edited by Harsh Snehanshu
Okay, here it is: writing a book experience after a long time.
An extremely well written collection of short stories.
Now let me inspect to the bones of each story.
1. Miracle: Frankly, a nice story but not the best of the lot. Sorry.
2. The creation of love: The authoress is famous for her well written stories. This one is good, a bit mundane though. And while I have seen her sensible use of words elsewhere, here her choice of words gives a feeling of forcefully flowery fiction.
3. Wintersong: Small , nice and … confusing.
4. My grandfather’s shirt: Probably one of best of the lot. have to read it thrice to fully devour every inch of its beauty. Truly, SKIN is infectious.
5. Benched: Surrealistic? Theoretical? Abstract? What the f…! It’s uncomfortably confusing.
6. The 37th Milestone: Nice attempt for a horror. But to be true, it never gives any shiver.
7. Valentine Lost: Nice love story. But not good enough to be like no 4.
8. Tainted Red: Nice, like the story idea. I mean, really a good story with good style.
9. The birthday boy: I’d rather say it’s an unnecessarily forced attempt to present a simple/small story in a complex and tangled web of words. But if it is truly written by a 14 yrs old, I’ll be waiting for the writer’s upcoming work.
10. The girl who owned castles: Same story, different ending. Not has much impact.
11. The perfectly poached egg: Shows how to write a story out of nothing. A story on making poached egg.
12. Sawai: Nice. Nothing more.
13. Someone with Character: Good mockery. Liked it.
14. Vaman: Good sci-fi with a heart.
15. Not understanding Schnapsens: No, couldn’t understand it.
16. The lost cause: Congrats! A story on IIT-JEE. Being in IIT myself, I too feel the lost cause.
17. End of a weekend: Yes, finally found a story worthy of tons of praises. Such a beautiful presentation. A waitress describes her Sunday eve, so scattered, so perfect. Well done!
18. Friedzoned: Okay type.
19. Hamsanadam: WOW! If I knew bharatnatyam, this would be my favourite of all.
20. The life changing present: Short and predictive.
21. The rejection ceremony: Being fat. Being a writer and being a woman. Nice but not good enough.
22. The proof of birth: A different story. Well-written.
23. One a penny: Four connected stories. A nice little treat.
24. Angels and demons: Definitely liked this one. Very well-written.
25. Prem ki chasni: Translation of an old hindi classic. Well done Harsh. You won’t get a review harsh!
26. The Postman: Thought it would be an emotional story, turned out to be a funny tale. P.S. I hate the idea of writing a moral (which this one has) at the end of a story. Just a personal thing though. Feels like reading a secondary English grammar book.
Overall, a should be read book. Can’t say must-read. But compared to tons of other anthologies, this will give a far better experience.
ALPHABET SPEAKS 