Bookish Indulgences: The Tales Pensieve

Showing posts with label The Tales Pensieve. Show all posts

02 September, 2016

Debdatta Dasgupta September 02, 2016 0

#BookReview :: The Speaking Ghost of Rajpur by Priyonkar Dasgupta

It is India of early 1990s - the ‘picturesque’ small-town of Rajpur is in ‘full summer bloom’ and there is a definite sense of mystery in the air. Amidst its scenic setting each year a group of boys band together to spend their summer vacations - going cycling to far-off forests, sharing books, discussing everything under the sky and ogling at girls…

But as youth would have it, their curious minds are more inclined to seek adventure and (hopefully!) uncover some mysterious affair. However, unlike their previous vain attempts, this time certain unusual events and the sudden appearance of a curious case of a ghost in their midst seem to hold the promise of some real adventure.

In the pages of The Speaking Ghost of Rajpur rest assured you will soon be whisked off and plunged into a headlong journey of adventure and romance of your own - on a path of discovery of friendship and brotherhood, of life and love – and, who knows, you might even get to encounter the Speaking Ghost itself!

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Shoumo has just stepped into his teens and as such he is starting to see the world in a slightly different light. And his guide in this new found world and freedom is his brother Shaumik who he idolizes. So the prospect of spending a summer with his brother and his friends is enticing and Shoumo feels the need to not only fit in with the gang but also earn their approval. The adventure that awaits the gang at Rajpur is not what they had expected, but one that they willingly embraced, taking us readers for a ride along with them.

The Speaking Ghost of Rajpur is a perfect book for youngsters. It reminded me not only of my own adventure craving days of the teenage years, but also the experiences of going on an adventure with the Famous Five or the Secret Seven. The character development of the boys has been executed to perfection. It was so easy to picturise them and slip into their minds as the story progressed. Each boy had a clear and unique voice and their little nuisances made them stand out from the others in the group. The author has kept the plotline simple and uncomplicated, making this a light hearted read. The narrative and language compliments the plotline by keeping things dainty and light. The only ‘fault’ that I can pick with this book is probably its pace. The book could have been 30 odd pages shorter if the pace of the narrative had been tightened a bit.

Pick this book up for a ride back your own childhood as it is surely going to make you reminisce – the skinned knees to the innocence to the mischievous pranks… This book is also ideal for a few hours of undiluted fun and entertainment.

Review Copy received from The Tales Pensieve

21 May, 2015

Debdatta Dasgupta May 21, 2015 0

#BookReview :: Story of Tublu by Jahid Akhtar

Devastated by the floods, Bipin and his little boy Tublu move to a faraway land, where they meet the Sharma’s. This marks the beginning of a long and enduring relationship between Bipin and the Sharma’s, and the growing friendship of their children Tublu and Maina. The book captures the journey of this friendship through childhood to adolescence and into adulthood. From some interesting school and college humor, the story progresses on and develops into a mature narrative. As years pass, Tublu’s plain and silent crush on Maina develops into deep love and longing for Maina which bears the potential to conquer all of life’s challenges. The story has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

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We meet Tublu as he begins a new chapter in his life in a new city as he is forced to move with his father – driven away from his hometown due to floods. As Tublu and his father start to settle in, their lives get entwined with the Sharma family. Tublu finds a new friend in Maina, the daughter of the Sharma family. The story then follows them from their childhood to their teenage to as they turn into adults.

Through Tublu and Maina, the author has portrayed different stages of a person’s life and their different perspectives at those stages. From childhood friendship to teenage crush to something that is more matured, the stages of love in a person’s life are also beautifully captured. I enjoyed reading as these characters grew and developed over the years and through the pages. Initially when I picked up this book, I was expecting a simple love story but this book offers a lot more. The everyday nuances captured give a feel of reality to the story. Growing up, friendships, love and infatuations, facing harsh realities and even sorrow are few very simple elements of the story that makes it so gripping. The author’s narrative is engaging and he has kept his language dainty enough to make it really easy to get into the flow of things. Additionally, I would like to point out that as per the current trend; the author has included Hindi dialogues at certain moments. But he doesn’t overdo it and therein lays his success.

There are two things that I did not like much about the book. First is the fact that the Foreword and Introduction contain innumerable spoilers. After reading about three pages, I felt as if I knew the whole story. It was quite a turn off because of which I had put the book down for two days before picking it up again. The second thing that bugged me is the fact that the author covers decades of time period within two hundred odd pages. As a result, I found the pace rushed and a bit cheated because I felt like there was lot more that we could have known about the characters.

The title of the book maybe simple and not that attractive, but the book holds a lot more promise.

The book was received as part of Reviewers Programme on The Tales Pensieve.

