Book Review : Transit For Beginners stories - Rheea Mukherjee

Is living in this world only an illusion of one's fantasy or is it the reflection of one's survival? It may be a difficult question to answer or maybe a completely wrong question, who knows. Exactly, that's where the entire life happens, who knows you better than you? To be precise, no one. If we know ourselves better than anyone else than why do we shy away or just deny the opportunity to express, why don't we? Do we fear only the failure of a relationship or losing people? Even if we do, shouldn't others have the fear of losing us? For once we need to leave behind the fear, concern, doubt, uneasiness or whatever you would want to call it and move ahead to experience the life and be you!

I recently read, Transit For Beginners stories, a book by debut author Rheea Mukherjee in which she writes about the lives of different individuals in different situations in different places and yet their stories have something in common. No, these stories are not linked to each other in any way, but they way they are written. In each story, there are countable characters and all of them play an important role just as our friends, family and everyone around us does. The stories are very relatable and modern, compelling the readers to question the lives that we live.

Book Review : Transit For Beginners stories - Rheea Mukherjee

The book, Transit For Beginners stories, consists of 15 short stories with the following titles, Unspeakable, Hungry, Transit for Beginners, Sweetie, Reckless, Wedding Guests, A Good Hostess, A Good Arrangement, A Larger Design, The Reflection Still, Cheat Day, Cigarettes for Maya, Doldrums, Sway, Keeping Pace. All of these stories, talk about a topic that we usually don't speak about and letting them stay with us, not for betterment though. The stories are written in an interesting manner which keeps the reader's mind occupied with the characters. Almost all the characters of the book display determination as their attribute, trying to reach a solution, human emotions are given priority without anything being overdone and there is detailing even of the minor settings which make these stories impressive. At some places, the narration appeared repetitive to me but this may have been done deliberately to re-emphasize the situation which justifies the same.

Out of the 15 short stories, my personal favorite was Hungry, it is not about the hunger for food, but the hunger of one's true love and the realization of the same only when it is not around you and you see others receiving it in plenty. The title story, Transit for beginners, is about two strangers who meet at an airport only to depart after spending a few hours. Similarly, the other stories will impress and engage you with the new and amusing plots. The stories in the book, Transit For Beginners stories, are fictional, but when you read them you will connect with them and the chances are high that you may know someone that you can relate the story to. Another thing that I forgot to mention is that I was totally impressed with the book cover.

I would recommend this 168 page book to anyone who likes to read fiction, I am impressed with the stories of the book by the debut author and I am sure you will be impressed too.

Other Details:
Copyright: Rheea Mukherjee
Publisher: Kitaab International
ISBN: 978-981-09-8213-3
Cover Design: Kalabati Majumdar
Genre: Stories/Fiction

You can order a copy of the book from Flipkart.