Kevein Books and Reviews

The End of Something is a short story by Ernest Hemingway set against the familiar backdrop: Hortons Bay in Michigan. Once Hortons Bay was a mill town and then logging occupation was at full sway; then the town was chirpy and lively; but when the mill disappeared and logging faded out, only remained a few vestiges of the past such as lime stones of the once-existed mill. There is no fun anymore. With time, things of interest and occupation have been changed or gone like a smooth rite of passage. One evening two teenagers Nick and Marjorie go boating there for fishing. They are in relationship. Their efforts to catch trout fish fails miserably. To spend the night together they build a driftwood fire. Nick shows that he is frustrated due to failed fishing. On the other hand, Marjorie is trying to be over romantic by comparing the vestiges of the mill with a palace. This absurd comparison frustrates Nick and he shows it loudly. He grows sullen and a bit like a bull. Nick ...

We all would like to meet or see someone worth remembering later in life. And normally this urge is very high when we travel on a train. The Night Train at Deoli is one such story where a young boy of around eighteen meets a poor and beautiful girl on a lonely platform. The story has a few nameless characters. The narrator (boy) remembers a few journeys he made in past. He is traveling back to Dehradun from Delhi, and thirty miles before Dehradun arrives a single-platform station, Deoli. The train arrives at that station around five in the morning when there is no sufficient sunlight to make out the things. The station is rather a lonely sort of place. A few dimly lit bulbs, stationmaster's cabin, and a tea stall. But much to his amazement, he finds, at that odd hour of the day, a girl with pale skin, dark eyes. Her clothes are not that new or fashionable. From her outlook, she looks poor. She is selling baskets. When the narrator notices her keenly, unpretentiously she a...

Having failed to make a reasonable source of income from writing stories and novels during his stay in Dehra after returning from London, the narrator Rusty comes down to Delhi to see some success in his slow-moving career. Th story - Summertime in Old New Delhi - is a part of ‘Rusty Comes Home’ book, this story shuttles between a couple of time accounts: childhood days spent with his father, and as a young grown-up writer moved to Delhi for a promising writing career. It does not chronicle the events but certainly throws the reminiscences of his early unsettled life. Well placed in the settling Delhi: it describes the post partition situation when people from the other side were stacking up in the newly formed capital of India. Very subtly Ruskin Bond takes the readers on a ride to see the 1940s and 1950s eras, all memories. Well in 1940s, he came with his father to live in a RAF tent in the outskirts of the city, near Qutab Minar, he remembers then there were no buildings only sc...

Up in Michigan by Ernest Hemingway is a short story which in it has infatuation as the central theme. Other concurrent themes support this main theme are gender typecast, unequal romance, and social inferiority. The story starts with an introduction of a man and a city to which he comes as a new immigrant. The man is Jim Gilmore, and the city is Horton's Bay in Michigan. Jim takes a blacksmith's shop as a settlement provision and often visits Smiths for meals, especially for dinner and drinks. There aren’t many houses where he lives. So, for company he acquaintances with D.J. Smith and Charley Wyman. Liz Coates works in the kitchen of Smiths and is considered a neat beautiful girl with noticeable neat hair in the views of Mrs. Smith. On the other hand, Jim being a blacksmith is an impressive personality having substantial semblance of manhood. Liz, inside her heart, thinks about him, and anticipates a lot about him. In fact, she becomes a keen observer of him. Iro...

Vagrants in the Valley by Ruskin Bond is a wonderful book dealing with the loneliness of Rusty–Ruskin Bond’s favorite character–and to some extent Rusty is the reflection of Bond’s early life spent in many North Indian cities. The book is a sequel to the book ‘The Room on the Roof’ and is also a part of the Rusty series books. As told in ‘The Room on the Roof’, Rusty runs away from his bitter English guardian and falls in love with Meena, the mother of Kishen. But when she dies in an accident and Kishen got tired of his boring, drunkard father, he runs away to Hardwar to live with an aunt and Rusty follows them. After spending a year in Hardwar, they both feel the fondness for Dehradun and the memories of their friendship and juvenile adventures and vagrancy haunt them so much that one day they become what they were a year ago: vagrants and subsequently they run away from that place. Because of lack of money, they cover most of the journey on foot and in snatches travel w...

Debu and Hayat live in Milam, a small hilly village on the borders of India and Tibet. A year ago they lost their father in a snow blizzard when he was coming back to Milam from Tibet following a trade business. Father’s absence makes their life all the tougher, since they are poor and means of livelihood are infrequent in the hills, and his uncle Trilok troubles them above all. However, Debu believes that his father is alive and he should proceed to find him. But the biggest obstacle is the journey that has to take through the snowy high-mountain passes that lead to Tibet. Moreover, he is just a fourteen-year-old boy and so far no boy of his age has been included in the expedition which is usually carried out by veteran traders and mountaineers. One day Debu sees his father’s amulet in a Tibetan customer’s neck. When he enquires about that amulet the customer says he bought it from the market of Garkot – a famous place in Tibet where his father and other men of the village o...

Jai comes to his grandparents’ home up in the valley to while away the October holiday. He loves reading books as well as roaming across the jungles in the hills. At his grandparents’ home, his main task is to take the cattle out for grazing. And to accompany him, is a shaggy, bear-like dog, because of his size Jai and others call him Motu. The valley in which they take their cattle for grazing is recently terrorized by two big golden eagles. The eagles keep watch on their prey and when things are set they attack silently. Their preparation seldom leaves a way for any error. Pheasants, foxes, snow-cocks, pine martens, and lambs so far have been their victims. The eagles rule the sky – they are bold and equally fearless. And only a skilled hunter can reduce them to ashes. So one day when he was not so careful, busy gathering strawberries, the eagle taking the advantage of the situation attacks a tiny lamb and flies away it. Jai and Motu realizing the horror and loss run af...