23 December, 2013

Debdatta Dasgupta December 23, 2013 0

#BookReview :: Baramulla Bomber by Clark Prasad

Multiple intelligence agencies are tracking Mansur Haider, a god-fearing aspiring cricketer from Kashmir. His girlfriend, Aahana Yajurvedi, is trying to locate her missing mountaineering team, who vanished after a mysterious earthquake strikes Shaksgam Valley.
Investigating Mansur and the Shaksgam Valley incident is Swedish intelligence officer, Adolf Silfverskiold, whose only relationship to god consists of escorting his girlfriend to Church.
A dual China-Pakistan battlefront scenario facing the Indian Home Minister, Agastya Rathore, whose ancestors carry a prehistoric secret linked to the stars. He is faced with the challenge of finding a lasting solution to the Kashmir crisis.
Which Biblical Weapon was Tested in Shaksgam Valley? Why is Mansur Haider Important? Is There a Solution to the Kashmir Crisis? Can Destiny be Controlled? Does a Cosmic Religion Exist?

The book cover and the blurb promise its reader Science Fiction, Espionage and Thriller. As a mystery/thriller fan that is all that I needed to pick up this one.

Mansur Haider, an aspiring cricketer from Kashmir is being tracked and investigated by multiple takes intelligence agencies. At the same time his girlfriend Aahana is looking into the matter of a team of mountaineers that disappeared after an earthquake that hit Saksgam Valley. These two seemingly parallel incidents are enough to get the readers curious enough to turn the pages of the book. But then lands the Swedish intelligence officer, Adolf, who is looking into both these situations… What follows then revolves around a mysterious weapon, some cricket and some politics set in a multiple locations that build up a story that promises a rollercoaster journey.

The good parts first. The best thing about the book is its plot – interesting and had huge scope. Kudos to the author for coming up with it. There are many facets to it which kept it from becoming monotonous over time. The second thing that I liked was the accompanying diagrams. As voracious readers we are quite used to forming a mental image of everything that we read, but accompanying diagrams of symbols do help it to make it clear and easy to understand and remember. I also enjoyed the build-up of the story that which was rather exciting. Now, am moving on to the not so nice parts of the book. There are a whole lot of characters involved in this story but they were all very bland and uninspiring. If I had to choose one, I would probably say that Adolf was the one I liked out of them but even he is very much a forgettable character once you put down the book. Also, the climax was a rather let down after the build-up that the novel provided.

End of the day, this is a debut novel and as such this can be regarded as a good book. The author still has time to work on his characters in the upcoming two installments of the trilogy. Hopefully he will mature over the time and provide us with more hours of reading pleasure and lovable characters.

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The book was received as part of Reviewers Programme on The Tales Pensieve.

30 October, 2013

Debdatta Dasgupta October 30, 2013 0

#BookReview :: The Disappearance of Tejas Sharma...and other hauntings by Manish Mahajan

The Disappearance of Tejas Sharma…and other hauntings’ is an anthology of 12 ghost stories mostly set in India, and is meant for an audience with a penchant for the supernatural. Even with the constraints of a short story, each tale is rich in details and these dozen stories cover all the time tested classical elements of ghost fiction writing. From the story of the young man who inexplicably vanishes to the epic tale of the haunted Peepal tree in Rajasthan; from the true story of a ghost station in West Bengal to the medieval legend of the scary well on a remote island; from the mysterious tick and cross markings in a graveyard to the haunting music coming from a locked room… this collection of supernatural tales serves to be a perfect literary cocktail for night time reading.

This book is a collection of 12 short stories with some amount of paranormal touch. 12 stories told through 60 odd pages leaves very little scope for me to tell you about each story without giving out some spoiler. So instead of reviewing each story separately, I will review the book as a whole. And frankly, when I accepted this book for review I had no idea about what to expect from it. Ofcourse, ghosts of some sort would be part of each story – but what else? Would it be like Ahaat, the old TV series that always had me in splits or would it be more like Conjuring, the recent movie that everyone seems to swear as ‘really scary’? Would it be Stephen King material, that’s guaranteed to be freaky or more like Goosebumps series, that did give me goosebumps as a child but now I find it merely entertaining.

This book stands apart from all of the above mentioned books. For starters, the author has limited his story telling to a couple of pages and that I find a great constraint. How can you introduce and develop characters, set up the environment and then tell a story within those few pages? Well, an author attempting at short stories has to be a master of words to be and an outstanding story teller to able to be able to accomplish this else it would just leave the readers unsatisfied. Manish Mahajan has indeed mastered this art. His language and narration style has no flaws and each story ends on a satisfactory note. Not all of the stories are scary. Some are ironic and some are simply tragic, yet all of them have that eerie feeling you look for in a horror story. Each story is different from the other guaranteeing that the reader will find something to like. My personal favourites were The Secret in the Photograph, Raag Bhimpalasi and Her Unkept Promise.

