Book Review: You Beneath Your Skin by Damyanti Biswas | Debut | Crime-Thriller | Chhanv Foundation & Project WHY

Book Review

You Beneath Your Skin by Damyanti Biswas

You Beneath Your Skin by Damyanti Biswas

Author: Damyanti Biswas

ISBN: 978-9386797629

Genre: Crime, Thriller & Mystery 

Length: 390 Pages

Publisher: Simon & Schuster India (17 September 2019)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2p227df

About the author: 

Damyanti Biswas lives in Singapore, and works with Delhi's underprivileged children as part of Project Why, a charity that promotes education and social enhancement in underprivileged communities. Her short stories have been published in magazines in the US, UK, and Asia, and she helps edit the Forge Literary Magazine. You can find her on her blog and twitter.

Damyanti Biswas

Follow her on Instagram: @damyantig
Twitter Handle: @damyantig
Visit Damyanti's Blog: https://www.damyantiwrites.com/

REVIEW

Narration

You Beneath Your Skin is a crime-thriller novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The book is a conglomeration of profound characters and an enthralling plot. The story is narrated in the third person omniscient point of view. The writing style is just perfect for this tremendously progressive plot, literally, it won’t leave you once you start reading this book till the end. There is not a single moment that had not made a progress, also expositions are perspicuous yet intense.

Theme

Like an exceptional work, You Beneath Your Skin has a lot going on at the same time. There are so many characters, all are deep-rooted and powerful, and on top of that, they all have terrifically transformative arcs throughout the book. It isn’t like a common crime thriller where you will find a murder or two or a scam, this book is filled with a lot more. For example, author Damyanti Biswas has addressed autism, acid attacks and their impact, the huge gap between privileged and underprivileged communities especially children, politics, and how police are being crushed between politicians and their duty towards citizens. The novel is set in Delhi and the author has extracted every bit of it and has added it into the book; the police department, medical institutions, and all other organizations written are well-researched.

Characters: 

Also, this book contains a complicated web of relations. So there is a pair of siblings, Maya and Jatin. Maya lives in Safdarjung Enclave with Anjali Morgan–her Bhai’s friend from Florida who parted from her husband, now lives with her son Nikhil, who has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). Jatin Bhatt is Police Commissioner and is married to Drishti with a handsome and charming son Varun. However, Jatin’s family life is falling apart because of his affair with Dr. Anjali and the married couple not paying attention to their son who is not at all who he appears to be, according to Maya. Jatin’s father-in-law is Commissioner D.M. Mehra. Varun is friends with Vishal, son of Union Home Secretary Dayal Sisodia, Jatin’s college classmate. Kusum is Jatin’s Assistant Sub – Inspector. Pawan is Maya’s assistant at their Vigil and he has some family relations with Drishti. These characters play a significant part in the tremendous plot.

Acid Attacks: 

You Beneath Your Skin. Exactly. What would you feel when you will be robbed of your face, your identity? That intense burning pain of skin meltdown and the pain that comes with numerous surgeries. There is always a danger of losing one’s eyes in such attacks. What would that feel to not have your eyes just because of someone’s feculent mind? What if you were left with one eye to see your disfigured face and worse, seeing people rejecting you (from jobs and institutes) because of that transformation? I would feel tired enough to kill myself not having the motive to continue. But if you have your dear ones around throughout the process and have a single motto for living your life or for any person then it becomes your strength. Also, not everyone would have those chances, not every survivor would have parents by their side because these survivors are not from a certain range of ages, they’ve been as young as 10 and there are 45 years old also. In those situations, rehabilitation centers for acid attack survivors are of much support and strength, their initiatives create opportunities for fighters. They’ll come to see, they are not alone in this fight.

On that note, the proceeds to the author from this book will go to the non-profits, Chhanv Foundation and Project WHY.

Let me just mention other issues addressed in the book.

Autism: It is difficult to deal with a child having ASD but this book have a great message for the people dealing with autistic and not only that, You Beneath Your Skin shows all the difficulties that come with Autism.

This book also shows the lifestyle of underprivileged people and what is the value of their lives. And with that, how privileged people take advantage of them to quench their thirst for wicked pleasures. The book is wrapped with a white cloak of politics which people often pull on to conceal their foul deeds for the sake of reputation.

I will now wrap up this review with these lines. I highly highly recommend this book to everyone out there reading this. Not just because of the topics addressed in this book, but also because this is an incredible work of writing.

