Review: Never Been A Loved One

Author: Sivaranjini Ramamurthy.

Genre: General Fiction.

Rating: 🍫🍫🍫

Blurb:

If we are not loved by anyone, it doesn't mean that we will be in the same way forever. One day our life will change, we would be the special person for someone waiting out there, we would be their life, we would be their soul, we would be their breath as we wanted to be, we two halves will become one. But we should move on for that to happen in our life. This is a story of real female protogonist in an unreal story of love, pain, adventure and thrill.

Cover Review:

The cover is pretty generic, and doesn't even have the author's name on it. I'm definitely not a fan. 

Book Review:

Never Been A Loved One starts with the birth of CK—Chandra Kanth—and the death of his mother. His father, unable to bear to be with him, sends him off to live in a boarding school overseas. 

The storyline was actually pretty interesting, and I can say I'd have enjoyed the book if only the narration had been better. I couldn't get into the story at all, because there were no true feelings in it. And even if there were, the author hasn't managed to get them across to me. 

Most of the chapters read like reports, with not many dialogues. As they always tell us in writing class, we're not supposed to 'tell' the readers what's happening. We need to 'show' it to them. That's where this book lacked the most. There was more telling and almost no showing. 

All in all, I believe that the story had potential, but the narration did not.

Add To Goodreads.

Buy Never Been A Loved One Now:

Amazon India  | Amazon US

Review: The Panchatheertha Part I

Author: Rajiv Mittal.

Genre: General Fiction, Folklore.

Rating: 🍫🍫🍫

Blurb:

The Panchatheertha (five pilgrimages) Part 1 is a facetious, satirical revision of sections 1 & 2 of The Panchatantra, the masterpiece Vishnu Sharma wrote between 1200 BCE to 300 CE. The stories are primarily about statecraft and full of wisdom and morals. Despite that, youngsters found them very entertaining. In the tales, animals act and speak on behalf of human beings. The series begins with a parent story that unfolds story after story; each strung to the other by a narrator.

Vishnu Sharma’s reincarnation Shiva Varma has, in this redraft, revived the ancient Indian tradition of parampara (continuation of knowledge from one guru to the next). In his excitement, he forgot the younger age group of his shishyas (students). His characters now try to explain the motives for their actions, also express their feelings; something The Panchatantra had cleverly avoided doing. Within its pages, animals are still made to think and behave like human beings but have not otherwise been harmed in any way.

The Panchatheertha was considered lost but the discovery of two altered strategies ‘The Loss of Friends’ and ‘Gaining Friends’ should create hope within the large and growing community that has had considerable success with the first and complete failure with the second. Those wanting to meet Shiva Varma are hereby informed he dislikes economists, preferring astrology. He is in samadhi, (seclusion / deep meditation) and not in hiding.

There are many intriguing characters not known to Vishnu Sharma in this adaptation; from a sex consultant plying his trade in the locality Ajilundpenodhoka in district Makasam… to a devadasi (courtesan) wanting to conduct the temple prayers because she is bored… to Sage Narada Muni!

Bibliophiles are urged to read the original Panchatantra (which Shiva Varma did consider including as an appendix), to truly appreciate the extent to which history gets distorted when it is made to explain itself. Historically, the appendix has been viewed as a vestigial organ with no real function. This is why Shiva Varma chose not to include it… or so he claims.

Cover Review: 

I DO NOT like the cover. I mean, there's nothing to the cover except some badly edited images. 

Book Review:

Panchatheertha has been loosely inspired from the classic panchatantra stories we used to read as kids, though this collection has a much more developed, modern form of those stories.

Though the narration reminded me of lores and classic writing style, the dialogues sometime reflected a modern time. Also, the mention of modern gadgets with kings and queens kinda confused me. The timeline of the stories was never clear. 

I liked the stories, but it wasn't something I enjoyed thoroughly. The stories were intriguing enough, but I guess they just weren't for me. 

Even so, it was a good enough read to make me want to finish it. If you enjoy folk/classic takes like the Panchatantra, you might enjoy this book!

Add To Goodreads.

Buy The Panchatheertha Now:

Amazon India | Amazon US