#Bookreview #BookRecommendation
Title: The Labyrinth of Silence
Author : Aparna Salvi Nagda
Genre: Drama
Rarely do you come across a book that blends a city’s linguistic turmoil with it’s characters’ inner tumult. Having read Immensely, I haven’t found Belgaum issues being discussed so extensively. Also, with an intense story, the minds and thoughts of the protagonists have been explored to the minutest detail.
The story is about Muki (Mukta), a mute girl born to a postman father and a domestic help mother. She serves at the Kulkarni mansion and is close to the family’s daughter in law Narmada.
But Muki is too young to understand Narmada’s marital agony, the head of the mansion Girish Kulkarni’s silence and the matriarch Kusum’s sternness. She enjoys taking care of Narmada’s daughter Kashi, and gradually, she comes to terms with the mystery shrouding the bungalow and the complexity of it’s occupants.
What is most striking about the book, is the author’s ability to dig deep into it’s characters’ psyche. As you turn the pages, you actually find yourself somewhere in Kusum, Girish, Narmada, Muki or Kashi. Because they have been interpreted so well, so many layers of their personalities, strengths and weaknesses have been brought out beautifully.
I feel it’s amazing, to understand and essay human behaviour with such compassion, especially the male perspective which isn’t spoken about much.
Everyone is holding on to certain secrets, but the unraveling of the mystery and joining the dots happens very systematically. The timing and placing is all perfect.
Oh, what do I say about the language, it’s ornate, almost poetic. Little things like chirping of birds, gurgling of rivers, or spinning of rickety cycle wheels have been described with exquisite phrases. The vocabulary is rich and the pacing is ideal, I mean you feel like floating in a peaceful blue lake.
I am a fan of Anita Desaiji and somehow Aparna’s style of storytelling brought me similar vibes.
Emotional, powerful, and unputdownable, Aparna’s ‘The Labyrinth of Silence’ is a book that makes you think, tells you not to judge. Because everyone has his own pain to go through and his own way of dealing with it.
I happily recommend this book to everyone, for it’s honesty and reality. Bravo.
My rating: 5/5.
