Unseasonal Rain is written by
Anupa Mehta and published by Estrade Publishers.
The book is a compilation of
short stories. I will put the book under the category of dark and serious. It leaves you with a haunting feeling. But
one cannot help it, as somewhere it shows the truth of our society and our
life. The best part of the stories is, the characters belong to upper middle
class, so relating to them is not a problem. The book is divided into nine
stories with a twist.
The stories deal with different
topics like sexual abuse, loneliness, need for acceptance, unhappy marriages etc.
The stories also reflect the surviving skill of the characters, that how in
spite of all the odds they made peace with self. Though at times while reading
the book, I wished that more was written about character’s thinking pattern.
But nevertheless, the book is a good read. If you are a serious reader I would
definitely recommend you this book.
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| Anupa Mehta |
Among the collection, I like the
story of – An actor and Incomplete Painting. An actor is an interesting take,
on how it is difficult to accept the reality, even when the truth is staring at
us. The story revolves around an actress who was unconventional and shifted her
lover to her marital home (we thought only men do such things). The kids are
born and one bears a striking resemblance to the lover. When the kids grow up,
they leave the home as they cannot deal with societal gossips. The kid, who
resembled the lover, hates his mom for what she did and tries to ignore the
reality. But as the story progress, the kid who has turned into man, tries to
make peace with the fact and brings the father home. What intrigued me was, had
the kid accepted the reality, he would had more time to spend with his father
and the poor old man wouldn’t have landed in old age home. It definitely
strikes the chord somewhere. After reading the story I was contemplating, why
we humans are such cowards and pleasing the society is so high on our agenda.
Why should you read the book:
- Interesting take on human psyche.
- Good stories with twist
- The stories will ask certain questions, which might lead to introspection.
- Good editing
The book is published by Estrade
Publishers and costing Rs.200/-