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Showing posts with label Spiritual Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spiritual Fiction. Show all posts

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Book Review: The King of the Sea by Nandan Gautam | A Metaphysical Novel & Musical Odyssey

Book Review

The King of the Sea by Nandan Gautam


Book Review: The King of the Sea by Nandan Gautam | Dhiraj Sindhi | Indian Book Blogger
The King of the Sea by Nandan Gautam

Author: Nandan Gautam

ISBN: 978-9952834802

Genre: Spiritual Fiction

Length:  348 Pages

Publisher: Notion Press Publishing (8th January 2020)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2KK6lxp

About the author: 

Nandan Gautam grew up in Bangalore, India. He completed his Liberal Arts degree from McDaniel College, Maryland, USA and worked at newspaper USA Today for a few years. He returned to India to study yoga and meditation for the next twenty years under spiritual master Bharat Thakur.

His journey of self-discovery led him back to his first love – music, where he infuses his raw but ethereal vocals with hypnotic rhythms and harmonies specifically designed to calm, heal and transform the self.


A Lie and a Truth, an anthology of conversations and life experiences with his master, was his first book. The King of the Sea is his first novel and music album. He lives in Baku, Azerbaijan.


Book Review: The King of the Sea by Nandan Gautam | Dhiraj Sindhi | Indian Book Blogger
Nandan Gautam

REVIEW

The King of the Sea, a work of spiritual fiction, is the rawest composition of a fictional tale revolving around sailor of his life, the King himself; narrated by different voices that deliver you the concepts of metaphysics including existence and purpose, through the well-written proses that emerge as exceptional quotes throughout the book.

The King of the Sea is a metaphysical novel, rhythmically written as a part of the spiritual quest; which is also paired with two companion music albums by the author. The book is further divided into 41 volumes, where the author brings in light several topics related to love, death, knowledge, God and so on. The author has kept the book as it was written rather than editing and transforming it into the traditional form of storytelling. The story is narrated in both first and third-person, by more than two different voices. The writing style resembles more of a classic style, although it is very easy to interpret. I’ll discuss more of this in the latter part of the review.

The very fictional part of this book contains many diverse characters who drive the main character through the process of self-exploration. Characters don’t have a name in this book, they are identified by their roles and relationship with the main character. His father died in a forest fire and his mother awaits for his return. He meets his half-brother and attends his marriage. He finds love who loves him back, but of course, there are complications. The main character can be seen working in farmland at the beginning from where he escapes looking for magical land. He meets a Butcher, Village Palm Reader and later he gets aboard the ship of desires along with other 135 shipmen. Lead Shipman, the Captain, Winemaker. Boy with green eyes, Leaper, Lute Player and Madman are some of the characters who play important roles in the King’s spiritual quest.

The information I provided might not be accurate, given that it is very hard to derive facts even after reading the whole book. It might require a revision to completely understand the entire picture. Well, this fictional journey is analogous to the author’s mental and spiritual process he goes through while writing this book. At some instances, the author Nandan Gautam directly talks to the reader regarding this book, which makes it self-referential.

Besides, each and every sentence, prose, poetry from this book individually makes a lot of sense, which is quite incredible, for it’s a reliable and unwavering source of knowledge. Whereas, if we consider the whole text, it doesn’t really make sense. The reason may be the voices that speak in riddles. There is frequent switching between these voices. The editor suggests that you read this book without trying to connect dots until they connect themselves. That’s what I did and it’s a pretty useful tip. The more you try to make something out from the text, the more you get confused. How this text assembles as a book is literally a secondary thing because there is a lot more this book has to offer.


Quote from The King of the Sea by Nandan Gautam | Dhiraj Sindhi | Indian Book Blogger

"White is the color of death, not black. For when you pass through this door, you will come out clean of everything."

The most important and compelling part of this book is its content. Particularly, the abstract concepts that Nandan Gautam has adapted in this musical odyssey are surprisingly effective and mind-blowing. I loved how the story progressed despite multiple narratives running simultaneously. There are plenty of subjects addressed in this book that will simply fascinate you. After spending significant time with this book and closely studying the story, I must confess that every bit of this book ensures some value and is worth reading. Also, the book contains several chapters in those 41 sections, which the author has titled very aptly. The dialogues may be confusing, otherwise, the writing style is what makes it stand out.


Quote from The King of the Sea by Nandan Gautam | Dhiraj Sindhi | Indian Book Blogger

"It is not pain that one carries, it is the burden of guilt and anger with the self that can haunt a man past his own lifetime."

All in all, The King of the Sea is an exceptional, unique and quite fascinating piece of literature in the genre of metaphysical fiction with the touch of postmodernism.

Happy Reading!

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

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