Frying Pan and Other Stories By Raja
Published By: Leadstart Publishing, Mumbai
——————————————————————————–
Review by The Free Press Journal, Jan 2009
“A poignant pot-pourri of stories that will grab the attention of young and old alike. Each story has a moral and appeal of its own that can reach people from various strata of life. The collection is relevant to our time and touches issues pertaining to friendship, caste, women’s rights and empowerment with much sensitivity. Love seems to be the basis for many of the stories, passion is evident in some of them – be it for a lover, from freedom, empowerment, or in general for a better life”
———————————————————————
Review By Abhilash Vijayan, Debonair, April 2009:
Rustic Touch
“The themes of the 27 stories in this slim collection are relevant to our times. Issues such as social challenges of caste and class, women’s rights and empowerment, friendship, love ( or rather the search for the true meaning of love ) form the base for quite a few stories. The other themes that the stories deal with are freedom and teh need to excercise it responsibly, a passion for living versus a passionate living, hope, reformation and transformation, human foibles and failings.”
——————————————————————————-
Review By Abhilash Vijayan Sahara Time 28th March 09:
Malgudi Revisited
“A unique collection of short stories that bring out the joys and sorrows of charcters belonging to different walks of life. The themes of the 27 stories in this slim collection are relevant to our times. Issues such as social challenges of caste and class, women’s rights and empowerment, friendship, love ( or rather the search for the true meaning of love ) form the base for quite a few stories. The other themes that the stories deal with are freedom and teh need to excercise it responsibly, a passion for living versus a passionate living, hope, reformation and transformation, human foibles and failings.
The characters are drawn from different walks of life – barber, bachelor, child, dalit, brahmin, married people, petty shop-owner, master, maid, government official etc; There is a distinct malgudi touch in most of the stories. Characters aare presented as true to life as possible. Th cover story, ‘Frying Pan’, has a good moral theme. The Anand stories remind us of RK Narayan’s Swamy.
In ‘Dasi Street’ the dasi Peraman’s altruistic nature helps protagonist find himself. Each piece has a moral lesson. In ‘Faustian Deal’ Venkatraman, even in this age of instant gratification, picks himself up in the nick of time from living a life of regret.
The plot structure of teh book is simple and straight forward. The style is a combination of creative, personal expression and artistic integrity. The characters are introduced very casually, for example in ‘The Prime and the Barber’. The language is very down-to-earth and there is nothing very ostentatious about it. The narratives are gripping and compelling. Using teh small canvas of teh short story, Raja is able to lay a sumptuous spread of diverse themes and characters who are as many as there are people in the world.
The reader gets the feeling that the author wants the reader to know that it tkes different types of people to make the world. The larger concern of teh book is about life and morality, but the author refrains form didacticism. His stories, though apparetly simple, have an underlying quality of the need to hold on to a sound value system in life.
If you want to unearth and experience the joys of teh simple facets of life and enhance its quality you will have to read Raja’s Frying Pan and Other Stories. The writer finds extraordinary things in ordinary experiences of life.”
—————————————————————————-
Reviews of Books Written by Indian Authors 