The Blog of Small Things

Name :  The DMK years : Ascent, Descent , Survival Author :  R.Kannan     Year of Publication : 2024     Genre : Non-fiction, Politics, History     Rating : ** 1/2 ( Two and a half stars out of 5) The author needs to be lauded for his sweeping ambition of encapsulating the work of an era in nearly 500 odd pages. Every significant event associated with the history of DMK is covered. To avoid being called hagiographic, the book errs by moving to the other extreme - all it's criticisms of DMK are detailed while the deserved praise is rushed. The author eschews scholarship for chronological recollections and much needed analyses go missing. DMK is a remarkable institution and Kannan does not even come close to doing justice to it.

Name : Kanavu Thozhirchalai  Author :  Sujatha     Year of Publication : 1979     Genre : Fiction, Novel     Rating : ***** ( 5 stars out of 5) A blockbuster Sujatha novel which has all the elements of a runaway hit in the box office. That the novel was serialized as a weekly series in "Ananda Vikatan" in 1979 is evident in the (sometimes forced) twist at the end of every chapter. With some minor tweaks related to technology, the novel can still be adapted to a 2026 version as the core emotions are timeless. It is a sad denouement that such a novel could never be made into a movie till today. A movie version can still be attempted and almost everything will fall in place but where will we get a younger Kamal Hassan (The only actor who can ace the complexities of the protagonist Arun Vijay) again?