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Classic Ruskin Bond: Complete and Unabridged

Ruskin Bond

4.26 · Rating details · 200 ratings · 18 reviews

A collection of Ruskin Bond's six novels evoking nostalgia for time gone by This collection of six novels sparkles with the quiet charm and humanity that are the hallmarks of Ruskin Bond's writing. Evoking nostalgia for a time gone by, these poignant chronicles of life in India's hills and small towns describe the hopes and passions that capture young minds and hearts, hig ...more

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Kindle Edition, 496 pages

Published September 13th 2010 by Penguin (first published September 6th 2010)

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Jul 21, 2020 Himanshu rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, short-stories, swadesi, want-to-live-in

Ruskin Bond is like an old mango tree in the backyard of that house where you have lived some of your childhood days.
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You read through a story like savoring the sweet fruit of the season plucked from the dear tree. The distinct taste teleports you to that simpler time in past where you used to sit dreamy-eyed, stupefied, listening to your grandfather's telling of what seemed like a fascinating tale.
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I have read this omnibus of selected short stories over a period of two years and only at times w ...more

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May 05, 2013 Debolina Mukherjee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

When you read a Ruskin Bond the world around you turns beautiful. Mr Bond's narration gives the saddest of plots a glimmer of joy and hope. ...more

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May 18, 2014 Anuja rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Ruskin Bond ended up disappointing me which was a surprise in itself. Of the six novels that this Classic Edition comprises not one presented itself as anything unique.

Bond, it seems, has a kind of template setting for all his stories with only few details that defer here and there. All his stories have the same mix - a small town somewhere in the hills of North India, a protagonist who is usually a writer and wanderer, a friend who has seen bitter circumstances and ends up selling trinkets off Ruskin Bond ended up disappointing me which was a surprise in itself. Of the six novels that this Classic Edition comprises not one presented itself as anything unique.

Bond, it seems, has a kind of template setting for all his stories with only few details that defer here and there. All his stories have the same mix - a small town somewhere in the hills of North India, a protagonist who is usually a writer and wanderer, a friend who has seen bitter circumstances and ends up selling trinkets off a tray, going on an adventure to some other part of the hills with said friend or a boy the protagonist just happened to meet, a train, a Peepul tree, stories about jinns and ghosts, a prostitute who is charming, a few other people like your friendly grocer/barber/dhobi/beggar. It's the same theme but with different names and addressed in different persons (either first or third). I can almost imagine 'Delhi is not Far' to be the third instalment of a trilogy following 'Room on the Roof' and 'Vagrants in the Valley' even though it's (supposedly) different. What shocked me the most was to read an exact same passage involving the village mute person following the protagonist and his friend in both Delhi (Chapter 8) and Vagrants (Chapter 3). The only difference in the excerpts was the names of the people (barring that of the mute man who is called Goonga -which is literally the word for 'mute' in Hindi - in both the stories) and the point of view the text was written in. I have to say I do not expect it of any author worth their salt to copy their own text almost verbatim from one novel to the next and quite pointlessly too, as it had no bearing on the rest of the story in the case of Delhi.

'A Flight of Pigeons' had a promising storyline but failed to excite me for the duration of it. After the exciting beginning with reference to the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, its subsequent effects on the people around were almost mundane, especially since the narrator, a young girl, hardly brings any emotion or excitement into her narration but rather seems to be giving a chronicle of her life for the one year, where almost nothing happens except in the very beginning and the very end.

When I started reading 'The Sensualist' and the narrator comes across the man in the cave who offers to tell his story, I frankly felt that if I was the narrator I would have rather walked off into the forest than listen to the egotistical ramblings of the man's sexual conquests. The only redeeming quality of the story is that in the end the narrator finds the man in the cave to be a shallow, coward of a person and goes on his way. But that doesn't take away the fact that you've wasted time plodding through the rest of the man's story before the narrator comes to this splendid conclusion. Like I said, if I was him I'd have left the cave sooner.

I had thankfully read 'Handful of Nuts' long back and hence I was able to have a better opinion of it then, if I had read it as part of this series, I'd surely have grown irritated at yet another pointless story of a life in the hills with good-natured friends.

In Bond's defence, he is not a bad writer. When I first read his books I found it quite interesting and the simplicity was refreshing. In retrospect, those books also followed similar plots and characters but at the time it was a good read. Reading his works in succession makes the same simplicity seem tedious. He also seems to draw inspiration from one thing - life in the hills with good-natured friends, good-natured locals, good-natured bad guys and a good-natured but promiscuous girl or a prostitute or two. Yes, I'm aware of the repetition of the word 'good-natured' but if you read his books you will know what I'm getting at. Everybody is just too darn nice apart from having a few character flaws which can be easily overlooked. I honestly found his Children's Omnibus better and think he should have stuck to writing stories for children, even though his novels have some adult content it is written in a childishly simple way without even being too explicit about said adult matter.

I think partly the fault lies with the publisher for putting his novels together under one title and partly with me for reading them one after the other in succession.

My recommendations are as follows:
- Read Bond's book by keeping a considerable gap of a good few months between each book. Years would be even more helpful
- Read it when you want to read something light and simple
- Make sure its predecessors are not too rich, complex and/or mentally stimulating in content because this will definitely pale in comparison ...more

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Jul 31, 2019 Aruna Kumar Gadepalli rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: author-signed, indian-writers, my-collection, gift, 2019-books-read, collection, fiction, ruskin-bond-collection

This is a collection of 6 noveks of author. Some of the nolvels are stand alone, though read them earlier are worth spending rereading.

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Sep 29, 2015 Sudeep Laha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Simplistic and Uncomplicated... Ruskin Bond's books are for people who find love and happiness in the simple things of life... You won't find those thrilling up-downs in this book... Its those plain beautiful story-telling, capturing every detail of the set and the plot in small sweet words. ...more

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Oct 18, 2018 Rajeev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book is a collection of six novels by Ruskin Bond. The book features Room on the Roof, Vagrants in the Valley, Delhi is not Far, A Flight of Pigeons, The Sensualist and A Handful of Nuts. Ruskin Bond was only seventeen when he authored Room on the Roof, and he was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize for the work in 1957. It was a wonderful start to a great career which has made readers happy over all these years of his writing.

The major part of the collection is occupied by the This book is a collection of six novels by Ruskin Bond. The book features Room on the Roof, Vagrants in the Valley, Delhi is not Far, A Flight of Pigeons, The Sensualist and A Handful of Nuts. Ruskin Bond was only seventeen when he authored Room on the Roof, and he was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize for the work in 1957. It was a wonderful start to a great career which has made readers happy over all these years of his writing.

The major part of the collection is occupied by the Room on the Roof and Vagrants in the Valley. I have read Ruskin Bond’s autobiography, Lone Fox Dancing, and the first two novels come across as reflections of his childhood. Bond had a disturbed childhood, where his parents went through separation and he lost his father, whom he loved a lot, when he was very young. His mother was remarried to an Indian, and he could never reconcile family life with his new father and his half siblings. All this is reflected in the first two fictional pieces in the book, wherein the protagonist has a rebellious streak as he himself had in real life. The protagonist in these two stories tend to keep away from his foster parents and has an independent life aided by the camaraderie that he had with his bosom friends. Room on the Roof and Vagrants in the Valley seem to be strangely similar in its setting with the theme of loneliness, independence, friendship and rebelliousness running through them.

A Flight of Pigeons is more of a historical fiction, which are based on actual events that took place in 1857 at the time of the Mutiny during the British Raj. It is an account of the events that took place in those fateful days, narrated by an English family who survived the massacre with the help of generous Hindus. The events unfolded in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh. In a foreword to this novel, Bond records a quote from Pascal- “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction”. Doesn’t that ring true even today?

The Sensualist is a very interesting tale as narrated by a mendicant discovered by Bond during one of his sojourns through the hills of Uttarakhand. Bond imparts a wonderful message about the aspect of true love through this story. The conflict between love for self and the destructive power of ego, which in turn can be an impediment to the fruition of true love has been wonderfully explained in this narrative.

A Handful of Nuts, again, is a story about growing up in Dehra and the struggle for existence as a young writer. It is almost in the same vein as the first two novels.

