After a brief hiatus, Vaishnavi Nair Kolli returns. Sounds like Godzilla Returns? Well. Pretty much. But, in her own destructively charming way. Through her new work 'Aided by Austen' (AbA).
The expectations always sky-rocket when a person has given an exceptional performance in their previous outing. Though past track records cannot be taken as an exact indicator for future result deliverance with the same earlier intensity, it still let's the other people what an individual is actually capable in their execution. It becomes even more burdensome and the pressure is immense if you are an up and coming talent in the world.
This is precisely the situation which Vaishnavi faces herself when her second novel 'AbA' hit the stores, Okay Kindle!. Yeah fine. Kindle is also a virtual store. So, technically on a broader meaning, it hit the STORES!!
Overlooking my niceties on the semantics and phraseology, if you expect the densely layered and complexities of 'Inception' or what-the-hell-happened of 'The Usual Suspects' or the dramatic turn of 'Shutter Island', this book is off your charts. Okay your reading device!
AbA is a simple, uncomplicated, straight forward and honest-to-goodness story from the creative brains of Vaishnavi who balances her logical brain by working @ Google. Tough task indeed to follow your passion and at the same time, be uncompromising on your daily work. She aces it like a consummate high-wire artist.
AbA follows the story of a starry-eyed girl - Jane - who is deeply involved with 'Persuasion' by Jane Austen. The book had left a profound impression when she read it as a 9 year old girl to the extent that she starts to equate her real life with the imaginary characters when she does the play in her alma mater where she gets emotionally attracted to her 'Captain'. Turns of events lead to a communication barricade between the lead hero and heroine forms the rest of the plot in this happy-ending romance.
Vaishnavi's writing style has drastically changed (for the good) in her second novel from her fantabulous 'OK Now, Who is my Santa?' where there was a lot of emphasis on 'I'. It was a refreshing style much like Chetan Bhagat's 'Five Point Someone'.
In AbA, she has given a complete contrasting tone of writing in her choice of words and visualization of characters. There was a touch of quaintness and positivism inherently built into the foundation of the narration. I simply loved the line "everyone knows everything". It was more like the vision statement of a future Google!
In AbA, she has given a complete contrasting tone of writing in her choice of words and visualization of characters. There was a touch of quaintness and positivism inherently built into the foundation of the narration. I simply loved the line "everyone knows everything". It was more like the vision statement of a future Google!
And then, in the blink of an eye, the story had come to a rosy end. Too quickly.
IMHO, Quantity has no direct correlation with quality. But, when you have quality as your chief ingredient, there is absolutely no harm in focusing on quantity as well.
IMHO, Quantity has no direct correlation with quality. But, when you have quality as your chief ingredient, there is absolutely no harm in focusing on quantity as well.
The length of the book is something that Vaishnavi should seriously consider in her next outings as there were plenty of narrative arcs that could have been joyously or sorrowfully expanded like Jane's childhood, her various exploits at Puppyfeet where she established her career like how she gained the tremendous trust of Xin etc. I'm not sure whether the crunchy crispness in her short novel was a deliberate strategy.
Likewise, if Vaishnavi INTENDS to write ONLY romantic-themes, she needs to have a clear-cut target audience in her mind - like 10-16 yrs girls or 17-22 yrs girls and astutely position herself to cater to her customer base. By saying this, I am not stating directly or indirectly that guys don't read romance stories but not everyone will like/love them even if they are friends or relatives or colleagues.
Vaishnavi really has to take this tough call when she writes/ types the ideas for her subsequent works to be a dominant authority in what she also does best.
Vaishnavi really has to take this tough call when she writes/ types the ideas for her subsequent works to be a dominant authority in what she also does best.
Now, you know why I said "destructively charming" in the first para.
Summing it up, Aided By Austen is yet another bright and sunny read that floods your heart strings with warmth AND make you want to believe that the world is not a cruel & brutal place to live and love. That is the crucial optimism which Vaishnavi brings to the fore in AbA.
All the very best for your new venture. I await it with much and such eagerness.
All the very best for your new venture. I await it with much and such eagerness.
No comments:
Post a Comment