I read a few new books recently by some very talented independent authors (and re-read some old favourites of mine) that I really wanted to talk about at length. However, I didn’t want to start a review page of my own because, frankly, I’m not a reviewer and wouldn’t like to take requests and neither did I want to just leave short reviews on the usual platforms like Amazon and Goodreads. Of course, being a writer myself, I understand the importance of getting reviews on those sites for authors and I have/will leave my feedback over there too, but I wanted to have a space where I could talk at length about the books that I really enjoyed and, it seemed to me, that the best place to do that would be right here on my own blog. So, here goes a new segment called Book Analysis and to start it off, I have chosen two books by Chandrayan Gupta, a very exciting independent author, whose work people should definitely know more about.
The two books that Chandrayan has written are part of his Radha Bose series of crime novels and are titled “Birth Of A Duo” and “The Rage Within” respectively.
Let’s start then with the first one – Birth Of A Duo.
Summary:-
The book begins with Aditya Gokhale, a clinically depressed young man with a very cynical outlook. Aditya soon finds himself recruited by Radha Bose, an amateur private investigator with a troubled past and mental issues of her own, and they form a team to investigate whether the death of an actor’s son is a suicide or not.
On the surface, the premise might seem very basic or something that one has perhaps come across several times, but the story and the narrative go much deeper than just a detective tale.
It’s an examination of existence and an exploration of the deep and dark world of emotional trauma.
Both Radha and Aditya have painful memories that often make their minds crumble. They are always in danger and at risk not so much from any external forces as from their own selves. It’s an interesting way to present a story that is fundamentally a mystery because the characters who are expected to solve the mystery are so tangled with their own complexities that you often fear that the task they have at hand will prove too much for them to handle.
However, both Radha and Aditys turn out to be extremely adept at their work too. Yes, they have their weak moments and sometimes both are vulnerable to the demons that they harbour inside them, but they don’t let that come in the way of their investigation. Chandrayan has managed to intersperse the good and bad of both worlds quite beautifully in the narrative and that makes it a compelling read.
Characters:-
Aditya Gokhale is an extremely interesting character. He is cynical but also kind, disillusioned but clever; and he has his heart in the right place. It’s easy for such a character with so much of cynicism and a perpetual scorned attitude to feel monotonous, or even irritating, after a while but you don’t feel that with Aditya because of the way Chandrayan has painted him. I found myself relating to him and agreeing to the bleak perspective of life that he sometimes adapts.
Radha Bose is fascinating in her own way. Much like Aditya, she too faces a great amount of inner turmoil but, unlike him, she has a much more upbeat viewpoint about life and the world in general. She is understanding, clever, strong, and yet quite susceptible and fragile within herself. To be very frank, Radha is just the kind of woman I would like to be with in my life. Though she’s jarred and troubled, there’s somehow a freshness about her, a strong sense of independence, and a calm and composed mind. But, at the same time, she is human too and often takes personal decision on stupid impulses. That’s what makes her so identifiable. She is just like a normal person who makes both good and bad decisions. It’s very difficult to give a character such balance and, again, Chandrayan has aced it.
There are not many other characters worth speaking about as the story largely focuses on Radha and Aditya. However, personally, I would have liked it if Aditya’s mom had gotten a little more space just to play out his dynamic with people other than Radha and enunciate a bit more on the kind of relationship he shares with someone important in his life.
Writing Style:-
Birth Of A Duo is written in first person present tense with the narration alternating between the perspectives of Aditya and Radha. I found this technique to be very effective and appropriate for this story. The characters are living the story along with the reader and not looking back at it in retrospection and it gives you a sense of being involved in the action and invest yourself in the mystery. Another thing that I really liked about this book are the dialogues. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the dialogues are my most favourite aspect of the entire novel. They are crisp, practical, relatable, and most importantly, filled with sarcasm. The sarcastic exchanges between Radha and Aditya are pure fun and it was a treat to read something that handled sarcasm so well without overdoing it. Yes, there are a few places where I felt that the descriptions were a bit unnecessarily long but apart from that the book moves along at a brisk pace and ends up being a nice breezy read.
The Final Word:-
Birth Of A Duo is undoubtedly a book that deserves your time. If you like a nice mystery that asks very relevant questions about mental health and freedom of choice then you should definitely give it a read. Chandrayan Gupta has done a fabulous job with his debut novel and I only hope that he keeps up the standard he has set for himself with his next book.
PS: The sequel to this book will be covered in the next post.
You can get the book here:-
NILADRI MITRA 