Book Review- That Woman You See

THAT WOMAN YOU SEE

            I just absolutely love reading a collection of short stories. This one has all nine dedicated to women. I just had to pick this one up for this combination.

1) Ganga: She who is pure- This describes the "girls of the night". How a girl full of love gets into the flesh trade business. It is written fine. But it is not a story that touches your heart inspite of such a strong premise. There is a place where there is a grammatical error. Better editing could have sorted that out.

2) Gauri: She who is fair- This tale is about Gauri's son- Shyam and her daughter in law- Shweta. She comes to stay at their place for a while and notices their marital discord. Is she able to solve the issues or accepts the disharmony is what the story encompasses. The story is written well. Also the character of Shweta has been written to perfection. You almost feel the pain she is going through. A Good read. But more than Gauri's story it sounded like Shweta's story so a little discomfort there as a reader.

3) Radhika: She who is successful - This is a story of a woman who picks herself from the dumps and emerges a winner. Another favourite topic- Politics is also embibed in this. The way it starts out, it evokes the right amount of curiosity. Considering that, the climax was a disappointment. One almost feels incomplete. Could have been developed brilliantly as the character of Radhika is also etched to perfection.

4) Riddhima: She who is full of love- This story is about Riddhima- her brother-Rishi, her sister-in-law- Pratima and a certain Mr.Aman. Rishi dotes on Riddhima as they have lost their parents. Again the interest developed in the start is good. Keeps you connected. Urges you to read further. But the climax is hastened. If worked better, this would have been the pick of all the stories. Neverthless, it is written well.

5) Sheeba: A Promise- This is a very sly story of how Sheeba teaches her colleague Rajeev a lesson. How she realises that he always took her for a ride by his sweet talks and used that to move forward in his career. This one has been written well.

6) Shikha: She who is powerful- Shikha is one of the women whose husbands dont have time for them. They are away leaving the wives to sulk at home. A very common subject about how to cope in such a situation. An expected climax but nonetheless liked reading this one. It had an element of "feel good" factor.

7) Shivangita: She who has courage- This is a mother's letter to her son which reveals a lot of things about her life which the son was unaware of. It leads to a point where the son feels that he didnt know about his mother's life at all. Does his perception about his mother change or he understands his mothers plight, is the story of Shivangita.

8) Shruti: She who hears- I really cant review this one as I didn't understand the purpose of this story and what the author is trying to say this tale.

9) Sona: She who is valuable-  This one is a beauty. My favourite from the lot. It has been written well. An unexpected climax. Touches your heart.

One can certainly give this a miss!!

STARS- 2.25/5

The review was first published on talespensieve.com

Book Review- Her Resurrection

Her Resurrection

            

                     

                    Rapes have become the most prevalent topic to discuss these days. Everyday the newspapers are filled with how girls are raped and gang raped. Few days back I read a story about how a 28 day old baby was raped. Appalled, as I was I got the opportunity to review a book which talks about how a woman resurrects herself after all the atrocities. Not wasting a minute I selected this one.

                   Born in a village in a modest family Maya has a dream to speak English like Sunil Gavaskar. At a very young age she gets the opportunity to achieve this goal. A turn of events throws her into the flesh trade business. Time and again Life becomes callous, inspite of this Ms.Maya Singh emerges stronger than ever.

                    A Special mention to Mr.Amol Karambe for the brilliant cover page. It depicts that this book means business!! As expected from such a narrative, the main protagonist is shown strong and courageous, but the author wins our heart by the fiercely strong supporting characters.  Saadia,Siddharth,Arjun, Maya’s mother have all been designed well. The language is extremely pertinent. The usage of words is absolutely impeccable. The description of the rape scenes is sure to leave the readers with goosebumps.Her entire time in the brothel makes your heart ache. And Kudos to Soumyadeep for this!! Being a man, the feelings of a girl have been depicted flawlessly. All the nefarious crimes that Maya faces have been written so well, making this book a page turner. There are so many quotes that I love from the book that I have made a note of, like

1)    “Getting a job is so hard,getting raped is so easy!”

2)   “ When a man is here having sex with us, you know, somewhere in a city, a girl is saved from being raped”

3)   “God never takes anything away from you without having a better plan for you”

Also the author has not shown that Maya doesn’t feel like giving up and continues her fight. 

Yes she also wants to give up. She also is fatigued by facing these heinous situations. But everytime with a great battle with the outside world and her inner self, she fights and then she emerges a winner. That is the beauty of Somyadeep’s writing. It makes me remember one of the quotes I had read as a child “Fall 7 times, get up 8!!”

The only hiccups for me were the elongated descriptions and grammatical errors in a few places.

Barring this it is a brilliant read!!

STARS- 4.25/5

This review was first published on talespensieve.com.