FANSTASTIC 40 REVIEW

NAME: Fantastic 40

AUTHOR: Reetwika Banerjee

GENRE: micro stories

LANGUAGE: English

PUBLISHED DATE: June 1st, 2014

PAGES: 128

ISBN: 9788192569086

MY RATING: 4.5 OUT OF 5


NOTE: I thank the author for sharing this book with me. also sorry I took so long to review this book. The author gave me a free ebook for honest review.


              This is the first time I am hearing the term "micro-stories". it turns out they are stories shorter than a short story.I guess this is India's first micro story. a lateral thought by the author and I appreciate her guts(also the risk) to publish it, it turns out to be something new and inspirational to new writers. .

               the book contains 40 micro stories each depicts various emotion such as comedy, survival, heartbreak, friendship, first love, grief. also, each contains different genre almost all genres (except sci-fi, I m mad at the author for that) while reading each story is like living a slice of someone's life.
                the way author place the stories soothes you, after an intense story there comes a hilarious mama story (I love mama story). the mama stories are the only reoccurring stories.

                 I still don't have an idea how to review this book, usually, I give a small synopsis and then go to the literary part. I m going give a micro-synopsis.


MICRO-SYNOPSIS:

               "A NIGHT IN SOLITUDE" -- is of survival genre with a touch of biographical narration.

               "CLUMSY OLD LADY" -- is a story about a mother's grief.
           
               "ONE RAINY DAY" -- it's about a first crush. the end is a bit clumsy, can't get what the author try to say.

               "FRIENDS CALL ME BUBU" --  is a funny less intense comical story.

               "MET HER ON BOARD" -- is about meeting your ex accidentally, slightly emotional to me.(no I m not a romantic)

               "THE CURSED WELL" -- it's a mythological fiction with third person narrative.

               "NEED FOR GENERAL QUOTA" -- this one touches the social issues that the great nation suffers from.

               "MY LOST NOTE" -- this is about a guilt a man suffers after misunderstanding someone. this type of story is what I said earlier living someone's life.

               "TOTALLY OWLED" -- is a funny one to soothe the reader, the twist was good.

               "ICE TEA" -- is a romance genre, much similar to the short film "the desk"

               "HACKING INTO A GREEN WORLD" -- is can't figure out what genre it is (it's social message) but if the author intended it to be sci-fi. it didn't work out well (seriously? ET-talk.com)

               "INTELLIGENT BUYING" -- a story of ordinary govt. an employee who wants buys a new television, with a funny twist and social message at the end.

               "TITLI'S MOM" -- an open-ended story, but the main line that authors try to convey is how Indian parents shape their child's career.

               "NON-VIRGIN MAMA" -- the first story of mama (not sure whether he's the same avijit from the 4th story.) hilarious story. definitely a stress reducer,

                "COME BACK SOON" -- separation and army life with a clumsy twist at the end.

                "KOOLGET MINT" -- it's a crime, suspense story.

                "A SWEET REVENGE" -- a feel-good story, a story you can think about when you are alone. it's about a small child and her innocent way to take revenge.

               "REGULAR PROBLEM OF REGULAR LUNCH" -- another fun-witted story, I m sure all IT guys will be laughing their ass off.

                "STANDING OVATION" -- this again a slice of life, stories like this makes your heart warm.

               "MAMA'S STRUGGLE WITH CHICKS" -- mama's struggle in making chicken curry.

               "A FEEL GOOD" -- it's a kind of biographical, easily relatable, the way how small compliments can change a person life.

               "CROSS LINK" -- another hilarious story, about how confusing our minds are.

              "PIS-ING WHOLE NIGHT" -- I really enjoyed this one, how our friends can embarrass us (that's y they are friends)

              "EVEN IN BABY SHOW" -- a story that says the reality behind reality shows.

              "GREEN WASHING" -- tells us how the mnc's work (in fact how the whole world works)  when comes to the matter of green energy.

              "DELIVERED SUCCESSFULLY" -- yet another hilarious mama story.

               "NEW REEBOK SHOES" -- this one is a strong emotional, slice of life story.

                "ON AN EMERGENCY" -- a tragic story about how Indian traffic cost  lives.

                "GIRLS, LOOK OUT" -- explores deep into mama's world, we also came to know about mama's parents.

               "HANDICAP"  -- a brilliant story, explains what a handicap really means, but I found this story is been overused a lot.

               "THE LONE PASSENGER" -- a survival story makes u feel that anything can happen at any time.

               "STILL WAITING...." -- personally my favorite, the story has more poetic meaning to it

              "JAI BABA LOKENATH" -- last of mama's hilarious story, loved it (p.s. tamay is a pain in the ass)

              "SLIGHTLY BENT" -- a story about the misfire, and political satire.

               "HEIGHT OF COINCIDENCE" --  funny story about how bad things can so randomly.

               "MET HIM BY CHANCE" -- we all have a dream to meet our favorite author, what if we met him without our knowledge.

               "TSIMASHAM" -- a horror filled story, it has so much content that it can be written as  a full-length story.

              "THE DIC BOY"  -- yet another hilarious one, the way these girls short things.

               "WITH M.K.GANDHI ON 15TH AUGUST 1947" -- it's a historical fiction, a story about small girls who is with mahatma on 15th august.

               "LAST TIME WITH MY BOYFRIEND" -- I found this so emotional, literally I can feel pain when I think about this story even though the story ended on a positive note.
 


FANTASTIC 40:

              Narration varies from story to story, I pointed out most of it in the synopsis, mostly linear writing, the language is a bit tough, it's ok for me but I have a feeling that most of the reader might need a dictionary for them.

             other than that, some stories are cliche, overly used or heard stories, some stories have the potential to be  full featured stories, like "new Reebok shoes"tsimasham", "tsimasham" by its length is a short story more than micro stories.

             some slice of life stories are close to heart, those are stories that you will be thinking when you are alone or if you miss someone.

            mama stories are hilarious and fresh, really enjoyed them.

OVERALL REVIEW:

          a brilliant out of a box effort, congrats to the author. I enjoyed every story but the book on whole doesn't give the emotional attachment that I get from a novel.(is a good thing or bad thing)

        recommended to all, but I don't recommend on reading it in a single take, give some time between each story, like tasting a year old wine, enjoy every story, you can understand more meaning in that way.
       
        I hope the author continues her work on such books, I really wanna read "yet another fantastic 40 stories"                        

                           a fantastic and prodigious effort

                                                                                                 --- SIDHARTH