Title-The
Himalayan Revelation
Author-Pankaj Misra
Publisher-Power
Publishers,Kolkatta
Pages-317
Price-425
INR
Year-2013
Source-Review
copy via Tales Pensieve
To
be very frank,I had neither heard about this book nor it’s author until I
chanced upon the Tales Pensieve page, which said that this book was up for
review.Without a second thought,I grabbed the opportunity to review this latest
novel.The Himalayan Revelation is PankajMisra’s debut work and is an attempt at
historical fiction by this first time author.
The
Plot-VijayaNagaraempire,one of the most prosperous Hindu kingdoms in South
India is attacked by Sultanates.But before conceding defeat,it’s ruler manages
to hideit’s vast treasures,somewhere.Centurieslater,Gaurav-a happy go lucky guy
who is on a holiday to Leh stumbles upon something which changes his course of
life from then on.
The
Characters-The protagonist,Gaurav is a fun loving guy who has a passion for
history.Then there is Natasha,his colleague turned lover (who has a doctorate
in history and is also the consultant of Genesis 3D,the firm which employs
Gaurav).There is also KunchenLama,the most revered-multifaceted spiritual
healer and Tibetan doctor.There are quite a number of othercharacters like Tony
Chacko,the C.E.O of Genesis 3D and Meesha,the C.E.O of Heritage Consultants to
name a few, but none of them are well etched out and as a result,the reader
doesn’t feel for any of them.
The
Language and writing-This is the weakest part of the book.The English is pretty
basic(even painfully bland at times)not to mention the numerous grammatical
errors which make their appearance at regular intervals.What is more jarring is
the author’s attempt to sound ‘cool’ by the throwing in the names of the many
gadgets,motorcycles,cars(and what not!)at disturbingly regular intervals
throughout.If you are able to overlook all these,you might be able to enjoy
this novel to a certain extent.
What
I liked the most about the book:
1)The concept
and the story line-At a time when most of the ‘desi’ first time authors are
resorting to safer subjects like ‘campus romance and similar stories catering
to the young urban readers’,Pankaj
Mishra deserves a pat on his back for choosing the much more difficult
historical fiction genre for his debut novel.Author definitely has a unique
story to tell and the way he linked the present with the past was actually
quite interesting.I particularly liked the way the story ended.
2.
The book design:Thebook design was quite decent .The font (size) is also o.k.
3.The book throws light into a largely forgotten chapter in the Indian history.
3.The book throws light into a largely forgotten chapter in the Indian history.
What
I didn’t like:
1.The language
and the writing-A good dish tastes best when it is served well!Though there is
an engaging story over here,it is presented in a pretty mediocre manner.TheEnglish
is really bad(with plenty of grammatical errors and weird looking sentences!)
which makes the book quite a difficult read.It’s the kind of book which you
feel like putting down multiple times but you simply can’t as you badly want to
know what is going to happen next to the protagonists!
2.The length
of the book-I honestly feel that the book could have been a good 50 pages
shorter.The sex scenes between Natasha and Gaurav were cringe worthy and could
have been easily done away with!
3.The
tone of the book-The author seems to be confused about his target readers.The writing is pretty mediocre
and the book reads like children’s literature most of the time.Some of the
incidents in the book are too childish and hardly convincing.
4.The
Pricing-At 425 INR,I definitely believe that the book is over priced(but I
simply can’t complain as I got a review copy for free via Tales Pensieve!)
Verdict-On
the whole,’The Himalayan Revelation’ was a passable one.It had a decent story to
tell but was let down by bland writing.Rating-2.5/5
-nikhimenon
The book was received as part of Reviewers Programme on http://thetalespensieve.
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