Book Review: By the Shadows and the Sunlight by Saurav Dutt

I haven’t read something this moving in a long while. Almost in all four long stories, Saurav placed strong women protagonists. I could feel their trauma, pain, and agony of being ignored at all junctures. Well, let me tell you that I am taking about the new book of Saurav Dutt, in this he is offering a collection of four long stories. It is “By the Shadows and the Sunlight.”

In each of the story, the author unearths a layer that reeks of disparity against women. Yes, this time the collection is, silently, dedicated to women of India. In fact, the last story where we see the unsolved case of Sanjani is based on true event i.e. Neha Paswan from North India. She was killed by her villagers for bearing jeans and sounding modern. Terrific! Saurav’s word skills can make any simple or ordinary story intense and laced with literary vividness.

Though the first story is of Sujata Dasgupta from Kolkata, it was plot less for much time but I liked it most in the collection due to the honest and straightforward character of her. She flew down to Kolkata to attend the funeral of her father. She is an NRI, living in Canada, but Kolkata once her hometown treats her nothing more than a tourist. Relationship changes with distance, I got it perfectly from this story. Above all, I liked her roaming about the streets and alley of Kolkata. It was heart-wrenching to see the city that I cannot visit. As a lead guy of the story, I could feel her loneliness. She was strong but looking for company.

The book is written quite beautifully. At times lyrical, haunting, evocative and mystical. That is true Saurav Dutt work! The third story is enchanting with the horror element. You will find something strange yet gullible. The way Saurav sketches his characters with flaws and strong will to outpace all odds is a work of brilliant job from all aspects. I always admire Saurav for his amazing and commendable job.

Buy from Amazon/Kindle.

Comments

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike. This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversatio...

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should ...

Character Sketch of Binya from ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond

The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond is a popular children’s story. It features Binya as the main character, though there are other important characters as well, but the story revolves around Binya and her little beautiful umbrella. The story is widely popular among children, thus it has also been included in the schools’ syllabus all across the country. Since it is often taught in the school, thus the character sketch of Binya is often demanded by students from year to year. Character Sketch of Binya from The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond Binya is the main character of the novel ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond. Her full name is Binyadevi. As in the hills or anywhere in India it is a kind of trend to call children with their short nicknames. Binya’s elder brother’s name is Bijju, whereas his real name is Vijay. Binya aged eleven is a hilly girl. She lives with her small family in the hills of Garhwal. Her father died when she was two years of age. For sustenance, the...

Kevein Books and Reviews

Search This Blog