A few days ago, I finished a short anthology, ‘Handful’. Over the past couple of days, I caught myself thinking about certain aspects of the stories and the characters.
The beauty of this book is that the stories are spread across various genres, from historical action to surviving loss of a loved one. While each story is different in itself, there is a strong undercurrent of the strong sense of survival in each of the protagonists.
Excerpt: Handful is a collection of short stories. Each story talking about tales of survival, spread across times and places. Each tale, a window to a different world. I hope you, dear reader, find a window through which you see the world once you thumb through.
My personal favourite was ‘Love Immortal — Naaz’, which focussed on Naaz and how she dealt with having to break up with the love of her life in order to appease her family. I really enjoyed the way the author conveyed the depth of her feelings using flashbacks to a happier time.
I just had a little trouble relating with the first story, ‘The Son of the Dragon’ which I felt was a little fast-paced, there were so many things happening almost immediately that I took a little time to get a sense of what was going on.
All in all, this book is a short fun read, the characters are well-etched, each of the stories has its own unique charm, yet fits perfectly with the others without it becoming monotonous. Since it is just a hundred-page book, it does not take long to read. If you find yourself with some time on your hand, this book would be perfect for you!
Grab your copy: https://pothi.com/pothi/book/amit-dsouza-handful
There and Their 