Title :Without A GoodBye
Author : Swati Kumari
Blurb :
“27th October was like a normal weekend. Danica was in Patna with her uncle’s family. Before going for her competitive exam, she had called up her mother (Aarti) who lived in Fatehpur in a joint family. They had a regular conversation and ended the call. Aarti said that she would call Danica after her exam, in the evening.
In the evening Danica called her mom, but both her mobiles were switched off.
She called her aunt and was informed that Aarti had been missing since afternoon.
What happened to her? How can the thread that unites a family completely break with this sudden incident?
Does ending one’s life really end the problems?
Is giving up, the only solution to the problem?
A daughter and a mother. This is story of a life. You choose to live or to die.
My view : ‘Women’ has always been treated as piece of toy.Authoress Swati Kumari in her debut book, showcases the condition of women in present scenario.She talks about society’s reaction and relative’s support, when a woman goes through a critical phase of her life.Albeit, the story might be a story of many homes,authoress took her pen to let the voice of her hear reach to the readers’.
Writing Style : Her writing style is way simple. She has used very simple words that even a school kid would comprehend it easily or may found it way simple.She doesn’t festoon her thoughts with opulent words and imaginative comparison.
Narration: The pace of the story is good,it doesn’t take much time to come to a conclusion of one event.Although at places, it wonders over unwanted details,but it doesn’t go into the depth of the scene.It felt like the story was written and crafted in a hurry,the little-little notches that reader seeks in a story to connect to it is missing. I was not able to connect with the protagonist completely.
Plot : Authoress has taken a wise decision to portray the present in the beginning,and the past chapters after that,that very thing can make reader wait for the story to end,wait to unveil the story of Danica’s mother.It seemed that Danica is the protagonist, but the real protagonist is her mother,the pain she has been through being a woman.This story also showcases the bond between a mother and a daughter.The book also talks about some societal norms relating it with the protagonist’s life,but some of them doesn’t set a foot in the story,if excluded,it makes the story on the track,because I guess all the readers are very well aware of such societal norms.So,that worked as the fillers,and nothing more.
And if her intention was to aware the readers about the same,she should have adopted a different approach to put forward her views,that would be successful to cast a positive impact on reader’s mind.
In the beginning, her words seemed to be focused on gaining sympathy for women rather than showcasing their positive points.It would feel okay, if that would be coming from story, but not portrayed directly,but the way she has conveyed the message in the beginning, it didn’t make a good impact on reader’s mind.Only in the end, authoress words came out as a sure shot,her motive of giving a message to readers reached successfully. The end of the story is effective and gives a very nice and impactful message to the readers.
What I expect from authoress from her next piece : Great attention need to be paid while working on a novel, a tiniest thing can make story look unreal,and that happened with her debut book as well.In the part,where Danica’s mother was narrating her story through the words written in her diary,she had said once,’in those days mobile was not in use that much’,if she had written at that time,how come she knew that mobile would be a core part in the coming years.Such little little events are noticed here and there that extracts the essence of realness from the story.
Rating : 3.3/5
Reviewer : Shweta Kesari