The Inimitable Chaos of Life : Book Review

THE INIMITABLE CHAOS OF LIFE : Book Review

A short story is like a kiss in the dark from a stranger, as Stephen King puts it. A short story is a success only when it actually disturbs the buried emotions that exist within a reader. 

 The Inimitable Chaos of Life is a collection of 14 short stories by Maliny Mohan. The stories in this collection are not only very touching, but are really well-written. It is not easy to write stories with their themes being different phases of life, but Maliny Mohan has done a really commendable job by telling stories the way it is difficult to tell and is delightful to read.

The story Sara is one of my favourite stories from this book. It begins from an orphanage where two kids, Thomas and Sara live like siblings, though they are not. Thomas is four years older to Sara and pampers baby Sara like an elder brother does. The two cannot live without one another, but there arises a twist in their fate. A family comes to adopt Sara and Thomas could not stop them from taking her away, though he was able to, keeping patience with the thought of a beautiful future that Sara would get with the family.

Sara grows old and through all the year she keeps telling everyone her story so that someday she might get to find Thomas. The story ends in an emotional scene which reveals that Thomas was with her all along in different roles. Sara meets death in the climax when Thomas was working as servant in her son’s house under a pseudonym.

Another touching story which I would like to mention is A Soulful Chapter – Sonu. This is the story of a housemaid’s son, Sonu, who aspired to become a pilot when he grows up. This story touches the reality of many such children who have the will and the capability of achieving success in their lives but cannot meet their own expectations because of financial crisis of their family. The end of the story is realistically happy. Sonu’s mother dies of some disease and the family in whose house she used to work adopts him after considering various factors.

The Inimitable Chaos of Life is one of the most beautiful collections of stories I have read lately. The narration is professional, and there is no doubt the book has been through quality editing. Overall, this book is an impressive job done by Maliny Mohan. If one is looking to read short stories by an Indian author, then The Inimitable chaos of Life is a perfect choice.

ALSO READ : Oh My Goddess by Rohan Govenkar : Book Review

Oh My Goddess by Rohan Govenkar : Book Review

OH MY GODDESS : Book Review

Oh My Goddess! What a story!

We live in a time when love is often considered as fake, or something which does not last long—in return making it fake. 'Oh My Goddess' by Rohan Govenkar tells the story of Naveen, a nerdy guy working for Zaveri Gems International, an extremist of love, who proves love can make people go into extremes for its sake.

The novel begins with the scene of an airport where two carefree boys, Jackie and Kalpesh, perform several pranks and record them for uploading the video on their Youtube channel, giving the book a humorous start. The two are aspiring to make a living by uploading funny videos on Youtube, but their videos fail to get them enough subscriptions. They finally decide to drop the whole idea of making videos if their one last video does not succeed. And this time, they plan to make a full length movie.

Parallel to it, there is the other plot which tells the story of Naveen, the protagonist of Oh My Goddess. Naveen is working for a business tycoon named Zaveri, and simultaneously for a local don, Altaf Bhai, who has provided him aides to complete his studies. And thus, Naveen is indebted to this don, and has to make some plan to trick out wealth from Zaveri for him. The trouble begins when Zaveri’s daughter, Jessica Zaveri joins the firm, and turns out she is the girl who Naveen was head over heels in love with in college days. After her arrival, Naveen loses focus from everything else, and ultimately makes a plan to spend some heavenly time with her. Naveen plans kidnapping of Jessica along with himself to spend days with her, unaware of the fact that one of his colleagues, Dexter, a technology expert, is also planning something out-conspiring his plans.

Oh My Goddess is paced and engrossing thriller, giving the reader a feel of watching some Bollywood movie like ‘Race’ or its sequel. You cannot predict much about what might happen next while reading it, because most likely your prediction will fall flat. The story is as interesting on its final page as it is on its first, with the witty narration performing the cherry on top. There are several proofreading errors in some places, like a sentence ending without a punctuation mark, or spelling mistakes.

Overall, the book is perfect for giving you good time, and pleasure of reading.

ALSO READ:  Chariots of Mahabharata : Book Review

CHARIOTS OF MAHABHARATA : Book Review

CHARIOTS OF MAHABHARATA : Book Review

I received a copy of Chariotsof Mahabharata in return of an honest review, and I will try to be as honest as I can. The book, Chariots of Mahabharata written by Himanshu Rai is an attempt to tell the story of common people and those who pulled the story during the time of Mahabharata. The book is an attempt – an honest attempt – to tell a beautiful story, but I am afraid it did not succeed in to much extent.

The problem of reviewing this book was the fact that it was given to me in unedited form and I was asked to avoid grammatical errors while putting forth the review. Which I feel is okay in a way. But not okay in some other way. Let me explain.

The book starts in a fantastic way which creates the impression of it being a promising read, which it is not. Even if we avoid the grammatical errors (which are huge in number, and which are to be avoided as asked), there are a lot of spelling mistakes and highly unsuitable choice of words. As we move ahead from Prologue (which is okay) and first few chapters, we find that the sentences become more awkward and make the book sort-of unreadable. 

To be very honest, I liked the story. And I am sure it would have been great if someone had told it to me instead of having to read it. The plot seems very exciting but lacks strength in narration, and therefore it becomes a challenge to keep reading it. And I gave up somewhere halfway through.

I am not being unfair by judging the book on the front which I was asked to avoid. The problem is not only grammar but several. Instead of ‘showing’ scenes, the author seems to be a believer in ‘telling’ and getting away. I am giving this book a 3-star for the fear that I may not be unfair to the story which is fantastic.

ALSO READ: The Highway Man : Book Review