After all the good ones, here’s one that really disappointed. At the outset let me say this that these are my views and they are unbiased. This was outright vanilla, no substance, depth and one felt empty after reading it. There was absolutely no take way and is a feeble attempt at writing.
Now let me get to my issues with the book. To my mind the publishers were trying to ride on two factors – the Arundhati Roy fever and Chetan Bhagat’s success. To their credit they have done a fair job, I have done some trawling on the Web and found quite a bit on this book. The media seems to have indulged the author with their superficial coverage. It almost seems unfair that a book like ‘Night of the Dark Trees’ (see earlier post) was not marketed as well despite being an amazing book.
The writer has claimed in an interview that she had completed her book when Ms. Roy’s book was launched. However, the plot is strikingly similar, characters are similar, the setting is similar and yet falls very short. “The God of Small Things’ is a classic and I dont foresee another blitzkreig like that coming out soon more so based on Syrian Christians.
The language is weak and almost cute. There is lack of imagery and the theme of the river seems contrived and plays little significance. Even the central theme of the affair between Annamma and Thoma is glossed over, almost like the writer is apologetic or embarassed to say more. At best it is like an old Satyan-Sheela black & white movie of the 60s.
This is a learning for all ‘aspiring writers’ – you may have the right setting and a sellable theme but that alone does not make a novel.
The only lines that appealed to me were this - ‘portion of the proceeds from the book is being donated to the Nav Srishti Foundation (an NGO that works for under-privileged women in India’).
Do you need to buy a book for that you ask?
I know what you mean. Some time back i read a book which was by a celebrated author. Though the storyline is good, the writing falls flat on its face. The entire book reads like a monologue and if i had not seen the film i would not have been able to endure through it.