I had a lot of expectations from these short stories by Amit Shankar having heard so much about him (*grinning*) and the stories are indeed unusual. Not all of them but yes most of them. They explore a different side of the human mind and a couple were especially good.
I must mention the ones that stayed with me long after I had finished reading them. Smart TV comes foremost to the mind and as does The Jazz Player. In Smart TV, the simple, clueless housewife and the doting daughter had my pity. We have so many women who face this reality every day.
‘The Jazz Player’ was creepy and I agree with the fact that maybe the player was indeed tempting death! I could not figure out what he had ordered till it was out in the open.
Stories like ‘Let Me Help You Die’, ‘The Black Widow’, ‘The Dream Chaser’, ‘True Lies’ are all well written and delve into the madness of our minds. How much pain can be inflicted or absorbed?
The story ‘Home Sweet Home’ was quite poignant and predictable as was the ‘Temple of The King’.
The ‘Writer’s Block’ was a bit weird; what if all unsuccessful writers start doing that? Thank god for Self-publishing J
‘Code of Honour’ was another story that tugged at the heartstrings, the soldier father writing his heart out is easily the most heart-tugging right after ‘The Guardian Angel’.
The language in the stories, especially the initial ones could be better with fewer words but they do manage to get the point across. They are Indian stories so they are fine with “Indian English” in them. (You can check out my post on “Indianisms that may be ruining your writing”.)
I am not a language critic and I can only write about whether the author got his point across or not; did the stories reflect what the blurb said or not and whether I would read the author again.
Well, I say yes for all the above, I will read Amit’s works and Cafe’ Latte delivers what it promises. I finished the book in 2 short sittings and enjoyed myself too!
A perfect coffee or tea time or read even a cool travel read.
I was given this book by “The Bookaholics” in return for an honest review. All views, images and reviews are my own.
(c) Indywrites
