Book Review - The Bachelor of Arts by RK Narayan

                                                    

This is the story of love, rejection and then moving on.

This is the story of Chandran and his journey to let go of his past.

Chandran is the elder son and a final year BA student. He is carefree and easy - a typical teenager. He sees a girl during one of his evening walk and falls madly in love with her. He decides to marry her and tries everthing possible to make that happen. Unfortunately, the love story doesnt end in marriage and he is left heart broken and devastated.

Then starts his journey of how he lets go of his past.

He leaves home, becomes a sanyasi and lives at the mercy of others and then finally returns home with a new outlook towards life. He has changed for good and is more mature now.

Set in the 1930's, this is a realistic story of a youth. Mr. Narayan has greatly potrayed the feelings of the youth and their thought processes in the book. He also brings out the flaws in the education system, the flaws of the society and how the youth are pressurized to take decisions or accept the decisions of their parents and the society. 

A relatable story and a beautiful book potraying the gradual evolution of a young boy into a mature adult.

 

Reviewed by,

Shilpa Bhat,

Author of the book - Extracts ...From The Life -12 Short Stories




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review - Battles of Dograi - 1965 - Dare Devilry of 3 Jat BN

Image
  " The Nation has a right to know and we have a duty to tell how our Captains of War keep vigil over the borders of India around the clock and sacrifice their lives so that the Nation lives" Book Title -  Battles of Dograi - 1965 - Dare Devilry of 3 Jat BN Written by - Dr. Virendra Verma This 74 pages book is a power packed account of one of the hard-fought war fought by India - The war of 1965. Very effective narration and story telling. I felt as if I was right there in the war field watching it live. It has all the minute and first hand details of the war. No nonsense and just absolute facts. Read this book to know what a soldier goes through during the war, how a soldier prepares for the war and how does it feel to be there in the war-field. This book also has take-away on the leadership qualities, the importance of discipline and keeping oneself fit and the importance of physical training. Mentions of some of the Heros from the Battle of Dograi: Lt. Col Desmond Hayde Su...
Read more

Book Review - The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Vikrant Khanna

Image
  The book starts with a question - Are you a believer or a cynic? Since, I am a believer, I picked up this book from the local library. A sweet love story of Sidhu and Sahiba that ended tragically when Sidhu dies in a car crash. Then enters the ghost Harry, who used to love Sahiba when he was alive and then helps her get back Sidhu as her guardian angel. Too Bollywoodish, I must say.  Yes, Its a fantasy novel meant mostly for the teens. The book starts well but gets slightly boring later on. The book is in the form of third person narration. Harry is telling the story of Sahiba and Sidhu to a 13 year old girl Akshara who lost her mother and is undergoing therapy to overcome her grief. The book deals with love , faith, confusions, one sided love, grief and pain of losing a loved one .  The author tried to create a romcom of a different genre which I think he did.  Towards the end, Akshara feels that Harry is her illusion while Harry keeps maintaining that h...
Read more

Book Review - Can A Fat Girl Get A First Kiss?

Image
           A story that deals with the struggles and emotions of a teen who is on the heavier side.   The story deals with Fat-Shaming and bullying which we as a society overlook. Pamela is a young girl who is bullied, mocked at for her weight, the way she eats or for her looks and this has affected her badly. She feels unwanted and unloved. She has no one to express or confide and hence, makes her toys her family. She talks to them, confides in them, fights with them and even takes advice from them. The author has brought out the human emotions very well along with an added flavor of subtle humour.  The way Pamela ended her relationships with her love interests shows that Body-Shaming not only affects a person emotionally and psychologically but also his or her relationships. Her self-doubts ruined her romantic relationships. A very touching story. Though the initial few chapters were little slow,but the story picks up the speed later.  On t...
Read more