Like life, some books are beautiful in a simple way. This is exactly that kind of a book.
It follows the story of two siblings and a house. The story tracks the siblings and all related characters over many years. And at the center of it all is this beautiful, ‘right out of a fairy tale’ house.
I wouldn’t say that the story is extraordinary. However this is the kind of a story which can only be told through a book, because the power of it is in the retrospective perspective of the boy who is narrating the entire tale.
Novels like this one give you a feeling of peeping into another family’s life. The story describes the most mundane things, facts that are misremembered, misunderstandings that you as a third person know have no basis. Readers have nowhere to rush to, no climax to arrive at, no mystery to solve. The story is to be enjoyed in the present. And even though the events seem to occur in an unrelated manner, just like in real life, this novel leaves you with a very strong message that ‘life comes full circle’.
What I loved most about the book was the relationships and how a boy/ man interprets the relationships between the women who are dominantly present in his life. If you are an Indian, you would be well aware of the clichéd conflicted bond between sister in laws. I am gladly surprised to find a very similar portrayal of this relation in a book based in the Western culture.
Over all, a slow and cozy read. The kind you should pick up when you wish to relax and not race your mind with a thriller or get tangled in a romance.
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