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Book Details

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Title: A Bus Ride: and other short stories

Author: Biswajit Nath

Link to Buy: Amazon

Synopsis

There are stories everywhere. One just needs to find them out, add value and express. But storytelling is not a joke either. A bus ride is a collection of short stories from author’s village and nearby. Stories written with love and emotions followed by simple writing style.

Non Review Rant

I am a sucker for short stories.

I am also a sucker for freebies.

When a GR friend recommended this book to me, I immediately downloaded it.

1. It is free.
2. It is 17 pages long.
3. It is recommended by and written by a GR friend.
4. The title – I have a short stort about a bus ride, and I would obviously want to read other experiences. Duh

Anyway, I read the book quicly. Of course, being lazy, I didn’t want to switch on the laptop to write a review.

Here goes.

Excerpts / Quotes / Highlights:

‘Being modern is not any achievement, being mature is.’

The book includes three short stories and here is a story-by-story review.
1.The bookstall by the station

This story is about a book stall owner, who, because of the new age, can’t seem to find much business. The story hits all the right notes and tells us the plight of those small vendors.

However…

I felt like a hypocrite and I couldn’t stop myself from spotting the irony.

I felt like a hypocrite, because

1. All my books are self-published on Amazon & Google. English and Hindi stories on Amazon, Urdu books on Google.
2. I like reading ebooks, because I don’t want to carry those books.
3. I have no room in my bookshelf, even though I gave away about fifty books to a local library.
4. A part of me feels that I am saving trees.
5. Yet, I crave for the day I would publish a paperback.
6. HYPOCRITE

And the irony, because the book itself is ebook.

However, the story is more than that. It is about compassion of a nice soul, who wanted to help the bookseller. It is about the zeal that a person puts into whatever work s/he does and that earns the brea for the family.

2. A bus ride

It was about judgemental people. I liked this story, because I have been on the receiving end of the similar judgement. Enough said. If I talk more, I would either be depressed or angry. We don’t want that, do we?

3.Romola and her three sisters

This story was ok. While it reminded us about all the facts and quotes about girl education, I felt that it lacked novelty. Nonetheless, a good reminder.

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Verdict:

Cover: 3.5 / 5
Plot: 3.5 / 5
Writing:  4 / 5

Overall rating: 4/5

Shabana Mukhtar

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