Saturday 26 December 2015

The Memories of Here by Raul Castelle: a review by Upasona Banerjee


Well, winter is all about festivity and festivity is always incomplete without some good books. So, I got this reference of The Memories of Here by Raul Castelle from a friend who is also a bookworm like me. And the unique thing is it is only available in Kindle, Amazon’s online book portal. It is true that I love books but to be very honest, I am more comfortable with physical books, in their paperbacks and hardcover forms. I resort to Kindle only when I want to read some imported edition. But this was new. So, at a quite low price of Rs. 50 I bought it this weekend.


Now how was it? First I should comment about its brevity. Short, crisp and amazingly engaging it was. Just in the length of five pages the author presented a whole story that has left me baffled. When the story opens I find a regular guy. Heartbroken, he is going back to nature, to a trip to McLeod Gunj, Himachal. The things that the author started narrating were quite predictable at first. It made me feel that I am reading a story that will convey the philosophy of life on a positive note.


But the end was a complete surprise, kind of a jolt for me. Not divulging too much I would say it is the pull of the end that made the whole story unique and amazing. The deceptively simple tone of the story in the beginning turns dark and gloomy and then the jolt, a perfect recipe for a rocking fast read.
The most commendable thing I found in the book is the illustration in the opening page. It is done by another bestselling author Rahul Saini. Personally I love illustrations in a story. But when I opened this book I was a bit confused with the illustration. But once I was done, it made sense. And that helped me to read between the lines of the story.


An absolute recommendation from my end, I'll rate the book 4 out of 5. While you are on the go or just on a break, swipe in Kindle and start reading it. I know you will thank me later. Happy reading!