5 stars, but it seemed Simmons felt the need to soften the finale, which seemed a little out of place. Overall, this is an excellent story, and not one for the squeemish.
Book Review: Hell on Earth
Summary: 5 Stars
Simmons does in this book what he does best. He plots, characterizes, and paints a picture that burns in your mind.
Calcutta is crowded, heavy, seething, swarming, and fetid. This is the atmosphere of evil. Something horrible must bubble to the surface here and it does.
His horror is as visceral as Clive Barker's without being as overwhelming and jaded. Those moments are sharp, painful, and lucid. The maggots. The jewels. The statue. The baby's fate. He spares no reader. These are the moments folded into the plot and left to seep into your psyche like the blood of a knife wound.
Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Simmons' first novel is a smash hit. It gave me nightmares for a week.
Book Review: Huge disappointment
Summary: 1 Stars
I was quite satisfied with "Summer of night" (while the ending wasn't that great, the writing was excellent, suspense never faded) so I had some high expectations of his work 'Song of Kali'.
What a disappointment this book is. All characters are cardboard-like (one would think Simmons would have at least some character development, maybe not an a lá King, but 300+ pages obviously didn't allow him to do that? I felt there is more character development in any of the S. King's short stories @ 15-20 pages) and the dialogue is painfully boring and stiff.
The plot is "ok", only at a first glance, but the way he tries to get deeper into it (or the lack of it!) leaves much to be desired. I felt like Mr Simmons had a great idea but got tired of it along the way, and sent the first draft to the editor and later the publisher company.
Book Review: I am from Calcutta
Summary: 4 Stars
Or Kolkata now as it is called.Well I like most things horrific and I chanced upon this quaint little book written way back in the 1980's.Surprisingly it is really accurate and vivid.Having lived there myself I have grown up to some of the images,the overshadowing elements of poverty and life growing ceaselessly through it.However,Dan Simmons effectively paints a horrific picture in a seemingly mundane everyday Calcutta life.But the Goddess exists,I have been to Kalighat myself,knelt before Kali and offered her my prayers.Still people sacrifice animals to the goddess on Satrudays and Tuesdays,known as Kali's days.It is believed that the Goddess has some powers as she is "jagrata" as the author calls it.Regarding Kapaliks and Tantriks,they still abound both in Kalighat and in a nearby place called Tarapith.Which brings me back to the accuracy.While some of the prose is rather against my tastes, what with a sexual rendezvous with one of the most esteemed Goddesses,the book is powerful and effective.And factual.Calcutta is that and no amount of fractal math or parallel universes can cause it to be otherwise.However,apparently the horror isn't there.Its just a bunch of poor people roaming around half naked as the humidity and the sun render clothes to be a burden.And presently you can contrast it with the high risers and the McDonalds which have permeated the old by-lanes,as if trying to convert a dead man.
However,inspite of the modernity,if you do go to Kalighat in the middle of the night,with the scream of the jackals and the small talk of the local mafia,you might just glimpse a very vivid image of Kali in the blood of all her glory.
Book Review: I expected too much
Summary: 2 Stars
I had high expectations about this book, somehow driven by the good reviews. But it didn't took long before I began turning pages thinking "maybe it's now this is gonna warm up", just to find out it didn't. And it never did.
Except for some curiosities about the indian way of life/culture and the description of Calcuta, the story doesn't have more to hook the reader. I felt disapointed at the end and felt this is a book I wouldn't spend money on if I could turn back time. Consider yourself advised.