A Thousand Unspoken Words – Book Review

Author: Paulami Duttagupta

Paperback: 211 Pages

Publisher: Readomania (November 19th 2015 )

Language: English

ISBN-10: 8192997596

ISBN-13: 978-8192997599

Genre: Fiction/Romance

About The Book:

A hero, a person who displays great courage for the greater good, can also fall. But what happens to a fallen hero? A Thousand Unspoken Words is the unique journey of a hero who falls.
The champion of the underdogs, the writer who uses the nom de plume Musafir is famous in Kolkata. His incisive criticism of the injustices around him earn him many enemies but he holds his ideals above all else. Scathing attacks at his books and a night of hide and seek from political goons leads Musafir unto a path he never liked, faraway from his ideals. He runs away and chooses the comforts of money over the travails of following one’s ideals. The hero falls.
But Tilottama, passionate fan’s hopes don’t. When he comes back after many years, emotions, love and lust take charge and an affair brews. Will she bring back her hero? Will he rise again? Or will the thousand untold words, the many stories of the ideal writer be lost forever?

About The Author:

Born in Shillong, many moons ago, with schooling at Loreto Convent, and an English Honors from St. Edmunds College, Paulami Duttagupta started her career with All India Radio Shillong. She had written and also given her voice to a few shows there. Later she came down to Kolkata and got a post graduate degree in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University. She had also taken up a fancy to learning Spanish, but today confesses that she has forgotten most of it.
She has written for ‘The Times of India’ in the ‘Guwahati-Shillong plus Edition’ and also ‘The Shillong Times’. Television had always attracted her and was connected to the Bangla TV industry for about 6 years. She was associated with ETV- Bangla, Akash Bangla and Sony Aath in this period.
Having left her day job in 2012, Paulami took up full time writing. Her first novel, “Pinjar” released in early 2012.
Her second novel “Unplanned Destinty” released in 2014. She is also the screenplay writer of the national award winning Khasi film – “Ri Homeland of Uncertainty”.
“Ri” has been adapted into a novel and is releasing in Spetember’14.
She is currently working on her next project as movie script writer.
Apart from writing full length novels, she has written several short stories and articles. She has also contributed to the “Minds@work Anthology” and the “Family Matters International Anthology” in 2013.
Recently she has contributed to the “Learning and Creativity Anthology” , “Her Story Anthology”, and “Celebrating India – Love across Borders Anthology”.
When she is not writing or watching movies, Paulami is either reading biographies or classic pieces of literature. Cricket, food, cinema, books and music are an integral part of her life.

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My Take:

You get hooked to this book just as you pick it up because it reflects the fragility of our life so beautifully. Story moves gradually , subtly pin-pointing numerous issues from the society. It describes the struggle of a writer who has fallen out of muse. It shows the struggle of a fan who loves a persona than a person. It speaks of dark topics of depression that we don’t talk about. It gives voice to innumerable words of our life that are often left unsaid. It speaks about how ideology falls apart at the hands of money.

The characters are so real that you can almost imagine living them next you or sometimes even you. Tilottama is a fan with an obsession. Musafir, the male protagonist, is a person who is torn between his two distinct personalities. Their dilemma and emotions come alive to make you think about the complexity of life. Their life goes on a single thing called hope. Other characters comfortably fit in their roles as do they in the story. Emotional turmoil of the events of their lives can be felt throughout the book.

There are no nail-biting scenes or steamy romance to sell. What holds the reader is the brilliant narration about the daily life of a family. It makes the reader jump in the book and live with the characters. Though not fast-paced, yet the book manages to continue with constant pace unfolding life.

Bottom Line: You know you love a book when a books calls you back again and again without any mystery, thrill or uncertainty as excuse. This books subtly speaks of the familiar circumstances of Life. A book, that stays on your mind and makes you ponder.

My Rating:

4/5

And now I’ll leave you with a few lines from the book…

“people are too busy looking for ways to survive. The middle class has no time for ideological battles. Their own lives are little battlefields.”

“change will never come unless you are a part of it.”

“Everyone wants to mould you in a way best suited to them,’”

“‘Pain is a very inspiring thing.”

“pain makes one more driven.”

“It makes one keener, more determined to make things work.”

“Beyond our private and public appearances is another face. The secret face that holds our darkest thoughts, we don’t show it to people and people are better off without seeing it. Look within and you will find one too.”

“People are like sand. If you try to hold on to them, they slip away.”

“sometimes we are so blind that we push the people we love so far away that we lose our way to find them.”