Book Review
Temple Classroom & Other Stories by Puja Roy
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| Temple Classroom & Other Stories by Puja Roy |
Author: Puja Roy
ISBN: 978-8194182634
Genre: Short Stories
Length: 117 Pages
Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/358g09g
About the author:
A Comparative Literature graduate from Jadavpur University and a Diploma in Film Studies, Puja is also the founder of the digital book club The Book Buzz'. She holds a Master's degree in Advertising and Public Relations and is currently employed with an education foundation that works for children from the underprivileged sections of the society. An avid reader and a translator, Puja loves to research on history, cinema, art and culture.
REVIEW
Temple Classroom & Other Stories is the collection of sixteen distinct stories, which have nothing specific in common and are addressing a variety of subjects. Talking about the writing style, the foreword is written by Koral Dasgupta and it was so wonderful that my expectations became very high for the book. After reading the stories I can say the overall experience was a bit disappointing. I'll expand on that later. Some stories are set in villages and some in cities like Vadodara and Mumbai.
Well, the positive side of the book. I felt that these three stories were unique and brilliant. 'The Root', 'Silver Anklets' and 'The Tea Story'. These all stories elaborate on the feelings of characters very well and shows how these characters are struggling in their own mind. It literally shows the change of perspective in the end and how these characters develop, be it a very little change. I loved them. These characters. Emotions and feelings surrounding them. Other than these, there is a story about a girl who wishes to bring quality education to her village where girls are not allowed to study after certain age. There is an inspiring story of a housewife who finds her true calling and has to go against her family, for the better. One story talks about the acid attack and another story about child sexual abuse and another about an underprivileged child who has to go through so much in life at an early age. This 'Phulo' story has a unique lesson in it.
Some of them are inspiring but mostly these stories are ordinary. Let me clear this first, what I mean by ordinary is, we all have come across these stories (most of them) in various forms, in news, social media, I mean these stories are found everywhere. Also if these weren't extraordinary (tales of struggle, fulfilling dreams, lasting hope and courage and more) then it wouldn't have made to these pages. Considering that, I didn't find anything new in these stories. Stories lacked of emotions and the perspective that could have narrated the stories better, although the characters were well defined. Another thing that I didn't like was the purpose of these stories. Fine, some are inspiring and others are addressing the issues we're struggling through but other than that I found few of them very idle. And the endings were unsatisfactory.
This collection might not be one of the best, but I really appreciate the efforts put in this work and talking about these issues. As Suzanne says and I repeat every now and then, 'The least we can do is call it what it is and talk about it.'
Well, the positive side of the book. I felt that these three stories were unique and brilliant. 'The Root', 'Silver Anklets' and 'The Tea Story'. These all stories elaborate on the feelings of characters very well and shows how these characters are struggling in their own mind. It literally shows the change of perspective in the end and how these characters develop, be it a very little change. I loved them. These characters. Emotions and feelings surrounding them. Other than these, there is a story about a girl who wishes to bring quality education to her village where girls are not allowed to study after certain age. There is an inspiring story of a housewife who finds her true calling and has to go against her family, for the better. One story talks about the acid attack and another story about child sexual abuse and another about an underprivileged child who has to go through so much in life at an early age. This 'Phulo' story has a unique lesson in it.
Some of them are inspiring but mostly these stories are ordinary. Let me clear this first, what I mean by ordinary is, we all have come across these stories (most of them) in various forms, in news, social media, I mean these stories are found everywhere. Also if these weren't extraordinary (tales of struggle, fulfilling dreams, lasting hope and courage and more) then it wouldn't have made to these pages. Considering that, I didn't find anything new in these stories. Stories lacked of emotions and the perspective that could have narrated the stories better, although the characters were well defined. Another thing that I didn't like was the purpose of these stories. Fine, some are inspiring and others are addressing the issues we're struggling through but other than that I found few of them very idle. And the endings were unsatisfactory.
This collection might not be one of the best, but I really appreciate the efforts put in this work and talking about these issues. As Suzanne says and I repeat every now and then, 'The least we can do is call it what it is and talk about it.'
Happy Reading!
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