anukritimalik_'s review
5.0
A compilation of excerpts from renowned authors like Vikram Seth, Kamala Das, Manto, KR Meera to name a few. The stories have a central theme: Love and Lust. Both love and lust have been looked down on in our society, lust mostly. For years, authors have tried to separate the fine line between eroticism and lust, but often this line blurs.
My favourites out of the lot are KR Meera's The Deepest Blue and Amrita Narayan's The Stolen.
I'll suggest this collection if you're a beginner and would like to get familiar with the writing style of these authors before picking up their book. For me, this collection is the door to the works of Vikram Seth and Kamala Das.
My favourites out of the lot are KR Meera's The Deepest Blue and Amrita Narayan's The Stolen.
I'll suggest this collection if you're a beginner and would like to get familiar with the writing style of these authors before picking up their book. For me, this collection is the door to the works of Vikram Seth and Kamala Das.
bankrupt_bookworm's review
3.0
RATING: 3.5/5
I buddyread this with a friend and we both found this is the weakest Olio in the series and ended up really disliking some of the stuff in here. The biggest issue with anthologies is that the quality of the pieces is not on par. It's much pronounced here. Some pieces were pretty good while others were exceptionally poor. A lot of these pieces are also not complete but extracts from bigger works. This led to a lack of context and a feeling of incompleteness. This also got pronounced in this particular Olio.
I really loved K R Meera's The Deepest Blue. I have had one of her novels, The Undying Idol of Light, since forever and I now I am really excited to read it. Ira Trivedi's Love Revolution was my favourite essay. It talked about changing dynamics around love and marriage in India in an articulate manner. The other standout for me has to be Amrita Narayanan's Stolen. While erotica is not a genre I enjoy reading and I didn't care much for this story, it was written brilliantly.
I liked the small extract from Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy and it left me wanting more. But it also left me dissatisfied due to its abruptness. I skipped the extract from Amitava Kumar's The Lovers as I have already read, and loved, the book but the same issue is there too. I absolutely hated Manto's story, Tang. It creeped me out and I was disgusted by the end. Kamala Das' story was nice but it ended abruptly before it had really begun and was badly rushed. I was mostly ambivalent towards the remaining stories and essays in the collection which is unfortunate.
I think Aleph can do much better work with its Olios. I love the titles of the forthcoming collections. I hope they won't disappoint and live up to In A Violent Land.
I buddyread this with a friend and we both found this is the weakest Olio in the series and ended up really disliking some of the stuff in here. The biggest issue with anthologies is that the quality of the pieces is not on par. It's much pronounced here. Some pieces were pretty good while others were exceptionally poor. A lot of these pieces are also not complete but extracts from bigger works. This led to a lack of context and a feeling of incompleteness. This also got pronounced in this particular Olio.
I really loved K R Meera's The Deepest Blue. I have had one of her novels, The Undying Idol of Light, since forever and I now I am really excited to read it. Ira Trivedi's Love Revolution was my favourite essay. It talked about changing dynamics around love and marriage in India in an articulate manner. The other standout for me has to be Amrita Narayanan's Stolen. While erotica is not a genre I enjoy reading and I didn't care much for this story, it was written brilliantly.
I liked the small extract from Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy and it left me wanting more. But it also left me dissatisfied due to its abruptness. I skipped the extract from Amitava Kumar's The Lovers as I have already read, and loved, the book but the same issue is there too. I absolutely hated Manto's story, Tang. It creeped me out and I was disgusted by the end. Kamala Das' story was nice but it ended abruptly before it had really begun and was badly rushed. I was mostly ambivalent towards the remaining stories and essays in the collection which is unfortunate.
I think Aleph can do much better work with its Olios. I love the titles of the forthcoming collections. I hope they won't disappoint and live up to In A Violent Land.
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