Title: Wreath and Other Stories
Author: Sangeeta Mahapatra
Publisher: Notion Press
Review:
Sangeeta Mahapatra’s ‘Wreath and
Other Stories’ is a catalogue of suspense and horror. The ten different
stories, all aimed to please and tease a lover of the genre, holds quite a bit
of promise. There’s more than momentary interest in this collection. Writing
horror stories can be challenging. Those who handle these materials with any
style are in the minority. Sangeeta’s writing, if not above, is at par
with that league.
This elegant anthology offers ten
pleasurably macabre surprises — some familiar while others not so. The book is
less about the monsters we can see and more about those we can’t. In the writer’s
own words, “These stories prod at our private fears, bring them out of the
closet, and show the fallout of this fear.” This is an apt way of describing
the book and I couldn’t have done justice to this review had I not quoted her.
Sangeeta spins an authentic
nightmare about a promise not kept and its repercussions in ‘Red Moon.’ Whereas
there’s a sense of doom in ‘Captive,’ ‘Wreath,’ and ‘The Wait,’ emotions like love,
hate, obsession, and paranoia play the upper hand in ‘Malevolent,’ ‘Fey,’ ‘Tick
Tock,’ and ‘Déjà vu.’ While these stories evoke a sense of gloom and forebodingness,
‘Artistic Spirit’ and ‘Snapshot’ are comparatively lighter in tone.
Usually in horror story collections,
there’s no shortage of gore for splatterpunk fans, but the truth remains that the
most effective stories are also among the most understated. Clearly, Sangeeta
understands this. No wonder there aren’t any guts and blood oozing, half
devoured victims in this book. What we have is subtlety. This is what puts her
collection apart. It’s astute and entertaining.
About the Author:
Sangeeta Mahapatra is the executive
editor of a national business magazine. She has a doctoral degree in
International Relations and has previously worked as a research fellow,
specializing in Terrorism Studies. She is currently based in Kolkata, India,
working on a book on the counter-terrorism strategies of India, Israel, and the
United States of America. In 1999, her first book of short stories, Miasma, was
published by Chowringhee Prakashini Press, Kolkata. Wreath and Other Stories is
her second collection of short stories.
Social Media Links:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdOjixR4klE
Buy Link:
Flipkart:http://tinyurl.com/jdcs67m
I'd like to thank the author for letting me review the book.
I do hope you end up liking the book when you read it. Thank you so much for
stopping by, and happy reading!
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