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The Story of Being Useless & Three Contexts of a Writer: Novellas
अक्षरं, शब्द, वाक्यं
यांच्या ओळी रचत जातो.
त्याच्या लिहिण्याची सुरुवात कुठून होते?
शेवट कुठे होतो?
मधे काय पसरलेलं असतं?
त्याला काय सांगायचं असतं?
आणि
लपवायचं काय असतं?
याचा अंदाज बांधण्याच्या खटाटोपातले
एका लेखकाचे तीन संदर्भ.
यांच्या ओळी रचत जातो.
त्याच्या लिहिण्याची सुरुवात कुठून होते?
शेवट कुठे होतो?
मधे काय पसरलेलं असतं?
त्याला काय सांगायचं असतं?
आणि
लपवायचं काय असतं?
याचा अंदाज बांधण्याच्या खटाटोपातले
एका लेखकाचे तीन संदर्भ.
226 pages, Paperback
First published December 11, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 24, 2022
| Book Review |
First novella review:
TW : Suicidal Ideation
" Stories unlimited. People unlimited. Outside the room, the world, and inside, empty. "
On the road, when you pass by a stranger, a quick glance or no glance or you're traveling by a bus, you look beside you and you see a stranger/s, a traveller just like you. Do you ever wonder what is going on in their head?
What are they thinking? What are they feeling?
Do you notice their face? It's contour and shades like a rugged terrain or a map.
Do you ever wonder whether they too are wondering, what's going on with you?
[ The above two questions are part of the QOTD. Feel free to let me know. :) ]
Just a flitting moment of thoughts and questions. But truly human.
When I started reading ' The story of being useless 'by Avadhoot Dongare, I was amused to read the title.
Useless. Uselessness.
It triggered me honestly. I have feeling this for quite sometime. So I was afraid of what I'm going to read now.
We have this unknown author or a narrator you can say,
This narrator is unique in his existence.
Why do you ask? I'll answer you in a bit but let me tell what you'll find in the chapters.
Well this narrator tells us about an unknown person and what he feels, this person or the man works in a press as a trainee reporter in Pune.
I must tell you, you're going to read a lot of journalistic terms and beliefs and notions here so you can frankly consider it a part commentary on journalism as well.
Now we are constantly listening to this unknown narrator talking about what's going on in this man's head.
His days are monotonous. Work and home and streets and newspapers.
So monotonous, that it suddenly appears to him that everything is useless.
The world is so full and yet he's so empty.
He starts to think of dying.
While this unknown narrator tries to understand why he feels useless and why he wants to die?
Ah, you must think what kind of story is this.
Let me tell you,
This is an every man's story.
Story of emptiness. Story of loss of self.
Such a loss that your self differentiates and detaches from you and starts thinking about your own existence.
Who's the narrator? It's a surprise element, pick the book up and find it in the pages.
The descriptions are oh-so-beautful!
They are simple,
Yet they get stuck to your mind like a fresh breeze.
I read the novella and I felt my life merging with it.
I was astonished and afraid a bit about how eerily I could relate to the book, the the author and the narrator felt like my own voice that speaks to me day in and day out.
I like to see the people around me when I'm outside , like to see what's happening and I wonder what's going on with them?
This book talked to me about this. And the human beauty of it. This uselessness that causes you to think about the lives of others that somehow merges with our own.
Second novella review:
The first context :
The unknown author talks about his unknown friend, more like he admits of writing about him whenever he visits him in his office.
He takes up talking about his colour blindness, for which he felt like an outcast as a child. He talks about his friend's obsession with poetry and the end of his obsession with poetry.
His first acquaintance with a woman, him falling in love and dropping out of his career choices to start a business and his bold decision of not having kids.
He talks about the peace his friend has in his life irrespective of not having much in life.
The third context
( TW : Sexual abuse, body dysmorphia)
: The author talks about Saavali. A professor of political science in a university. The author talks about her house, her life, her bold decisions including not to get married and her lonely times.
The flow of imagery is constant here as well. There's this grilled door that Saavali considers her getaway, her door to reveries, to views and sceneries.
She meets soumya, a professor of English language in the same University and both of them take up liking each other.
Saavali had a past of sexual abuse that made her distant from men. The men she came close to disappointed her the same but when Soumya comes in, she knows she's got the best man to love.
The third context : Now, this is very interesting.
The fourth wall breaks here.
The narrator claims to be the author of the book instead of the one whose name is printed on the cover and accuses him of pilfering hus work for his own gains.
He then constantly goes on changing subjects to talk about how his own life events have influenced the two fictional novella.
Then he goes on to describe some scenes and people that left an indelible mark on his life.
->>> The seperated existence between the narrator ( writer too, as he claims) and the writer (who isn't the writer, as the narrator claims) is humourous and I loved the banter of the narrators.
His expressive writing flair continues into the second novella and the crisp and beautiful descriptions of what the character sees and the narrator writes is like a fresh wave of air.
The author has the magic of turning everyday scenes into a soul soothing gateway with the beautiful descriptions, which makes you appreciate the moments even though bereft of importance.
First novella review:
TW : Suicidal Ideation
" Stories unlimited. People unlimited. Outside the room, the world, and inside, empty. "
On the road, when you pass by a stranger, a quick glance or no glance or you're traveling by a bus, you look beside you and you see a stranger/s, a traveller just like you. Do you ever wonder what is going on in their head?
What are they thinking? What are they feeling?
Do you notice their face? It's contour and shades like a rugged terrain or a map.
