The Highway Man
Author:
J Alchem
Genre:
Fiction
Format:
Kindle Edition
File
Size: 1708KB
Star: 4.2/5 (Self)
Review:
It’s a collection of three short stories
with title, “Catherine”, “Sidzy; for a day”, “The highway man”.
Catherine
is the story of a 62-year-old physician Dr.Rusenvelt who once gets a call
from Nicholas Will, the father of bestselling author of Genre-Romance; Nicholas
Sieum. He decides to meet him and comes to know about the shocking obsession of
the author with one of the lead roles of his novel, Catherine. The story
revolves around the measures adopted by Dr. Rusenvelt to help Nicholas Sieum to
get rid of his obsession but ends on a pessimistic note!
Sidzy;
for a day is a love story of a married couple Jihan and Sidzy. The plot
revolves around the decision of Jihan to play the role of Sidzy on an occasion
of International Woman’s Day to express his gratitude.
The
Highway Man’s plot contains the main character as Rohan, an employee of an MNC
and his 7-year-old-son Ayaan. His
girl-friend-turned-wife Sunaina has been dead for about a year now in a severe
road accident and it has affected his life in the most drastic way. One day he
decides to visit Agra with his son and on their way to Agra ,he is requested
for a lift by a stranger on Delhi-Agra Highway. The stranger who introduces himself
as Jihan Zahir describes the similar situation of losing his family in a road
accident. He accompanies their loneliness and boredom throughout their journey
through his silly jokes and departs at the end of the journey. After few
months, they come to know about the main culprit of the accident featured in
the newspaper, Jihan Zahir, who used to ask for lifts, irritates the passengers
and changed their lives due to which he’s regarded as The Highway Man.
My
experience- First of all, the cover
of the book is very well designed. I would like to contradict the famous
quotation, “Don’t judge the book by its cover” as the illustration on the cover
lends some impact on the choice of the book. I’m sure its brilliant design
might have certainly attracted readers. I was also impressed by the unique
presentation of acknowledgement in which the author regards himself as the
mother of his babies; creations. This certainly adds an extra touch for his
words. I expected it to be a novel but it’s not. Among the stories, my
favourite is Catherine and I expected it to never end.
I
like the narration and the simple yet lucid way of formation of sentences which
glues the readers to it. The humours side of the author comes to limelight
through his #kuchhbhi jokes. I was kept under the emotion of suspense for first
story. It’s difficult to guess why the
author has chosen the title of the book based on the title of the last story.
It would have been better had the last story been elucidated as the main story
of the novel.
Overall,
it’s an entertaining book to be read.
©Swati Sarangi
18.08.2017
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