Review of DBM

Dolmens in the Blue Mountain by Kandathil Sebastian

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Dolmens in the Blue Mountain though set in an indigenous context, transgresses the ‘local-global’, ‘fiction-reality’, and ‘space-time’ boundaries to narrate an international story with a universal message. It deconstructs some of the fundamental ‘life –death’, ‘freedom-servitude’, and ‘love-indifference’ dichotomies of human existence and presents a workable proposition for survival of humanity in a conflict ridden and ecologically delicate planet. The story originates in a remote village in Kerala/India and progresses to different geographies to which its leading characters migrated. Thus it narrates three unique sets of migration experiences based on an international migration to Canada, a national migration to Delhi and an internal migration to the Western Ghats Mountain ranges within the Kerala state. Each of the characters faced distinctive socio-political challenges and engaged in conflicts with forces which tried to obliterate their dreams as they struggled to survive in places where they became economic refugees. Some of those conflicts happened in the labyrinths of the character’s minds while some other conflicts happened when the characters attempted to engage with the bureaucracy, the police and the politicians. A few other conflicts took place when these migrants tried to understand and assimilate the values of the host cultures into which they have been transplanted. The leading characters face such conflicts in wide ranging milieus such as the materialistic world of down town Toronto, the dissolute and sprawling sanctuaries of sex work in Bangkok and the tiny tribal hamlets of the Western Ghats. While dealing with serious and profound issues, the author employs a plain and simple language and style to connect with and to make sense of what he wanted to communicate to diverse reader groups. Therefore, all category of readers will tremendously enjoy the myths, poetry and nostalgia – all of which have been magnificently celebrated with powerful, convincing and carefully chosen text. It explores the magic and ambience of many exotic places in the East, introduces readers to many interesting historical personalities, and articulates some rare anthropological and psychological conceptions with intellectual rigor and poetic splendor. For example, the portrayal of the peculiar mind of one of the characters who was suffering from ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ due to which the character continued to love his tormenter is a class apart”. – Drew Roem




View all my reviews