Do you ever wonder whether they too are wondering, what's going on with you?
[ The above two questions are part of the QOTD. Feel free to let me know. :) ]
Just a flitting moment of thoughts and questions. But truly human.
When I started reading ' The story of being useless 'by Avadhoot Dongare, I was amused to read the title.
Useless. Uselessness.
It triggered me honestly. I have feeling this for quite sometime. So I was afraid of what I'm going to read now.
We have this unknown author or a narrator you can say,
This narrator is unique in his existence.
Why do you ask? I'll answer you in a bit but let me tell what you'll find in the chapters.
Well this narrator tells us about an unknown person and what he feels, this person or the man works in a press as a trainee reporter in Pune.
I must tell you, you're going to read a lot of journalistic terms and beliefs and notions here so you can frankly consider it a part commentary on journalism as well.
Now we are constantly listening to this unknown narrator talking about what's going on in this man's head.
His days are monotonous. Work and home and streets and newspapers.
So monotonous, that it suddenly appears to him that everything is useless.
The world is so full and yet he's so empty.
He starts to think of dying.
While this unknown narrator tries to understand why he feels useless and why he wants to die?
Ah, you must think what kind of story is this.
Let me tell you,
This is an every man's story.
Story of emptiness. Story of loss of self.
Such a loss that your self differentiates and detaches from you and starts thinking about your own existence.
Who's the narrator? It's a surprise element, pick the book up and find it in the pages.
The descriptions are oh-so-beautful!
They are simple,
Yet they get stuck to your mind like a fresh breeze.
I read the novella and I felt my life merging with it.
I was astonished and afraid a bit about how eerily I could relate to the book, the the author and the narrator felt like my own voice that speaks to me day in and day out.
I like to see the people around me when I'm outside , like to see what's happening and I wonder what's going on with them?
This book talked to me about this. And the human beauty of it. This uselessness that causes you to think about the lives of others that somehow merges with our own.
Second novella review:
The first context :
The unknown author talks about his unknown friend, more like he admits of writing about him whenever he visits him in his office.
He takes up talking about his colour blindness, for which he felt like an outcast as a child. He talks about his friend's obsession with poetry and the end of his obsession with poetry.
His first acquaintance with a woman, him falling in love and dropping out of his career choices to start a business and his bold decision of not having kids.
He talks about the peace his friend has in his life irrespective of not having much in life.
The third context
( TW : Sexual abuse, body dysmorphia)
: The author talks about Saavali. A professor of political science in a university. The author talks about her house, her life, her bold decisions including not to get married and her lonely times.
The flow of imagery is constant here as well. There's this grilled door that Saavali considers her getaway, her door to reveries, to views and sceneries.
She meets soumya, a professor of English language in the same University and both of them take up liking each other.
Saavali had a past of sexual abuse that made her distant from men. The men she came close to disappointed her the same but when Soumya comes in, she knows she's got the best man to love.
The third context : Now, this is very interesting.
The fourth wall breaks here.
The narrator claims to be the author of the book instead of the one whose name is printed on the cover and accuses him of pilfering hus work for his own gains.
He then constantly goes on changing subjects to talk about how his own life events have influenced the two fictional novella.
Then he goes on to describe some scenes and people that left an indelible mark on his life.
->>> The seperated existence between the narrator ( writer too, as he claims) and the writer (who isn't the writer, as the narrator claims) is humourous and I loved the banter of the narrators.
His expressive writing flair continues into the second novella and the crisp and beautiful descriptions of what the character sees and the narrator writes is like a fresh wave of air.
The author has the magic of turning everyday scenes into a soul soothing gateway with the beautiful descriptions, which makes you appreciate the moments even though bereft of importance.
November 27, 2021
“The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat”.
Being 224 pages long the main theme of the book has been divided into 2 parts. The first part is titled “The Story of being Useless” which features the story of a Sub-editor who is young and interning with a Marathi Newspaper and his place of work looks at things that are useless if one considers it to be of any value considering what one considers as news. Delving further, the first chapter is titled “One” which starts with stating certain news incidents and their co-relation with being useless. The next chapter of the book is titled “Fourteen” which starts with a scene depicting Pune University where a man is featured and further connotations of uselessness are shown in the same. As the chapters go further, the reader can find that each of the stories gets complemented by the central theme of the book, however, there may arise certain difficulties in surmising the same because for someone new the writing style may be a little obscure, but the same is not capable enough to take away the essence of the story.
The writing style of the book has been kept not so straightforward but warrants the readers to increase a little amount of their attention span, but once caught hold of the book throughout becomes an engrossing read.
Being 224 pages long the main theme of the book has been divided into 2 parts. The first part is titled “The Story of being Useless” which features the story of a Sub-editor who is young and interning with a Marathi Newspaper and his place of work looks at things that are useless if one considers it to be of any value considering what one considers as news. Delving further, the first chapter is titled “One” which starts with stating certain news incidents and their co-relation with being useless. The next chapter of the book is titled “Fourteen” which starts with a scene depicting Pune University where a man is featured and further connotations of uselessness are shown in the same. As the chapters go further, the reader can find that each of the stories gets complemented by the central theme of the book, however, there may arise certain difficulties in surmising the same because for someone new the writing style may be a little obscure, but the same is not capable enough to take away the essence of the story.
The writing style of the book has been kept not so straightforward but warrants the readers to increase a little amount of their attention span, but once caught hold of the book throughout becomes an engrossing read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews