Amit Goyal and Sudhanshu Gupta - take a bow.
I love reading books, but have a
problem with being called a voracious reader, since I do not think books can be
dipped in tea.
But, when Amit wrote to me to check
if I would be interested in reviewing their recently released book titled, 'The
Lost Story' - what intrigued me was the experimental writing technique. One
author starts a story but another finishes it with no prior hints or knowledge
of what the former had written - until he was handed over the first half. While
the second half was being written, the first author had no say or hint about
where it was going - until it was done.
You get the picture, right? A
joint venture - in book writing, rather in co-writing a book, fiction at that -
with stories within stories within stories. *Doffing my hat*
The Storyline: The
celebrated, reclusive, Booker-winning Saleem Afzal hasn't written anything in
23 years. The young enthusiastic fan - Sandeep Gupta aka "Sandy" - wants to know
why.
Starry-eyed, idolizing Saleem
and wanting to follow in his footsteps, he sends a story to the long forgotten
author - seeking his opinion.
What follows surprises him.
Saleem not only reads the story but also agrees to collaborate with Sandy - for
one final book - his last hurrah.
Sandy is predictably over the
moon and goes to meet Saleem. What are his impressions about the man, the
legend, his surroundings, and his home - well, you will have to read the book
to find that out.
They meet intermittently, but
keep in touch laptop-to-laptop. The reader gets a peek into Sandy's own life - his relationship with longtime girlfriend Tara. But as he delves deeper into
the ocean - into the world of Saleem, their book, the locked door in Saleem's
house and the lost story - his own world undergoes a sea change.
My Two Pence: The
book contains multiple stories, of varied flavours and colours, all well paced,
well done and neatly tied up - yet leaving enough room for the reader - to ponder
and wonder about other possibilities. What may have been? What could have been?
What should have been?
And that actually helps in
stimulating one's gray cells and stopping them from graying prematurely, what?!
There's romance, longing,
conflict, drama, uncertainty, poignancy, shock, horror, trepidation, superhero,
et al - that gives the reader a smile here, a creased brow there, and
gooseflesh too.
It is a book that makes for an
interesting yet breezy read, that one can curl up with or sit upright in cabs
with, or even fly among the clouds with.
The authors have an eye for
detail. Every encounter, every twist and turn, the dialogues, the setting, is
reasonably well done. And so are the names. Do read the book to get with I
mean.
The language isn't convoluted,
the plot is tightly woven and doesn't meander ... and that, coupled with the
limpid writing style, makes 'The Lost Story' a pleasure to read.
The only thing that rankles is
the numerous editing errors - which could and should have been easily pruned
out. The production value of the book is good; it feels good to hold, apart
from being light on the wallet too.
The book jacket cover is very
well done indeed; it stands out and catches the eye - effortlessly. And as you
know, for debutant authors: first impress-aan ij last impress-aan!
My rating: I will
go with a 4/5 for Amit and Sudhanshu's maiden offering.
The ending is hatke. It again
stimulates the gray cells and is sure to generate multiple and conflicting
opinions, but then we are the world's largest demo-crazy. So, more the merrier!
This is a very successful joint
venture indeed. As the French would say: très bon. There's no French toast,
just that I watched 'An Evening in Paris' the other day and liked it too.
So, do get hold of this book and
read all you can and then decide for yourself if you can figure out whether this
is a joint venture or a merger :)
As for moi, I look forward to
Amit and Sudhanshu's future writings with interest.
Details of the book: The
Lost Story/ Authors: Amit Goyal, Sudhanshu Gupta/ Publisher: Grapevine India
Publishers Pvt. Ltd./ Binding: Paperback/ Publishing Date: 2012/ ISBN: 9381841020/
ISBN-13: 9789381841020, 978-9381841020/ Pages: 263/ Price: Rs.200 [Rs. 160 on Flipkart].
Photograph: The
book jacket cover of 'The Lost Story'. Picture courtesy: link.
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