Happy Reading!

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Book Review: Dramatic Daydreams of Miss Sodabottleopenerwala by Tanvi Mayur Shah | Humour

Book Review

Dramatic Daydreams of

Miss Sodabottleopenerwala

by Tanvi Mayur Shah

Dramatic Daydreams of Miss Sodabottleopenerwala by Tanvi Mayur Shah

Author: Tanvi Mayur Shah

ISBN: 978-9389147421

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Humour

Length: 159 Pages

Publisher: Self Published (1 August 2019)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/32s5wAt

About the author: 

Tanvi Mayur Shah is a 23-year-old girl who is an Engineering Graduate but her interests lie in storytelling, travelling and reading. Her love for books isn't genre-specific even though she has a keen fondness for reading detective stories. She wrote her first book- a teenage fiction- at age 15. Tanvi can be either found reading murder mysteries or watching chick flicks when she isn't writing poetries or satire. She is an animal lover and a staunch supporter of animal rights. A hopeless romantic at heart, Tanvi often likes to see life as an idyllic fairytale.

Follow her on Instagram: @delectable_me
Email: tanvishah389@gmail.com
DDOMS on Pothi.com: Buy now

REVIEW

Narration

Dramatic Daydreams of Miss Sodabottleopenerwala is the most inspiring & entertaining book with a whimsical sense of humour I’ve ever read. The book is narrated in first-person point of view which helps clearly understanding the protagonist Kira Sodabottleopenerwala. The writing style is simply amazing, contemporary style, highly relatable and consistent throughout the book, be it humour or emotion. Each chapter is followed by a quote, some humorous phrases and some inspiring ones.

Theme

Dramatic Daydreams of Miss Sodabottleopenerwala has a lot in store for a reader, especially who are writers and teenagers. Thanks to the author Tanvi Mayur Shah, the story has many aspects, although the book being as short as this. There is friendship, teen curiosity, the dearest of relationship we have with our granny, authoring a book, social media and being genuine. And definitely more.

The story mostly revolves around these five characters: Kira with her friends Shireen, Mishti, June and Nanu (Jannat Sodabottleopenerwala) the grandma. Shireen, Mishti and June might have played the same role only, that of a bestie but their characters are clearly differentiable with their behavior and opinions. Whereas Nanu played a significant role as a lovely mentor, not formal at all. While the other girls are doing something to make their summer vacation count, Kira Sodabottleopenerwala decides to author a book. Kira is a person who really thinks she’s not good at doing anything substantial. In the process, she learns about the publishing industry and wishes for making it to bestseller. Ultimately she wishes for glory, dramatic, yes. She got it all but in an unexpected way.

Apart from that, with this creative piece of writing humour poured in here and there very soberly and classically, like it was authentic and relatable. The things we have done and funny ideas we have once thought of, intentionally or otherwise also. I won’t give away much but one example is ‘Wrinkle Khanna and Poha Ali Khan’.

"You don't need an idea. You just need some faith to begin working, some will to keep going and some enthusiasm to finish what you started."

My Views

First things first, Harry Potter and Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah references were there, now you can imagine how much relatable it can get. I was totally into the book, full of ideas. It was motivating and inspiring to such level that, the night I finished reading the book, I simply couldn’t sleep and was literally thinking and planning my new day. Also, it gave an account of basics of writing and publishing which is really helpful. At some instances, the author Tanvi Mayur Shah talks about environment protection and hypocrisy.

The book is as entertaining as any comedy-drama. It conveys a very important message that no matter how much hatred we humans contain but it can never overpower the love and support. In the end, Kira achieves the sense of decision making and we learn that being your genuine self to yourself and the world is the only way to go.

Happy Reading!

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Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

Book Review: The Myth: Prince Chandra and Demon's War by Dr. Piyush Kumar

Book Review

The Myth: Prince Chandra and Demon's War by Dr. Piyush Kumar

The Myth: Prince Chandra and Demon's War by Dr. Piyush Kumar

Author: Dr. Piyush Kumar

ISBN: 978-1644295229

Genre: Fantasy Fiction

Length: 287 Pages

Publisher:  NotionPress.com (2018)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/35HY5Y6

About the author: 

Piyush Kumar is a doctor who grew up in the small towns of Bihar and Jharkhand. As a child, he was fond of listening to the stories of kings, kingdoms, demons and hunters. As he grew up, his fascination for stories grew as well. What began as a simple practice of listening to stories turned into a serious habit, as he started reading novels of master storytellers. This inspired Piyush to tell good stories. Soon after his graduation, he started writing stories.

