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Book Review - Of Beasts & Beauty

 


Title - Of Beasts & Beauty
Author - Bindu
Genre - Fiction
Publisher - Rati(an imprint of Garuda Prakashan Pvt Ltd)
Cover Design - Chaitanya Swaminathan
ISBN - 978-1-942426-40-0

This book is a collection of non-conventional short stories with a fresh approach. The title is very apt for this book since it talks about both the aspects - beauty and the beast in great detail. There are 13 short stories and each one of them comes out with a different perspective. Though the stories are set to happen in our day to day life, the way it is portrayed makes it real special. To be honest, the stories were written in a simple English but the way it is written is similar to that of a Christopher Nolan movies wherein you may tend to understand as to what is happening but in reality, it may be entirely different. This comes as no surprise since it comes from Bindu Swaminathan Tandon who held managerial position in Bennett Coleman & Co.

I have given some of the observations from this gem of a collection of stories.

The Longest Night  is the first story in this book and gives a very strong impression as to what's in store for the readers. This is the story about the struggles of an air-hostess.


Then there is a life of a sailor’s wife - who becomes a widow and there is a story about little sheroo. There is a story about a domestic servant. A story discusses about the life of a wife and a mistress.  


Each story brings out some of the darkest and unspoken events which is happening day in and day out around us. There is a sarcasm here and there wherein, in one of the story, Samer - author talks about how the security guard is an ornamental guard who never caught anyone 


There are other stories like :


The leopard dairies which is again not the usual conventional story 


Sculpture- a lady sculpting. Ultimate story. Whose story is it? 


F for Firdaus... F for Father - Retired Chemical Engineer who is a Miser but never agrees to it. He had a paying guest and invites trouble. What trouble did he get into?  


Ha Mela Aahe... He is Dead


Meeting and Mating - Fresh perspective.


Like I said, every story makes you retrospect and would make you read over and over again...


This book is available on Amazon

1 comments:

Sharath Thank you for the fine review. And for triggering the thought that my stories even remotely echo of Christopher Nolan's films. I tried understanding what that meant and I must admit you have sensed something very subtle . Thank you. 'Nolan is able to create intrigue in his story, presenting certain portions of the story which at first do not make sense if watched on their own. However, this creates suspense as Nolan makes the viewer want to know what has led up to such a monumental moment'. Wow


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