A sin of color

I have been reading Indian authors a lot these days because my father’s library only has either them or H. G. Wells. Written by Sunetra Gupta this novel is a story spanning three generation of a family living a Calcutta. I must say the best part of this novel is the unique and fresh way of writing. I have never seen a book with such attention-grabbing style in hundred plus books I have read. There are no dialogues written in quotes. Not just that the author changes the narrative character from chapter to chapter and sometimes in the middle of the character without baffling you. Every chapter is assigned with a color name from crimson to saffron. Paragraphs are written brilliantly and the only way you realize that the anchor of the story has changed when you follow the passage to find out. In the same manner the story moves back and forth effortlessly.

For the story it does not offer anything new or drastic. It deals with three generations of a family in which a member of each generation is unhappy with his/her life. The mother is dejected as she was not able to complete her studies even though that was all she wanted; the son is in love with his elder brother’s wife who he can not have; and the niece is love with an unattainable married man. They all try to cope with there failed ambitions in a way they find suitable.

The only bad thing about the book is its trite ending. I was able to predict it with 5 pages to go (though you can also say that I had no clue of ending before that). And it was not just the predictability but I don’t think the ending was appropriate. Whatever may be the up and down’s the book is good. Read it to believe it!