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aatyagi01's review against another edition
4.0
Linguistically simplistic representation of very real and eternally applicable principle that founds Indian existence.
Each story is so beautifully cliché, the ending expected, yet still somehow unexpected and one cannot be deterred from completing any of the numerous short stories. No topic is left untouched—romance, existentialism, politics, social commentary, crime—and although published in the 90s, their origins are dated to the 70s and one cannot help but become more captivated by the voice and creative imagination of a young boy penning these stories as he comes of age amidst the then and still developing India.
It is refreshing to read such effortless prose and this facilitates the poetry of each story's thematic element(s).
One may dismiss this collection as tales too much told, however the immortal essence of Indian identity so pristinely captured by Tharoor can not be denied.
Each story is so beautifully cliché, the ending expected, yet still somehow unexpected and one cannot be deterred from completing any of the numerous short stories. No topic is left untouched—romance, existentialism, politics, social commentary, crime—and although published in the 90s, their origins are dated to the 70s and one cannot help but become more captivated by the voice and creative imagination of a young boy penning these stories as he comes of age amidst the then and still developing India.
It is refreshing to read such effortless prose and this facilitates the poetry of each story's thematic element(s).
One may dismiss this collection as tales too much told, however the immortal essence of Indian identity so pristinely captured by Tharoor can not be denied.
suriya's review
Love his wit and humour! The way he was able to make everything punny was really cool. After a few of the stories, started realizing his pattern of building up the whole story just to have a twist at the end - by the time I came to the story of 'Temple thief', I was able to predict the ending. His command over the English language back then, when he was my age, is really worthy of envy. Loved some stories like 'Friends' much more than the others.
tejaswininaik's review
3.0
I have been a huge fan of Shashi Tharoor's editorials in TOI and finally got to read this collection of short stories written when he was between the age of 19 - 25. Considering his literary prowess at that age, you can say that this book is a genius. But when you are awakened by the fact that it is written by the same man who stunned the English with his speech, you begin to realize that he had it in him since he was young. Some of the stories have great premises that I have never come across before..
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