Author: Mridula
Koshy
Publishing
Company: HarperCollins Publishers
Pages: 352
Price: Rs. 499
With IndiBlogger’s “Pick a Book” offer and my inquisitiveness
for the literary work made me order this literature fictionby Mridula Koshy.
This thick book of 350 pages has been told in 3 days (18-20
May 2004) at the United States & South India, and travels onto the past &
the future. A melancholic tale of a woman- who relinquishes her four-year old
son & her son- who struggles for a story that will allow him to live, this
story leaves you with a grief-stricken silence that its main characters:
Annakutty and Asa Gardner possess with time till the end.
Annakutty abandons her four-year old son born out-of-wedlock
under coercion, and regrets her decision lifetime. She waits for her son on
deathbed, and at the same time her son who dwells faraway at the U.S. lands in Delhi
to explore the details in apropos of his past which would meet him his
biological mother. Whether their patience releases them from their past or
leaves them apart, you unfold your own.
Ah! This narration has, indeed, checked my patience that how
far I could carry on with the melancholy. It’s been written in a certain way
that after a time you might get jaded, but even then you keep it up for the disclosure
of climax where every next situation garnered up a muddle against it.
This story doesn’t belong to only Annakuty & her son,
but it’s also a story of Saramma, Mrs. Oster, and Marge.
I observed that a few of paragraphs might be done without
which I felt just add-on the pages. Like the one where Tessibaby was travelling
on plane, and some other paragraphs on: menstruation, smooching, breast, and sex.
Though, they were add-ons, but I didn’t feel the book has anything to do with
intimacy as commented by Jeet Thayil on the back of the cover page.
But yes, the book tells us that how people are so much
obsessed with beauty, where black is always ugly.
Also, a few of grammatical errors, esp. punctuations, make
you baffled with what the author is really conveying. And, if you aren’t acquainted
with the South Indian language, it might take time to get that Annachechi was referred
to Annnakutty.
Notwithstanding that, the story engages you till the end and
leaves you perplexed. It believes that one should remember not only the things
that have happened but also the things that are going to happen. It’s a story that
holds optimism under the shadow of dark clouds. It deserves to be read, but you
won’t read it again for its gloomy tale.
The book does not look very interesting, however your review was great
ReplyDeleteThank you for your appreciation, dear! :)
DeleteI agree with the comment above. I read, 'Everything to Gain' and it is extremely positive. Imagine, protagonist's husband and kids dying on Christmas eve and still there were very few sad notes in the book. There was so much positive in this book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for an honest review.
Though it wanna convey optimism, but it's not very precisely written. You have to find it out. So, you might little disappointed. :(
DeleteBut I would recommend it for its different take. :)
Thank you, dear! :)