Book Review : Rukhsat - The Departure
Rukhsat - The Departure is written by Sujit Banerjee and published by Frog Books of Leadstart Publishing Pvt. Ltd. I have received this book from Meera of ratnibbles.blogspot.in. The debut book of author is a collection of twenty six stories each starting with a name from an alphabet of English language, twenty six alphabets hence twenty six stories.
Cover : Both cover and title were attention grabbing and because of title and cover I got interested in reviewing this book. A tree whose leaves are coming down giving the feeling of loss and departure. Full marks for the cover and title a Urdu name for a English book is a nice idea.
Plot : Book comprises twenty six stories, each starting with a letter of English alphabet and representing a name starting with A for 'Abhimanyu - The Beginning' to Z for 'Zayan - The smell of Green Apples'. Abhimanyu is a story of unborn child and Zayan is the story of a man who has died. Stories starting from birth and ending with death covering life in between. There are stories from an illegitimate child, a unhappy marriage, gay sex encounter of strangers, a prostitute, a street child to a forgetful man, a lost child, etc. All stories bound with the common thread of sadness of incompleteness in life.
Highs : The concept is the hero of this book. The wide variety of characters gives a unique attribute to each story. The language is simple and easily understandable. Some stories are told with two different perspectives which gives you glimpse of psyche of both the characters in that particular situation which I think makes reading interesting in those parts.
Lows : Only some stories are interesting and there is none I found which leave an everlasting impact on readers. The sadness, remorse, emptiness in characters' life was almost similar and after ten or twelve stories you started losing interest in the book. Emotions related to sexual desires are dominant in most of the stories. Author failed to create variety in stories in spite having liberty of varied characters. There is a depressing undertone in all stories.
Verdict : A well conceptualized book worth a one time read in free time.
Rating : A would give it 2/5.
True, the stories have dark shades. I found some characters portrayed well. Good review, Cifar.
ReplyDeleteA very honest take... thanks for sharing this great review.
ReplyDeleteNice review there :) As you said could be a good one time read :)
ReplyDeleteOne thing I like about your reviews is your dry honesty. :)
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