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I took up this book since I've always enjoyed short stories which give just a small window into the lives of the characters and convey a lot instead of a lot of meandering and unnecessary detailing.
I'll be honest and very liberal in my review. The stories are depressing, frustrating, highly negative and completely cynical at the best and at times even sick! The "scintillating" sub-title doesn't fit to any of the 25 stories.
Chetan Joshi, it says in the introduction was a software engineer (I see where the frustration is coming from) who did a lot of odd creative jobs like editing, copy writing before finally becoming a full time author. He worked on scripts of Aahat on Sony TV and somehow hasn't come out of the highly irritating TV suspense/horror mold. Some stories did have a Panchatantr(a)-ic feel to it but the story line is so mediocre that it literally blows to pieces even a good setting. I don't have problems with tragedies but the plots more than once cross over to the sick-mind domain.
At points where a story had two possible routes to choose from, the author has very conveniently ignored knowledge about any route going towards a whiff of brilliance. The only point I admire the author about is his ability to come up with such diverse plots having the same mediocrity associated with them.
I'm not divulging into any story in particular since I want to erase every memory about this traumatic experience as soon as I'm done writing this review. Even if I leave aside the plots and stories there is very little to appreciate in this book. It's not often that I feel I have literally been cheated into paying any amount for a book but then this is a really special case! This could well one of those books which evokes extreme emotions (I'm just giving the author some breathing space) but this type certainly doesn't work for me.
I highly recommend this book in case you're a sadist, cynic or a psychopath. You'll even find it worth a read if you're a pessimist and like to be submerged in a sea of weird emotions. If you're a normal, level-headed, sane individual you can ignore this book quite conveniently. But in case as you're unfortunate as me to fall in the optimistic/ positive category, in your own best interest kindly flee as soon as you even see the cover of this book.
I believe it would be in the best interest of all involved that Chetan Joshi makes a sea change in his stories... a change of profession would also suffice!
Cheers!
I'll be honest and very liberal in my review. The stories are depressing, frustrating, highly negative and completely cynical at the best and at times even sick! The "scintillating" sub-title doesn't fit to any of the 25 stories.
Chetan Joshi, it says in the introduction was a software engineer (I see where the frustration is coming from) who did a lot of odd creative jobs like editing, copy writing before finally becoming a full time author. He worked on scripts of Aahat on Sony TV and somehow hasn't come out of the highly irritating TV suspense/horror mold. Some stories did have a Panchatantr(a)-ic feel to it but the story line is so mediocre that it literally blows to pieces even a good setting. I don't have problems with tragedies but the plots more than once cross over to the sick-mind domain.
At points where a story had two possible routes to choose from, the author has very conveniently ignored knowledge about any route going towards a whiff of brilliance. The only point I admire the author about is his ability to come up with such diverse plots having the same mediocrity associated with them.
I'm not divulging into any story in particular since I want to erase every memory about this traumatic experience as soon as I'm done writing this review. Even if I leave aside the plots and stories there is very little to appreciate in this book. It's not often that I feel I have literally been cheated into paying any amount for a book but then this is a really special case! This could well one of those books which evokes extreme emotions (I'm just giving the author some breathing space) but this type certainly doesn't work for me.
I highly recommend this book in case you're a sadist, cynic or a psychopath. You'll even find it worth a read if you're a pessimist and like to be submerged in a sea of weird emotions. If you're a normal, level-headed, sane individual you can ignore this book quite conveniently. But in case as you're unfortunate as me to fall in the optimistic/ positive category, in your own best interest kindly flee as soon as you even see the cover of this book.
I believe it would be in the best interest of all involved that Chetan Joshi makes a sea change in his stories... a change of profession would also suffice!
Cheers!
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