This collection is Classic Ruskin Bond all the way. The only drawback that I thought there was, in reading this collection, was that since a couple of the novels are faintly similar, it does cause a bit of dreariness in terms of the settings and the plot. But as standalone novels, each of the works featured in this collection are gems in their own right and will definitely be a treat for Ruskin Bond fans.
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Jun 07, 2020 Isha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

All-time favourite author @ruskinbondofficial....since forever, to forever!! He charms me, mesmerises me, astonishes me, soothes me, delights me, calms me with his writing. He expresses even the simplest things, events and encounters with such finesse that it just blows my mind away. He awakens the child in me. Not to forget, his amazing observation and sense of detail. His world of adventure is the one I want to jump in right now. .
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This one is a collection of his six short stories-The Room on ...more

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Feb 18, 2018 Chaitalee Ghosalkar rated it liked it · review of another edition

Bond's stories are full of old-world charm, showing you the India that once was, reminding you of the simpler things in life. This compilation of his stories deviates to many other genres, which at first comes as a surprise, since we are used to a certain kind of theme from him. Nevertheless, makes for a good read.

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Dec 05, 2020 Soumya Kundu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The magic of Ruskin Bond. "Room On The Roof" is a classic and beautiful story. "Vagrants In The Valley" is a story of hope and friendships. Friendships which are imperfect but still cherished. Overall, the book has some masterpieces. Such simplicity in prose is hard to attain. Human emotions are described without imposing any judgement or societal values. ...more

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Nov 02, 2016 Pradnya Raghuveer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Like most other Ruskin Bond books, this one too takes you on a walk down memory lane. Being amidst people and experiencing wonders of nature while living a simple yet fulfilling life as a child is what comes back to me easily as I read through Bond's work. "The Room on the Roof" and "Vagrants in the Valley" are my favorites in this collection. It's a must read for people of all ages. ...more

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Dec 21, 2019 Rudhra Koul rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Bond is able to narrate his life's experiences in a very mesmerizing way which keeps the reader fixed to the book wanting to read more and more .He can create the right mix of suspense ,fiction and reality keeping the reader glued to the book enjoying each and every part of it. ...more

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Mar 21, 2018 Fiza Pathan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It was & will always be a wonderful experience to read a Ruskin Bond short story, novel, novella etc.

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Feb 01, 2013 Sourab rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, recommended

This book is one of the glories of my shelf- a 6-in-1 edition of one of my all-time-favorite authors.

The collection opens with the author's first book- 'The Room on the Roof'. It revolves around the adventures of Rusty just before and after he leaves his tyrannous guardian's home. Although he lived with him just on the outskirts of Dehra, he had never really been into the town. That is, not until he met his new friends- Somi, Ranbir, Kishen and others. This book provides an insight into the 'b ...more

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Jan 17, 2016 Abhishek Sengupta rated it liked it · review of another edition

I have always loved Short stories and Ruskin Bond has been one of my favorites since childhood. This one had 6 stories. The first 2 : 'Room on the Roof' and 'Vagrants in the Valley' were classic and highly enjoyable. 'Delhi is not far' is also captivating....set in the Sepoy Mutiny era but the rest of the stories were so la la. Frankly, I had to do some soul searching before choosing to rate the book not to leave a wrong impression. ...more

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Oct 31, 2015 Chetan Tyagi rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I started the book with high hopes but was disappointed. Standalone would have rated it 3 but given the disapointment have pushed it down to two. The two good stories are about Rusty and Ruskin Bond. The others were average at best. There is one full sequence that is repeated in a story from another one where only the characters' names change!! The low point was The Sensualist which bordered on soft porn.
All in a book i could have done better to avoid. ...more

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Oct 24, 2013 Aravind rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Six of Mr. Bond's longer works! A collection to treasure, a set of stories to read, reread and reread... There is no one like Mr. Bond! ...more

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Sep 05, 2014 Bandana rated it liked it · review of another edition

Feel connected :)

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Jun 02, 2013 S.yusuf rated it liked it · review of another edition

A good book for travel

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About Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond

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Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. He wrote his first novel, The Room on the Roof, when he was seventeen which won John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas, over 500 short stories, as well as various essays and poems, all of which have establ ...more