“The universe doesn’t owe us anything. It is not obliged to explain itself to us.”
While we are busy trying to find out what secrets the universe holds, the universe is sitting back and watching us try and try, finding it cute that we have the audacity to demand things of it when we are destroying the only home we know. A great reminder to start off a review with, in my opinion, because that quote from Abhaidev’s Death of a Seeker and Other Stories is an answer to all of the existential questions that plague humanity.
Today’s review is of Abhaidev’s Death of a Seeker, a collection of short stories that will make you think. Here’s what it’s about.
What It Is About:
Death of a Seeker by Abhaidev is a collection of short stories that range from the deeply philosophical to exploring a child’s fears and everything in between. From an archaeologist pondering over what to do with some time-bending discoveries that he has made to a bride on her wedding day trying to make out if the decision that she had made was the right one to the one question we are fed up of hearing, at least here in India: “Do you know who I am?” – all of these stories try to answer the questions that have always plagued humanity. And every single one of them, with the answers that they give, end up leaving you with pertinent questions that will jog your minds, mostly for the better.
What I Liked About It:
- It’s a quick read. I finished it in one sitting.
- The language is easy to follow while effectively putting across the philosophy and the simple truths of life.
- The author tries to show us the positive side of life and that we must be grateful for our existence because no other species has the advantages that we do. It works to a large extent.
- A huge supporter of the ‘live and let live’ philosophy, something that I truly believe.
- There’s an LGBTQIA+ story in there. A little contrived, but the premise is good.
- I found a bit of myself in a part of the story, ‘The Woman With Issues’. “Yes, I am a woman with issues, but even if it is so, why should it be an issue for anyone else?” the woman with issues says. Damn right!
- Ends with a bang. Literally.
What I Didn’t Like About It:
- It is repetitive in places. The author is trying to stress on the importance of the repeated sentence but instead, the repetition takes the allure off what is being said.
- In a couple of places in the book, a woman’s life is tied in with a story of fertility, along the lines of “she should find a man while still fertile.” Fertility and kids are not the be all and end all of a woman’s life. Her worth is not tied into her ability to give birth.
- The dialogue becomes awkward in quite a few places, with spelling mistakes and phrases that don’t fit in being used liberally.
- Just the fact that a little bit of editing would work wonders for this book.
Final Verdict:
Death of a Seeker by Abhaidev is an interesting collection of short stories, ranging across multiple topics and raising pertinent questions. Despite the issues that I had, I appreciate the topics that the author has spoken about and would definitely recommend this book.
Here is where you can buy it: Death of a Seeker and Other Stories.
The Melodramatic Bookworm 
Reblogged this on keyboardcritic.
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