I usually start off by saying something quirky about the book I’m about to review, but for today’s book, I’m just going to ask you to go buy it and read it right off the bat. It’s so wholesome, it’s so fun, it’s so informative too, and if I start saying something quirky about it, I wouldn’t stop and this would stop being an introduction. Now let me take you through my thoughts about We Are the Quarry, Fate is the Hunter by Prasad and Shubhada Godbole and convince you to read it.
We Are the Quarry, Fate is the Hunter is written by ex-sailor couple Prasad and Shubhada Godbole in one of the most heartwarming, funny, witty, lovely way possible. As soon as I finished this book, I went on Instagram to gush about it and days later, I still feel the same way. The very thought of it puts a smile on my face and I know that if I were in India, I would get a paperback copy for myself to highlight and tab and annotate. It’s THAT good!
I’ve also done a rapid book review on YouTube for the book. If you’d like to go check it out, here’s the link: We Are the Quarry, Fate is the Hunter – Rapid Book Review on YouTube.
We Are the Quarry, Fate is the Hunter is a collection of 25 anecdotes from Prasad and Shubhada Godbole, an ex-sailor couple who have travelled the world and seen so much of what it has to offer. In this delightful book, they have captured so many of their experiences and yet, I know that there are so many more that they haven’t told us that would keep us captivated were they ever to share them with us. But the ones they have shared are so varied, because not only do Prasad and Shubhada talk about the scary experiences at sea, including piracy, there are joyous, exciting ones, wacky ones that one would never even think could be experienced, ones that brought tears to my eyes because of how heartfelt they were, and so much more.
These cross over to Prasad’s career change from being a marine engineer to teaching students to be marine engineers to Shubhada’s printing business to them watching their daughter Punav grow up and become someone in her own right – it’s a whole experience, this book.
‘Like’ isn’t an adequate word for this book, really. I LOVE it!
First off, the writing feels so homely and warm. It’s like your Dad having an arm around you as he is telling you these stories from a time long ago, adding in the right amount of humor and wit at the right places to make this such a cracking entertainer of a book. What I felt from the writing was that Prasad and Shubhada are a warm, friendly couple, the one in the neighborhood that feel like home to us, where all the kids gather to play because they are so fun but also the adults gather to talk because they’re so intelligent and wise.
Secondly, it’s a peek into the life of a marine engineer and all the dangers that came with the job. Prasad has listed out some of the absolutely scary experiences, the what-ifs, the turns of fate, some events that would destroy a person’s trust in humanity, and so many more that would restore it. Shubhada talks about some of her own life and work experiences, with an equal amount of panache if not more.
While right off the bat, in the Fate is the Hunter, Prasad takes us through his close shave with an attack, in Love of the Drop, he takes us through how sailors were once chosen, and in Spellings! Oh What a Mess! – which is one of my favorite anecdote of the book, he fondly rails against how the English language is so weird.
And in Flight of Fright, Shubhada narrates her experience of flying for the first time with their daughter as the pilot, and in the last story, A Superman in Flesh and Blood, she pays homage to her father-in-law, who seemed like the toughest, loveliest man and reminded me of my own paternal grandfather who I never saw.
Thirdly… There aren’t many people who are absolutely in love with their jobs, at least in this time and age, given how stressful everything is. But Prasad and Shubhada LOVE whatever they did and do. And they don’t even have to say, “I love my job.” It is evident in the way they talk about it. That, I must say, gave me hope.
Fourth… The QR codes that are scattered throughout the book. This is such a genius idea because if the images were embedded in the manuscript, we wouldn’t be able to zoom into them to see them properly. But now we can, and there are also videos, and these complement the narration of the stories so well. Hats off to Shubhada for coming up with this idea!
Fifth… I love that the chapters can be read in any order and even with a time gap between reading them, you will have the full experience. Because it’s not a novel that you have to follow one thread. There are multiple self-contained stories and anecdotes, each more interesting than the last.
Then, the words of wisdom throughout the book. For example: In the story, The search for God Begins with a Mirror, he says:
“There is no better place for meditating than your own home, in your pooja ghar. If you find peace in your own pooja ghar, you do not need to visit temples. If you cannot find peace at home, all the temples in the world cannot help you.”
And finally, the witty excerpts are just minuscule parts of the brilliance that is in here. Here are a couple of examples:
“Silent letters are the ultimate bad joke. You must know them; you must write them too. But you must not pronounce them! It is akin to not stitching the bottom of your pockets. They look like pockets, you can keep stuff in them, but as soon as you do, everything drops out from the bottom! Is this supposed to be a language, a joke or plain stupidity?”
“There are two stages of sea-sickness. The first is when you think you will die. The second is when you hope you will die.”
These and more took me out and now I’m a fan!
To be honest, there is nothing that I didn’t like about it. I mean, there was one place where I felt like it was more of an info dump than talk about Prasad and Shubhada’s own experiences, and that too isn’t something I dislike. I just think it doesn’t fit in with the theme of the book. But other than that, there’s nothing about this book that I didn’t like, and that hasn’t happened in a while.
If I haven’t made myself clear already, I absolutely ADORE this book! I would highly highly recommend you to pick it up. You will have a whale of a time with it!
As I sign off, in one of the stories, Prasad says jokingly:
“Albert Einstein has said, ‘If you cannot explain a concept to a 10-year-old, it means you have not understood it well enough yourself!’ / So even if I cannot explain it well enough, in your feedback you must say, ‘You made it soooo easy to understand!’ OK?”
And to that, I’ll say, very sincerely to both the authors: You did make it soooo easy to understand and soooo much fun to read!
So that was my review of We Are the Quarry, Fate is the Hunter by Prasad and Shubhada Godbole.
What did you think of my review? Did you like it? Have you read this book? If you have, what did you think of it? If you haven’t, I’ll once again urge you to pick it up. But let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
Again, if you’d like to watch the video review over on YouTube, here’s the link: We Are the Quarry, Fate is the Hunter – Rapid Book Review on YouTube.
I’ll see you in the next blog post.
Until next time, keep reading, keep watching, and add melodrama to your life! 🙂
The Melodramatic Bookworm 