Then there was a time when it became difficult for him to write. Writer's block, perhaps? But soon the story of a boy, a prince-to-be, who had everything taken from him, cropped up in his mind. Thus, began an adventurous and intriguing journey into the mythical world of Aryavart. The journey is an ongoing one.

The author lives in Ranchi where he is a practicing surgeon. During his free time at home, he lives his childhood dream of sharing stories with his parents, wife and friends.

Follow him on Instagram: @themyth_novelseries

Connect with the author on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piyush2602

REVIEW

It won’t be a long insightful review like usual, rather an average length. I’ll just point out what you need to know about this book.

The Myth: Prince Chandra and Demon’s War is a fictional story set in ancient India, maybe before Medieval India. It can be categorized as a fantasy because it had dark magic aspects also. Talking about the narration, it was third-person point of view and followed many characters throughout the plot.

Along with that comes writing style, it was exhausting. Author has used very simple language, though expositions are divided into many numbers of short sentences which was really tiring to read. There were paragraphs which I thought could be interpreted in one sentence as well. Other than that, this habit resulted in redundancy. Like the same thing was being conveyed through various different sentences. So, according to me, the narration was bit stretched otherwise, the format, sequence of different scenes were good.

Location and setting were great. The portion of Aryavart on which author focused in the book was built just perfect, the Gurukul and Sindhudurg are fine example of that. Talking about the theme, the plot was mysterious and very unpredictable as it was completely concealed from the reader what actually was going on. The secrets indeed were revealed on the go which made sense. The action part of the book is really interesting, as I’m writing this, I remember those scenes. My favorites were the one battle in grassland and the fight in the climax.

Although the end wasn’t much interesting to me because of some reasons but the climax was satisfying. Also, few supporting characters were just strong and amazing like Aditi and a few of Gurus.

Meanwhile, the writing style thing ruined my experience of this book and it became too confusing when the narrator talked about people without addressing them by specific identities, like an old man, the person who did this and that. That’s all. Good plot and exhausting writing style which consumed much more time than it should.

Happy Reading!

========================

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Book Review : Tales from Bengal by Sourish Roy | Short Stories

Book Review

Tales from Bengal by Sourish Roy

Tales from Bengal by Sourish Roy

Author: Sourish Roy

ISBN: 978-8193963982

Genre: Short Stories

Length: 103 Pages

Publisher:  BIGFOOTPUBLICATIONS PVT. LTD. (2019)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2ngloH5

About the author: 

Sourish Roy, an M.A. in English with distinction in Linguistics from Burdwan University and B.Ed. with specialization in Teaching Methodology from North Bengal University, has been serving as an Assistant Teacher in High Secondary school since 2005. With degrees in Classical Art from Nikhil Bharat Sangeet Parishad, he has also been a frequent practitioner in painting. Having earned professional training in Lead Guitar under the tutelage of Sri. Kaushik Bhattacharya besides being a vocalist himself, he also takes time out to musical ceremonies.

He is also a certificate holder of National Science Society. Alongside enjoying serenity in his multi-faceted life he has had experiences of trekking under the supervision of Himalayan Nature & Adventure Foundation, Siliguri.

From the very beginning, he has been a fond reader of good literary books. He took to writing at an early stage of his life with writing for the wall magazines and annual magazines in school and college. Now, as a writer, he has earned the renown of being dedicated to the daily life problems of the underprivileged class. His stories have been previously published in local English and Bangla magazines and pamphlets. His critical essays have also been provided space in some academic books.

Sourish Roy (right) receiving award for Best Short Story Collection Prize

Follow him on Instagram: @sourishjal

Twitter Handle: @sourishjal
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sourishjal and @sourishjal.TalesFromBengal

REVIEW

Narration

Tales from Bengal is a compilation of nine short stories depicting the serious transformation in the lives of villagers of Bengal in the last few decades of the twentieth century. Some of these short stories are narrated in first person point of view and some in third person point of view. This is the work of fine literature and Sourish Roy has put life in this book. Author narrates these significant stories using profound language and creative writing style. Each and every line says something, holds a meaning. One of the major trait of this book is, the voice which keeps you curious throughout the entire book.

Location and Setting

All stories are set in different lands of Indian state West Bengal. As I mentioned above, these stories take place in the most transformative decades of the twentieth century. Everything was changing in the sense of science, technology, entertainment and politically also. Sourish Roy has portrayed this picture in context of Bengal. All stories have major influence of Bengal and its culture and anything you could imagine. Author has tried to include as many topics as possible and made this book nothing less than a carnival of a sort.

Theme

While these stories are all distinct, they really seemed to me somewhat related but actually, they are not. The first story ‘Absolution’ is about accepting one’s limitations. ‘Anomaly’ is about the flaws come with evolution. ‘Iron irony’ depicts the story of a blacksmith going through the sudden development of marketing strategies. ‘Ratan’s Maa’ shows how, healthcare was made available to a commoner, which once they were deprived of. ‘The abstainer’ sketches the picture of a young, an incompetent descent to the family heritage. ‘The Handyman' tells a story, where a man was robbed of everything because of government’s empty pocket. ‘The Magician’s Plight’ is a story of a magician (a migrant from another country), who discovers the light after a huge loss. ‘The Mail-bearer’ is indeed a story of a mail-bearer and story which serves the message of ‘Perseverance never goes unpaid.’ And the last ‘The Quack’ is the story of a doctor who was denied the dream he had given his all away for, not once but twice.

My Views

If I have to retitle these stories with an adjective, it would be shattering, devastating and what not. While urbanization brought massive transformation, it wasn’t good for everyone. As the author says, these villagers are still waiting for elevation in their wretched living, which would probably take more time and until then would undergo numerous changes as depicted in the book. I really loved each story and devoured them again and again to re-ingest those feelings of pain and acceptance. It also made me reminisce the stories my grandma used to tell and this book had similar vibes, Sourish Roy made each story unforgettable by his literary skills.

Happy Reading!

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Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

Book Review: Diary of a Twenty-Something: A collection of Teenage Musings by Siya

Book Review

Diary of a Twenty-Something by Siya

Diary of a Twenty-Something by Siya

Author: Siya Singhania

ISBN: 978-1646506699

Genre: Poetry

Length: 170 Pages

Publisher: NotionPress (14 August 2019)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2mQHaAV

About the author: 

Siya is a fictional character whose eyes the author uses as a mirror to reflect the teenage world. It is also the pen-name of said author, Anjali Roongta. Anjali is a twenty-something student living in Pune, India, who has published another book before this. An avid reader, she loves fan-fiction and her stories are a mix of real-life experiences, stories heard from others, and those developed through her own imagination—courtesy of a lot of reading. In this book, she presents a set of poetry that Siya feels are issues and thoughts that cross the minds of teenagers and young adults.

Follow her on Instagram: @siyaa20_official

Twitter Handle: @anjali_roongta
Website: https://roongtaanjali.wordpress.com/

REVIEW

Diary of a Twenty-Something is a collection of poetry from the perspective of a teenager who is a fictional character. Poetries are narrated by this fictional character in a very simple yet poetic way. These teenage musings are kind of smooth and fluid, one would keep reciting without taking a break. What I mean by simple is, the writing style and language are very simple that you would know the meaning while reading as you go but that makes it inadequate. Besides, it serves a good trait of being not at all time-consuming.

Musings are quite relatable that reminds you of how silly you used to be in your teenage years and what you have gone through in those years, those first and bitter experiences. Subjects addressed were anxiety, validation, disorders, pain, love and a lot of questions that teenagers seek answers to. There are many topics that break stereotypes but at other hand, there are also few clichés included in this book. That is when it goes a little stupid just as teenage lives and sometimes makes offensive remarks. Which obviously not everyone would like.

These are a few of the subjects I liked reading about: depression, body shaming, growing up and dream to be at peace. At once the author Siya talks about asexuality and I really appreciate that, because its real and no one talks about it so freely.

Another thing, the author Siya made it really easy like the way she explained complicated feelings with ease, for example, falling in love. Lacked that standard but it is okay. Poetries had these contemporary and modish vibes.

Personal views

My reading experience was quite content. I would really like to recite some of the poems/poetries out loud to friends and family. My favorites from this book are, Question to the Creator and Navigating Waters and there might be more but I can remember these two right now. I think this book definitely deserves a chance, grab your copy and read it.

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Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