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‘My Lawfully Wedded Husband and other Stories’ by Madhulika Liddle
Published by Westland Ltd,
Price
Rs 250
I have always been an avid book reader,
and anyone who dared come between me and an unfinished book did so at their
peril. However since my son was born , experience
has taught me that no matter how much I
might want to finish my book in one go, staying up at night when the kid was asleep was a sure way to
bring out the grouchy mamma in me . So in the interests of my sanity the
kid’s wellbeing, my bedside table is now largely populated by short story
collections. That is why, when BlogAdda offered me a chance to review this book,
I jumped at it and hung on with all my might.
Coming to the book itself, as the
title suggests, “My Lawfully Wedded Husband and other Stories” is a collection
of short stories by Madhulika Liddle. The first story in the collection begins with
quite a matter of fact declaration by the protagonist, about how ‘I killed my first human when I was twenty one’.
And right away I thought – “This
is not a book to read at night if you’re the highly sensitive type who hides
under the covers at the slightest of unexplained night sounds in an empty house”. However, since my three year old was sleeping
soundly next to me, I decided to allow my curiosity to get the better of my
afternoon siesta, and carried on reading.
The common thread that runs
through all the stories is a generous dose of dark humour with a twist in the tail.
From the deceptively normal Delhi girl in ‘Sum Total’, the enterprising Madhu
in Bombay, the ambitious young housekeeper in a quaint Goan village, the heartbreakingly
naïve prostitute Hourie to the gullible young girl from Chennai , all the
characters are quite believable and interestingly diverse. The writing seems effortless and is
very easy to read. The stories however ,
vary from the ho hum , ‘Feet of Clay’,
to the beautifully written ‘Tale of a
Summer Vacation” in a sleepy Goan village , to the spine chilling ‘On the Night Train’ ,
and the absolutely not- for- reading- alone-
in- bed- at- night horror quickie “Silent Fear”.
My personal favourite is the
story set in Goa, which promises love and romance at the onset and ends up with
a wicked twist. However, despite the fact that love and romance do not quite
triumph in the end, I couldn’t bring myself to hate the villain of the piece as
much as I should. Given the fact that I’m almost always the goody two shoes
on the higher moral ground, in my opinion this is a corker of a story. Either
that or I must be really wicked at heart; that is to say, I stick to my opinion
that this is the best story of the lot. The other story I liked better than the
rest is “The Howling Waves of Tranquebar”.
I can’t say much about it for fear of spoiling it for anyone who may be
thinking of reading it, but suffice to say that this is one of those stories
with atmosphere, at the end of which you giggle nervously and thank your stars
that the story ended the way it did!
All in all, this is a book to own,
to read once then leave on the bookshelf, and then read again after a few months later.
This book review is a part of
Blog Adda’s Book Review program. Click on the link to receive free books and participate in this great program.
