My Take - Malti Joshi ki Lokpriya Kahaniyan

I devoured each and every sentence of this book. Surely, I have become a huge fan of Malti Joshi although this anthology of short stories is the only work of her that I have read. Each story revolves around the life of a female protagonist and weave a compelling tale from her seemingly mundane existence. Each and every story exudes strong feminist hues, albeit the feminist ideals of the stories can sometimes frustrate a 21st century feminist reader. Having said that, I admit that I am in love with this book and in awe of the strong female characters, who despite their different outlook of life, greatly inspired me. Other than the plot and the characters of the stories, I also loved the writing style of Malti Joshi. It flows like a mountainous stream, and it seamlessly blends colloquial style with high-brow literary language. The language of this book is so beautiful that after completing each story I was left with a bitter-sweet taste of nostalgia for a past that I had never lived, as well as for the characters who had became so close to me within a span of 1 hour or so. I believe it's the prowess of the writer that she got me so involved in the lives of her characters. Though all the stories deal within the larger framework of man-woman relationship and the private sphere of women's lives, yet it story offers a refreshing perspective because Joshi gives her varied characters the privilege to tell their side of the story. I enjoyed reading each and every story from the anthology, but if I were to pick four of my most favorite stories then they will be: 1) शापित शैशव, 2) परिणय, 3) अंतिम संक्षेप, 4) बहुरि अकेला.

I am so glad that I came across this book and I hope I will read more of Malti Joshi in future. This has surely become one of my favorite books that I read in 2021.
I will end my review with one of my favorite lines from the book ( It's from the story शापित शैशव):
"जो प्यार करते हैं, वें आँख मूँदकर प्यार करते हैं। अपनों की
गलतियाँ देखनेवाली नजर ही उनके पास नहीं होती।"
My rating : 5 ⭐



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