About the Book : O King, his name mightn’t be Scheherazade, but if he was a she, it might well have been. You never know. And, anyway, to sing for his supper or else be despatched, the Talls-reteller must spin his cut-it-out ways to your royal self. If you had ever been listening, you might be able to admit wiling your Lankan Nights away on his pull-this-one shaggy-dog yarns, especially about the misadventures of the Australian whitie called Wi – don’t ask Wi, Sire! – after being bogged down in your Lankan realm, the Talls-reteller and the Aussie whitie, both, and not including you, of course. After all, there were some of your own people who had hired this Wi to perform their hearts’ good’n’mischievous desires, so nobody’s blameless around here. Except you, Your Majesty. Also, you should maybe cherish this White Wi as the world-champeen kidnappee of all time that he is. (Nothing could surpass his being nabbed three times in three minutes, not without having a real talent for it — and that wasn’t the end of it by any means.) Even the ordinary people have come to love the godful way the Wi wipes those dirty dishes in Dominic’s Eatery… but, no, it is probably better you don’t leave the harem to go and watch him in action, Sire. You might eat something there, and where would that leave us?
About the Author : Bill Reed is an award-winning Australian novelist, playwright and short-story writer with national awards in each of these categories. On the cover of his last mainstream novel, Hyland House Publishing enthused that Tusk was another novel from ‘one of the great originals of Australian literature…’. But then, in those days, he lived within the Australian publishing and literary worlds. Now he dwells outside the gates. His list of published and professionally-produced works are: novels Dogod The Pipwink Papers Me, the Old Man Stigmata Ihe Crooks Tusk Throw her back* Are You Human? * Awash* 1001 Lankan Nights Book 1* 1001 Lankan Nights Book 2* * Also as ebooks. Nonfiction Water Workout staged and published plays Burke’s Company Truganinni The Pecking Order Mr Siggie Morrison with his Comb and Paper The Old Pig Rat Jack Charles is Up and Fighting Just Out of Your Ground You Want It, Don’t You, Billy? I Don’t Know What to Do with You. Paddlesteamer Cass Butcher Bunting Bullsh More Bullsh Talking to a Mirror Auntie and the Girl award-winning short stories Messman on the C.E. Altar English Expression The 200-year Old Feet The Case Inside Blind Freddie Among the Pickle Jars The Old Ex-serviceman Mahood on the Thin Beach The Shades of You my Dandenong
My Say : A book which will give you a sprain in your wrist if you keep holding it for hours and hours! Well jokes apart, its a book which is written with whole heart and lots of patience. ‘Lankan 1001 Nights’ reminds me of one thing which I used to say for movies that there are two kind of movies, one is made for mass and second is made for class! Lankan 1001 nights falls in second category.
A work of class! Kudos to the Author for creating such a lovely creation! I loved the title and cover page of the book. The cover gives you a feel of ancient books. I opened this book and it took me to the another world of White WI.
Its a fable story having fictitious ideas where WI got kidnapped. I loved the character of Tears Wimalsiri who was one of the kidnappers and used to get irritated by mosquitoes. Also, It was quite interesting to read about twins Anton and Anthony as narrator says about them, ‘two tortoises under the same shell to those whacks of their father’. I also loved the character of little veena, her love towards her father, the innocence, reader actually can imagine and feel her aura of purity different than the wichways family of Negombo.
As I said, this book is for mass thus the language is little bit complicated to understand at times. This book has unconventional style of written chapters with many divisions, headings, sub-headings and sub-chapters!
Trust me, This book is going to check your patience level. There was repetition of some words like Sire, My Liege, Your Majesty and Yeahh..’Bloody Man’ but I didn’t find it annoying because it goes with the story! The Author must be a big lover of poetry as this was shown in his writing style. ‘Like the beat of wings had it in flight in her’!
I loved that part when I came to know that ‘B stood for Bastard; Not for Beacon’! Yes.. there was a good blend of humour too which is actually my favourite genre.
The ending made me curious to know about the second part..Oops ! I think I would keep ‘Yabbering’ and this review won’t end. Thus lastly, I would like to give this book a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. It was a great read up!
So this is Sonali Agarwal signing out and picking up the second part of this book to read!
Stay tuned for my upcoming posts!
Happy Reading and Stay Curious !
