Title : Transitions and Other Stories
Author : Kalam Babu
Editor : Sirisha Vegulla
Genre : Collection of Short Stories ;
Pages : 142
I received this Review Copy from Half Baked Beans in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you Half Baked Beans and Book Marketing Consultant Richa Saxena!!
BLURB
Transition is a cross-genre collection of twelve incredible short stories. From romance to a moral dilemma, and family relationships to fantasy, you will not be stuck in a single boat. You will meet a retired military doctor, a college student, a software engineer and even bus tyres along with several well-rounded characters. The demanding situations they are put in and the responses they elicit culminate in engaging stories that combine lucid exposition with real-world insights. Follow the journeys of these characters, as they rediscover themselves through acceptance, commitment, and passion, unlearning stereotypes that have been crammed down our brains.
REVIEW
Transition and other stories is a compilation of short stories which cover different aspects of life. The author has written about various genres and all these short stories have a lot of things to offer to the readers through this book.
While reading each story in this book, you as a reader will be able to understand how much research and effort the author has put into every single story. The writing style of the author was simple and reader-friendly. This book could be easily enjoyed by beginners who are looking forward to inculcating the habit of reading regularly.
The best thing about this book was, that every single story was complete and full-fledged. I, personally as a reader always feel bad and sad when a story ends, and that sadness heightens with short stories specifically. I don’t think I have ever been satisfied by the end of any short story. The reader in me craves for more. But with this book, I was completely satisfied. And all credit goes to the author. All these stories follow a quintessential story writing format and that is one of the best things about this book.
Pro Tip: This book can be read within a matter of a few hours. It was extremely engaging. If you are a beginner, you can stick with reading one story a day. This will help you develop your reading habit.
This book talks about various plotlines, starting from the story of an Indian Army Soldier, how his experience over there has traumatized him and how it affects his family. Then a story of a young couple and about their career. A Pub Bouncer’s life. The author has also written about Farmer’s suicide and laws relating to it. A story based on CAA, Pandemic, LGBTQ and what not? As we proceed forward with the book, the stories started getting more and more interesting. Towards the end author has focused on time travelling and a few fantastical elements like talking tyres and Vampires. And the last story forest love is about siblings’ enmity, elections and stuff. Almost every story in this book had some interesting elements to it.
I wouldn’t completely say the entire book was flawless, there were certain mistakes here and there that could have been avoided. And plotlines of certain stories felt a bit irrelevant and pointless but still, on the whole, it gave a good picture.
It is a wonderful book with lots of interesting characters. It is definitely worth your time. These stories can also be read by young readers and there are high chances they might love them all.
MY VIEWS
I enjoyed reading this book. It was a nice book. Most of the stories in this book were based in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana regions. There was some uniqueness and authenticity about these places and I completely enjoyed it.
Though I had some ideological differences with the author. For example, in a story where the author has spoken about farmers’ suicide, I ain’t okay with the stand the lead character took in the end. Initially, he was fighting for farmers’ rights and then he gave up, taking a totally opposite stand. That’s okay, he tried making a difference but couldn’t do much. I can understand at some point, he has to carry forward with his life and all. But what was problematic was, in the end, the lead character talks about teaching vocational classes to farmers’ children. India is a country where people have been divided and discriminated against based on caste and these castes came into existence based on the kind of job a person does. Now instead of sending these farmers’ kids to schools and educating them, if we ask them to learn vocational classes, it is going to be detrimental. These kinds of ideas can work in developed countries but right now they will not help in the development of a country like India.
And I also had tiny winy ideological differences in the story which was written based on the Citizenship Amendment Act. But then again, the author has shared what he thinks is right. Everyone has the right to express their opinion and I completely value that.
Apart from these ideological differences, I loved the short stories in this book. I loved the last story Forest Love, it was an interesting story and I loved the whole vibe of this story. I loved this friend’s character, Purvesh from Transition, I loved the way he was supportive of his friend throughout.
There were certain fantasy stories that left me in awe, the Vampire story was good. While reading it I felt like watching The Vampire Diaries or The Originals.
I would like to suggest this book to young readers, people who are into short stories, to people who are looking forward to having a short and quick read. If you are a beginner and afraid of big books, then you can go ahead with this book.
My rating for this book would be 3.4 out of 5 stars
Get hold of this book over here!
Happy Reading Folks!
~ Meenu
