Review of Black Light in Bookchums and Daily Bhaskar

I seem to be getting trashed a lot lately. I don't know if that's a good sign or not. Well, at least people are reading my books. I have to admit that I am not satisfied yet with anything I've written, so I tend to agree with the negative reviews. Interestingly this reviewer liked the inset short stories of Black Light, while every publisher I showed it to disliked them and preferred the frame narrative.

But then what do publishers know? Oops, here's one that doesn't like the stories, just in case I was starting to wonder. The image that is posted with this review is an early draft of the drawing accompanying 'Kalinga', and it's off this blog. The final book had a different drawing.

However, this review in the Daily Bhaskar by Kritika Kapoor was different. I suppose if I listened to reviewers and tried to correct all the things they find wrong with my work I would have to stop writing. Sometimes of course a picky reader can help an author a lot and they should be treasured. The reviewers that really bug me are the ones who clearly read only the blurb, the first page and the last and dashed off something anodyne in their lunchbreak, in which the book occupies one paragraph and the rest is about their pet peeves.

People who do take the trouble (and it is a considerable trouble: sorry) to read my books tend to have a lot to say about them and tend to have strong reactions for or against. That has to be good, right?

Stop Press: Here's another one in the Sunday Tribune by Shalini Rawat. Again, largely positive but with some puzzlement. I clearly have a long way to go in making my writing easy to read.

I had no idea all these reviews were out. If my publisher is keeping track, they certainly aren't telling me.

And this is from Kankana Basu, about the discussion at Oxford Bookstore.