My Review: Shoes of the Dead
I am not into the whole political fiction genre. Give me anything from fantasy to surrealism to even business non-fiction (which I mostly do once a year when I feel guilty about my choice in literature); I would pick these over anything political. I don’t follow politics; I don’t even read the news because I feel like if I don’t know what’s happening then it won’t affect me. I live in my tiny bubble, but in the back of my mind I do know that I am choosing ignorance over information because I don’t want to look into the repercussions of those things that happen in this country. This is my first political read in a really long time. I don’t think I might go back to the genre because it’s too gritty, too real for me. I read books to get away from reality and this book made me do the exact opposite.
The books choose facts as WMDs to bolster the story. Its puts things in a perspective, if you thing for minute this is fiction you are so sorely mistaken. This is a book that will shake you to the core of your being. It shows you acrid view of political ambition projecting an air of dark cynicism. The story is flawless, the character building so painstakingly real. There are some observations which make you think about these very real stories.
“There is no one out there reading your story. There is no one who will take a step because of your story. It is just a numb, self-absorbed world that is slowly consuming itself, from light to darkness, from darkness to darkness”
I was absolutely engrossed in the book. I picked it up after a heavy bout of fever and I couldn't put it down even though I was sick. I felt like I owed it to the characters to know what was going to happen. I wanted the book to have a happy ending (which is kind of a naive view I guess but I would have been crushed otherwise; I know it was a bit far-fetched, but I am thankful that it ended the way it did). The book can be a warning bell asking you to wake up and see the condition of the farmers in this country. I would definitely recommend this book to all my friends. This is one story that we should to get a real view at the underbelly of politics.
I think this is one of those few books where the author has made such an effort to present the facts to us. I have not seen an Indian author who has such a grip on the subject matter she is writing about. She has passionately depicted the dissimilarities between life in villages vs. cities. The story shows the amount of dedication to convert a research idea into a novel, a gripping one at that.
If you are looking for a thought provoking book on Indian politics look no further. I give it a 5/5.
P.S. I dint get into the plot line because I don’t like spoilers. Whenever I read a book/watch a movie after reading these reviews I feel cheated in a way as my imagination is stilted because I know what’s going to happen. I try to review without giving too much away, these posts are more of a rambling of those multitudinous thoughts and feelings about the books I read.
This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com.
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