BOOK
TITLE: The Other Side
ISBN: 9789350880760
AUTHOR: Vivek
Bannerjee and Faraz Kazi
GENRE: Paranormal
NUMBER OF PAGES: 320
FORMAT: Paperback
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
REVIEW BY: Dhivya
Balaji
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: The
book was mailed to me as a part of Readers Cosmos Book Review program.
SUMMARY:
"A
slow rasping sound made me turn. I jumped back, the cell phone leaving my hands
and smashing against the concrete floor. Someone was seated on the chair,
rocking back and forth. Through the fallen light, I could see those hands
placed on the arms of the chair, two gruesome wrinkled limbs with ugly boils
plastered over the black skin. The red bangles on its wrists shone in my eyes,
momentarily blinding me. That thing and I call it a thing because I could sense
it wasn't human as no human could have such a hideous form, as vile an
existence as the one seated opposite to my horrified self."
From
a honeymoon in the hill that goes horribly wrong to an obsessed lover who wants
his first love in life and in death; From a mentally deranged man who collects
body parts of various women to stitch together his dream girl to a skeptic who
enters a mansion of horrors to win a bet and much more, this book is filled
with scenarios that are guaranteed to give you goosebumps and sleepless nights.
'The
Other Side' is a collection of thirteen tales of the paranormal; a world that
our eyes refuse to see, our ears deny hearing and our senses ignore the feel
of. This is a book for someone who is brave enough to take up this invitation
to journey through uncharted waters along with the authors, who were inspired
by some bizarre experiences to pen down this work where the lines of reality
have been blurred by the footsteps of imagination.
Each story takes you on a tour de force of unadulterated horror and draws upon the deepest fear in the human mind- the fear of the UNKNOWN!
Each story takes you on a tour de force of unadulterated horror and draws upon the deepest fear in the human mind- the fear of the UNKNOWN!
REVIEW:
The
Other Side is a collection of thirteen short stories. We received this as a
part of Readers’ Cosmos Review Program. Complete with the obsession over number
thirteen, a spooky cover and a really scintillating book back summary, the book
has all the essential elements of a spooky novel. The book starts with a
prelude. The setting is mountainside and the two authors start sharing their
own personal ‘ghost’ stories and therein start a germ of an idea. They start
writing about a few stories, each progressing in its supernatural element.
There
are dead people haunting the place they lived as ghosts, paranormal sounds, and
all the special effects. In one story, a honeymoon couple faces the worst
experience of their life. There are tarot readers, spirit communicators,
tantriks, and ghosts aplenty. In another story, a group of young men faces
ghosts from the past. Yet another couple faces a mythical monster. There are
adventure lovers who plan in detail only for the plan to go awry. Intervention
from the paranormal forces compels the characters to lose their wits. There are
your essential spirits who have died with unfulfilled desires, who try to live
life again through the living.
From
the good, bad and ugly, the book has it all. It is a real spook-fest and
guarantees a few ‘crescendo music’ moments especially if read in the night
complete with BGM. But even in daylight, you can see the book is well written.
All stories are similar and different in their own respects. There are certain
points that are common, and there are the chilling moments. But this is
because, as a whole, the aim of the story is to spook you. The authors have
maintained writing equally in first person and third person narratives. And
there is a seamless motion between pages. And they have also not resorted to
the usual spooky locations to write the stories.
There
are ample native elements complete with vernacular words in the story. Though
otherwise, the language is good and is also devoid of spelling and grammatical
errors. The plot of each story and the characterisation is clean, relatable and
does its job. The book overall is well written but does leave something to be
desired for. Where the book becomes a
bit lacking is the repetitiveness of horror. The content of thirteen stories,
though as varied as can be, are unfortunately slightly repetitive and remind us
of old stories that our grannies told us to stop us from venturing out at
night.
This
was one book that was hard to put down. Not only due to its interesting stories
but also the natural curiosity of ‘what next’ that makes up the mind of every
human and keeps feeding such supernatural occurrences. After all, the mind is
the first storage place for such stories to manifest and it has the amazing
power of drawing totally improbable threads to prove every story and memory are
relatable. (Disclaimer: Not writing this because I am spooked. I have had my
share of inexplicable experiences but nothing this horrendous. And my rational
mind tells me there are explanations for every such event.)
WHAT I LIKED: The nice way the stories have been written, the
prelude and the epilogue, language.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: One can only be as unique as our history and
stories allow. Therefore there are unavoidable clichés in the stories.
VERDICT: Go for it if you like your spook adventure
books. If such stories tend to stay with you, give this one a thought. It can
be realistic enough if you are easily scared. BOO!
RATING: 4.2
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
VIVEK BANNERJEE
A
paediatrician by profession, Vivek Banerjee is an author by accident. He lives
in Saharanpur with his parents, obstetrician wife and two children. The
pressures of his profession leave him with little leisure but he still finds
time for his varied interests. An avid traveller, he has covered the length and
breadth of the country in real life and the rest of the world in his
imagination. A voracious reader, music lover, self-confessed geek and an
amateur ornithologist, he would rather walk the road less travelled, given the
time and opportunity. A Bengali by birth, he has grown up in various towns of
North India and studied in many different schools and colleges. He started
writing on Rediff blogs where he is known as Ben and went on to write his debut
novel THE LONG ROAD.
He has also been published by Westland in 'Chicken Soup for Indian Doctors Soul', Grapevine India in 'Shades of Love' and APK Publishers in 'Shades of Black'.
He has also been published by Westland in 'Chicken Soup for Indian Doctors Soul', Grapevine India in 'Shades of Love' and APK Publishers in 'Shades of Black'.
He
won an all India short story competition for his story 'The hunter’ which was
published in 'Kaleidoscope' by Parlance publishers.
An anthology of stories about the paranormal, 'The Other Side', co-authored with Faraaz Kazi is a recent offering.
He is also a part of 'Carnival' by Litizen.com
An anthology of stories about the paranormal, 'The Other Side', co-authored with Faraaz Kazi is a recent offering.
He is also a part of 'Carnival' by Litizen.com
FARAZ KAZI
The
winner of the 2013 National Debut Youth Fiction Award and also the recipient of
the YCOF National Excellence award in Creative Writing apart from being the
first Indian author to win the coveted ‘Best Debut (Romance)’ title at the
international Goodreads choice awards, Faraaz Kazi has been tagged as the
'Nicholas Sparks of India’ by many and is rated amongst the top male romance
writers in the country.
A
certified soft-skills trainer and a three-time post grad, Kazi is the Founder
and CEO of DigiImprint Solutions, India's first exclusive promotional agency
for authors and artists that recently forayed into handling corporate brands.
He also consults for a few public relations firms and publishing houses.
Felicitated by numerous institutes, bodies and organizations alike, Kazi is a
well-known name in the social media and literary fraternity. He is fondly
referred to as 'The Young Marketer' and operates a revolutionary blog with the
same name and writes for major media houses.
Kazi is a fellow member of the esteemed 'Film Writers Association of India.' Truly Madly Deeply, his debut mainstream romance novel is the only Indian book to have seven category nominations in the Goodreads annual readers' choice awards and is also the only Indian book in the 'Top 100 YA Global Fiction' list. Kazi is a voracious reader and counts singing as his second love.
Kazi is a fellow member of the esteemed 'Film Writers Association of India.' Truly Madly Deeply, his debut mainstream romance novel is the only Indian book to have seven category nominations in the Goodreads annual readers' choice awards and is also the only Indian book in the 'Top 100 YA Global Fiction' list. Kazi is a voracious reader and counts singing as his second love.
EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Paperback
PRICE: Rs.
150 for Paperback
"This book review is a part of The Readers Cosmos Book Review Program. To get free books log on to thereaderscosmos.blogspot.
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