3 out of 4 stars
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Review – Tale Journey, A collection of 21 short stories by Kavya Janani.U
Want a quick and light-hearted read? Want something to read after a tiring day, to unwind and feel good? Then this one is for you. As the title suggests, the book is a collection of 21 short stories, across different genres and themes.
The author has classified the stories as follows: 7 Romance, 4 Thrillers, 2 horror, 2 humour, 1 family, 3 friendship and 2 inspirational. This review is structured according to the author’s classification.
Almost everyone has a favourite genre, or something that they like a little bit more than the others. For me, it was always romance! All the seven stories are clean and sweet romance tales. To be honest, I didn’t like the first romance tale I read (the first story of the book). I feel a need to connect with the protagonist, which was completely missing in the very first story. The protagonist was a stalker and border line creepy. If you don’t mind that and appreciate an unusual hero – go ahead and read it. For the rest, I’d recommend you to skip the first story and read the other six. They’re all different from each other and they’re certainly different from the “typical” young adult romance stories you would have come across. They’re intriguing and just the right length. The remaining six stories made me curious and held my attention till the end. You can definitely connect with the protagonists of the other six tales and in the end, you’ll be left with a sense of happiness – the one you feel once you’ve finished a really good story.
The next genre you’ll come across is Thrillers. If you begin reading them, you’ll be hooked till the end. The stories deal with serious and concerning topics such as prostitution, death and murder. The final story revolves around black magic. Despite being quick reads, they evoke fear and curiosity. They’re well written and have a strong plot. Whether or not you’re a fan of thrillers, you’ll like them. Go ahead and read them!
Coming to horror, as expected, both the stories revolve around Ghosts. If you’re not a believer of the super natural, or can get scared easily – skip it. The stories contain a lot of description and you can easily imagine the situation. Further, the stories have backgrounds and context. They aren’t simply meant to scare. Even if you exclude the horror element and ghost scenes from the stories, they have good and engaging plots.
The next genre is humour. To be honest, I didn’t laugh even once while reading the two stories. The plot of the first story is cliché, till an unexpected twist towards the end. The second story is interesting but turns cliché towards the end. They were interesting and light-hearted, but they weren’t exactly “funny”.
The story on family will make you emotional. It deals with adoption and a daughter’s quest to locate her real father. However, at the end, I wished the author had included scenes and had thrown light on the current relationship between the daughter and the adoptive parents.
Coming to the stories on Friendship, two of them (although very different) deal with broken relations. The third is extremely unexpected and I truly enjoyed the twist. Overall, all three stories are very relatable and realistic.
The last genre in the book is Inspirational. The first story in this genre encourages the readers to follow their hearts. Although I didn’t feel very Inspired, it was a good plot and an interesting read. The second story dealt with self realisation and woman power. The plot of the second story was heart breaking but it did do justice to the genre – It was truly inspiring. Further, it was a strong and apt story to mark the end of the book.
Throughout the book, I had a feeling that the author had made a conscious effort to use complex and sophisticated words. Sometimes, it didn’t fit. There were occasional grammatical errors. However, on the whole, I was able to overlook them and enjoy the stories. As I read the stories, I got used to the writing style, and reading the rest was easy.
There are certain lines in the books that hold a strong Indian context. For example, “Kya? Toothpaste mein nimbu aur namak? No aunty” would be understood only by the Indian audience, not only because of the language, but also because it’s meant to remind the reader of an Indian TV advertisement.
What I liked most about the book was that most stories had strong, interesting and unusual plots. Some of them took unexpected turns and left me pleasantly surprised at the end.
What I liked least about the book was the first story. I couldn’t relate to the characters and the story couldn’t hold my attention.
There are both positives and negatives to this collection of short stories. However, because most of the short stories had strong plots and were very engaging, I rate the book 3 out of 4 stars. Irrespective of the genre you prefer, there’s something in the book for you. Go ahead and pick it up!
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Tale Journey: A Collection of 21 Short Stories
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