Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar by Kochery C Shibu #BookReview

#BookReview

Name of the book: Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar

Author: Kochery C Shibu

Publication: Niyogi Books

My Rating: 4.5/5

Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar beautifully weaves its way through the lives of three main characters: Nanda, Khusru and Rekha. The book is about the life of people at a hydro-electric project called AM Hydro and brings the lives of the three main protagonists at a common point.

The characters are so real that you can feel them sitting across you. The book allows readers to be a part of their most intricate thoughts and helps them see why each character turned out the way they did. It discusses some really important issues that most books don’t: terrorism, the relationship between India and Pakistan, ill treatment of women, the rape culture that is now coming to light and the poor labour conditions in India.

The narrative is very smooth flowing, however, it is a bit confusing at times due to the presence of so many characters. My favourite part about the book happens to be everytime the characters try to communicate to the snow-clad mountains.

Things that worked out for me:

The smooth narration

Realistic characters

Real life issues brought to light

Beautiful descriptions of Dhauladhar

Things that didn’t work out for me:

Too many characters which confused me a tad bit

Alternating narratives between the characters which led to overlapping events being re-told

Do I recommend this book?

Yes! You must read this as it is creating awareness about the prominent issues in our country.