"A Glance at the Unknwon" by Sangeeta Shankaran Sumesh is a very light book which emphasis on the importance of good karma. Karma is like a boomerang, the far you throw your boomerang, the more fierce impact you get when it comes back.
Book blurb
A Glance at the Unknown is an intriguing suspense thriller involving murder, rape, extra-marital affairs, treachery and tragedy. Each short Story eventually converges into the main story.Sid needs to find answers to his father's untimely and unfortunate death. He goes in search of the infamous goons, Veerargals, to avenge his father's death. Soon he realizes that he's not the only one marching toward the unknown and seeking answers to the mystery of life. Now, in a group of five, Sid and his acquaintances-turned-friends, want to unearth the enigma in their life.They want revenge; do they find it? Will they be spared? What was the invisible truth? Were they able to unravel it? Read this captivating story to discover more.
As subtitle suggested "Sometimes answers to life come from unusual sources", "A Glance at the Unknown" starts with stories of three independent characters. Shiva, a successful businessman, got a huge shock when he found out his wife being homosexual. He went to the Forest of Agamalai in Tamil Nadu in search of the solution to his problem. Seema, a student, found out her sister Shilpa was raped and murdered by few college guys. She went to Shilpa's college for further investigation, but criminals were already after her. She ended up wounded in the forest of Agamalai. Sid, a bright management student from one the best management institute in India, wanted to take revenge for his father's murder by terrorist group active in the forest of Agamalai. He also went there to kill the head of the gang. Saravanan tried to suicide by jumping in the waterfall near Agamalai forest.
Each character had completely different track; the only commonality between them was the forest. They met each other in the forest and became friends in their journey. They were all accepted by a tribe called Katuvaasis, who took a great care of the visitors. Tribes head lady also had seen worst days, wanted to join visitors in their quest to know the fact behind the curses befell on her. Their life got a new perspective, and they felt enlightened after meeting Siddha.
As I said earlier, the story is strongly built on the concept of Karma. When I read first four chapters which talk about Shiva's wife's betrayal, Shilpa's tragedy, Srinivasan's (Sid's father) death and Sid convocation ceremony, I was jumping from one plot to another, and I didn't understand what is happening with story-line. But once the flow entered the forest of Agamalai, things started becoming clear. Author has wonderfully woven four-five stories at a time and portrayed them as one story at the end. One thing that could have given a better ending to the story would be the part where Siddha helped each character. That whole scene was finished like the author was in hurry to finish the book. It could have been finer, but overall it was a good read. One can take it to his/her journey, and finish it within a day.
Talking about rating:
- Cover - 4 / 5
- Characters - 3.5 / 5 (Being a short book scope was less but justice was done to Sid and Shiva's character)
- Storyline - 4 / 5
- Concept - 3.5 / 5
- Overall - 4 / 5
Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads
