My Rating - 3 out of 5 stars
Publisher - PartridgeGenre - Fiction
Publishing year - 2014
Language - English
ISBN - 978-1-4828-2202-1
Pages - 505
My Review -
Dance of Life by Shyam Sundar Bulusu is my fifth read from the author. The book is divided into three stories named Dance of Life, Intersections, and Soul Mates, making it a thick read and requires time to finish reading it. The cover page portrays a rainbow in the black backdrop that resembles how we experience different shades. It is also the central theme of the stories.
Dance of Life - A love story between Radha and Shashank; everything was going smoothly between them until the day Shashank disappears. Radha was left with immense pain and unanswered questions, but one day a call from someone telling her the whereabouts of Shashank bring back all the memories she tried to forget.
Intersections - It is one of the most extended stories of this book. Sumitra and Madhu fall in love and planning to marry, but one of them cheated the other by marrying someone else. The life of the other person is completely ruined, but fate had some other plans. They both met again, and the outcome was not good for either of them. This story's other character is Anurag and Katyayani, who plays a vital role in Sumitra and Madhu's lives. Do they find a way to each other, or destiny has something else in the store?
Soul Mates - It is the story of a father-daughter duo. When Anjali was eight-years-old, her mother died. Her father Dev never remarried and raised Anjali alone that made their bond more strong. Dev is worried about what will happen to Anjali after he dies. Her refusal to marriage makes Dev more anxious, and the story progresses with the entry of Anand. Dev's love for her dead wife is worth mentioning, and the title justifies it in the end.
All the stories have some common ground, like the traditional approach to wedding preparations and the formal greetings, which I don't see much these days. I like that all the female protagonists are well-established in their respective careers. As I said earlier about the central theme, the stories revolve around the emotions like love, loss of someone close, sacrifices, and greed.
The narrative in the first and second story is back and forth between past and present memories. Shashank and Anurag's thoughtfulness is quite affirming. Anjali was considerate towards her father and put Dev first, but what bothers me is when she called him swine (pig). The author narrates the whole traditional aspect in the stories; that's why I found it problematic. All the tales have a backdrop of Chennai, and I can see the mention of sundal (a south Indian dish) in all of them. I am assuming that it's the author's favorite dish too. Overall, I recommend this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment