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| Photo Courtesy : Google Images |
Publisher : Rupa Publications
Publication Year : 2013
Pages : 288
Source : Blogadda Book Review Program
Rating : 4/5
About the story (Taken
from the blurb) :
Crushed by
successive crop failures and the burden of
debt, Sudhakar Bhadra kills himself. The powerful district
committee of Mityala routinely dismisses the suicide and refuses
compensation to his widow. Gangiri, his brother, makes it his
life’s mission to bring justice to the dead by influencing the committee
to validate similar farmer suicides.
Keyur
Kashinath of the Democratic Party - first-time Member of Parliament
from Mityala, and son of Vaishnav Kashinath, the
party’s general secretary - is the heir to his father’s power in
Delhi politics. He faces his first crisis - every suicide in his constituency
certified by the committee as debt-related is a blot on the party’s image, and
his competence.
The brilliant
farmer battles his inheritance of despair, the arrogant politician fights for
the power he has received as legacy. Their two worlds collide in a conflict
that pushes both to the limits of morality from where there is no turning back.
At stake is the truth about ‘inherited’ democratic power. And at the end, there
can only be one winner. Passionate and startlingly insightful, Shoes
of the Dead is a
chilling parable of modern-day India.
About the
characters :
The reader is
introduced to a host of characters, whose nature seems to be all familiar, in
the first few pages of the book.
Keyur Kashinath, son
of the general secretary of Democratic Party - Vaishnav Kashinath, is a young
and ambitious first time MP from Mityala constituency.
Sudhakar Bhadra is
the farmer from ‘Gopur’ village (under Keyur’s constituency) who commits
suicide leaving behind a widow and two children.
Gangiri is Sudhakar’s
brother who leaves his profession as a teacher and comes back to his village to
fight for justice to his brother and other farmers.
Nazar Prabhakar is
a fearless and justice-seeking journalist from Delhi.
Videhi Jaichand is
a misguided academic with the Center for Contemporary Studies and wife of an
influential industrialist interested in the land of ‘Gopur’.
My opinion of the book :
“Shoes of the Dead” draws a reader into
the dismal world of insatiable hunger for power, exploitation of the needy and
deceit. It gives an insight of the working of a crumbling political system of
India.
This book is very different from the
kind of books that I usually read. And I must say I am more than happy to give
it a try. Kota Neelima says to have travelled extensively for the research
related to this book, and her efforts are pretty evident in the way she has written
the story! This book is a comprehensive and well-crafted interpretation of the
possibilities behind the sudden farmer-suicides and other events related to it.
The author is open-handed and unconcealed
when it comes to description of the happenings and characters. The language is
simple and is an easy read. The writing is gripping right from the first line
and is well narrated.
The incidents in the book are very
close to reality; a reader will hardly get a feel of fiction. And the facts
will leave you stunned and wondering over the existence of morality in modern
India. It will show you how the rural India lives. This book has all the
components required to make a good political fiction – bossism, frustration, corruption,
helplessness, trauma and other plethora of emotions.
Overall, “Shoes of the Dead” is a
very good read, especially for people who have never tried political fiction. I
am sure this book will leave you inspired and motivated to fight against the unfair.
This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers.