Book: The Teller of Tales
Author: Bhaskar Ghose
Pages: 277
Read On: Paperback
How Long It Took Me To Read: 2 days
Plot Summary: Civil servant-turned-schoolteacher Arunava Varman is secretive and reticent. But he turns into an inspired teller of tales after a couple of drinks, especially in the company of his friend, Tapan. Arunava’s bizarre stories – involving friends, family and colleagues – add a dash of excitement and intrigue to Tapan’s mundane life of a bureaucrat. But over the years, as Tapan gets to know Arunava better, he starts discovering disturbing holes in these tales.
General Thoughts: I bought this book without too much of a thought. I had heard of this book in magazines and papers around the time this book out in 2012. I liked the premise of this book. two friends chatting over a couple of drinks and telling stories. It reminded me of my dad and his friends.
Plus the cover art is kinda pretty too.
When this book arrived in the mail, my dad saw it and recognized the author. My dad knows of the author, who was posted in my hometown. My hometown and it's surrounding area are frequently mentioned in this book and I loved reading about places so familiar to me.
Things I Liked:
1. I loved the friendship depicted in this book. The bonds formed over the early years of Government service when friends and family are far away, these two young men find each other and develop a close bond. And I loved how the bond grows stronger over the years. I also liked how typical this friendship was of friendships of men. They don't meet all the time, once a couple of months and later years go by before they meet again. I loved how real and genuine this friendship read.
2. I loved the stories Arunava tells Tapan. It was like being in the room with them and hearing the stories in person. Some of the stories were really funny and there was even a ghost story! A good range of tales!
3. I loved Arunava's character. He was a mystery and an enigma. Really interesting. I kept turning pages, hoping to figure out the truth about his life.
4. The lying, the blatant lies that Arunava tells Tapan were very curious. There are people who like embellishing truths, who lie to make themselves seem interesting. I have known people in my life who lie at the drop of a hat and no real good reason. It was enjoyable reading about a person like that in fiction.
5. The best thing however was the mentions of North Bengal and it's tiny towns. My corner of the world. It made me miss home!
Things I Didn't Like:
1. The middle portion was the book was slow and I was rapidly losing interest. The only reason I kept reading was my interest in Arunava and his back story.
2. I never warmed up to Tapan.
3. There is a love-story thrown in the very end and I just wasn't invested in this aspect of the book at all.
4. The reason for Arunava being the way he was...was a little silly. Not unbelievable or anything...just a little silly.
Rating" 3/5
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