This book will hardly take a couple of hours of your time, but it will be time well spent and Manish Mahajan is surely an author to watch out for! Get your copy Now!

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The book was received as part of Reviewers Programme on The Tales Pensieve.

19 June, 2013

Unknown June 19, 2013 0

#BookReview :: The Karachi Deception by Shatrujeet Nath

Project Abhimanyu — an audacious plot hatched by the RAW and Indian Army intelligence to assassinate Mumbai’s dreaded underworld don Irshad Dilawar, who’s hiding in Pakistan and assisting the ISI in its proxy war against India.
Major Imtiaz Ahmed is picked to lead the special ops mission deep inside Pakistan — but the ISI and Dilawar are several steps ahead of the Indians. Beaten at every turn, Major Imtiaz is faced with the horrifying realisation that Project Abhimanyu has been compromised... and his men are being lured into a deadly trap.
Set against the backdrop of global terrorism, Shatrujeet Nath’s debut novel is a quintessential spy thriller where nothing is what it seems — and treachery is a constant companion.

Hail Shatrujeet Nath… What a debut!

Irshad Dilawar, a terrorist hiding in Pakistan, is a known aide of ISI and is on a number of wanted lists. RAW and Indian Army have come together to take this menace off the streets – one way or the other – preferably permanently. But despite their best efforts, they are always a step behind. That’s when Major Imtiaz, the leader of this very special group, realises that their plan has been compromised and that they are walking straight into a trap.

The characters were mostly well developed. I would have personally liked to read a bit more background on some of the major characters. Not a big issue though because I guess that it would have probably compromised with the pace of the story. The protagonist, Imtiaz is a really great character. He is strong, focused and brave. He is the kind of man who is dependable and the kind you can idolize and look up to. You cheer for and be scared for him, all the while knowing that in the end, he will emerge victorious. On the other hand, Dilawar is a character that really needed more time in the plot. I had very little idea about his psyche. Though he is no Gabbar or Mogambo, he does test our protagonist.

The book opens with an assassination plot or a rather a botched assassination attempt and I was hooked. After that great beginning, the story continued to maintain its pace and rhythm throughout. There’s a lot of action in there and I must say that the action scenes were really well done. The language of the author is good and nowhere has he overdone even a bit. The descriptions of places and people felt well researched and were detailed. Okay, so I am not an expert in this case, but as a reader, it just felt right. The chapters led one into the other smoothly and the narrative was just right.

Overall, it’s a great book and an even better debut. Shatrujeet is an author to watch out for and maybe soon we will have our very own James Patterson flooding international market.

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The book was received as part of Reviewers Programme on The Tales Pensieve.

06 June, 2013

Debdatta Dasgupta June 06, 2013 1

#BookReview :: Polka Dots, Pony Tails and Purple Pouts by Amrita Anand Nayak

Leena, Tia and Jasmine, each have a past that has made them what they are and which still continues to cast a shadow on their lives as far as love and relationships are concerned.

Life is good when you have a loving life-partner, but it's even better when you have dear and dependable friends. For Leena, Tia and Jasmine, life has plenty of struggles in store but also plenty of cheers and smiles along the way as they journey together.

It’s a story of three friends, who are also room-mates, as they live their lives and face various situations and difficulties. First is Tia, the Polka Dots represent her in the title of the story. She is a fashion crazy girl who is but introvert b nature. She loves her Polka Dotted dress as it was the one dress she was wearing when Sam first ‘noticed’ her. Then comes Jasmine – the Purple Pouts of the title. She is lively, trendy and flirty who parties hard to live life to the fullest. But behind her various short term relationships, lies the secret Jerry – her first love. Lastly, but by no means the least, is Leena. Pony Tails of the title represents her simply because she loves to wear her hair in a Pony Tail. She is Daddy’s little girl who always falls for older men.

Behind the smokescreen of these three lively girls, lie their story of love, betrayal and hurt. As the story uncovers their lives, the readers are taken on a globe-trotting and heart touching journey of these three girls who are similar yet so different from each other. They live through the roller coaster rides of their lives with the help of the love and support of each other. Leena’s dedication to her recovering alcoholic father, Tia’s fight for her love and Jasmine’s first love all became a part of my life as I turned each page.

Character wise, I have to say that all the three protagonists are well developed and distinct. There are few side characters that also play an important role. You’ll love them and be irritated of them, yet you’ll feel compelled to be a part of their lives. The plot is simple and easy to relate to. We all have had people in our lives who could play the parts of Polka Dots, Pony Tails and Purple Pouts well enough. Amrita has also managed to keep the flow of the story smooth with appropriate amount of humour, drama and emotions. She has created a perfect reflection of the modern Indian women who may often stray away from the traditional mould, yet are inspiring.

It’s an entertaining read that I would suggest the chic-lit fans to give a try.