George Orwell once said, “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
Secrets have great powers; they can make or break even a person’s existence. They are fragile and, should be handled with care. But what if a secret fails to see the light of truth for even over 100 years? What if it was revealed years before? What if-then-else..?
Amit Sharma’s debut novel, False Ceilings, starts with the account of Aaryan, one of the pivotal characters in the book, finding the If-Else statement peculiarly in sync with our life.
Aaryan couldn’t have imagined this epiphany to be his last statement when he died 43 years later.
The Storyline
The story of False Ceilings is stretched through a span of over 130 years; starting from a warm July morning of 1930 to the summer of 2062. The protagonist of the story, Shakuntala, was born on some day of July 1930 in the picturesque valley of Dalhousie. Shankuntala’s mother, Kusum, died while giving birth to her second child marking that to be one of the most crucial points of Shakuntala’s life. Though it was the pre-independence era, in spite of all the opposition from his family, Kusum’s father, Kanshi Ram, admitted her to a convent.
Life took a tumultuous turn for her when her father died in an accident. She was only 10/11 years old at that time. She was brought to her uncle’s home according to her wish and eventually got married within a year. On the evening of her marriage, her uncle handed over her something wrapped in a piece of yellow cloth and advised her to use it as a weapon wisely when the necessity called. The secret takes off the trigger!
Characterization
False Ceilings is a family saga. Apart from the protagonist, Shakuntala, there are 6/7 central characters whose life start and end in the span of 130 years. From the desultory days of pre-independence to the technology boosted, highly-digital futuristic days of 2060, these characters have helped immensely to build up the framework of the story. The story gets its foothold through them; their expectations and worries, happiness and frustration, tension and trepidation.
Each of the characters has been nicely churned out. So much that they walk just in front of you, giving you a sense of meeting them somewhere. The characters are real, very much. The readers perhaps would be able to see glimpses of their own selves in them; making them standing in front of a mirror, stealthily, as if, some secret is up there too.
Just like us, the characters of Manohar, Lipi, Vinod, Aaryan, Meena, are human beings. They have been portrayed in different shades of grey, but never in either black or white. Still, the delineation doesn’t appear drab or monotonous and, there lies the skill of Amit as a writer.
Apart from the central characters, the author has paid diligent attention to the not-so-conspicuous characters as well. I think, characterization is an important literary device and, if the author can use it effectively, she/he is sure to make an impact on the readers.
Amit has expounded on every single character making them three-dimensional and identifiable.
Narrative Technique
This is perhaps the deciding factor of a novel. Most of the writers, restrain themselves from taking a different stride in their debut novel. Amit showed the courage to do that.
Amit’s story starts in medias res; following a non-linear narrative style.
I have a particular fondness for this style, especially because, it leaves a lot to your imagination and, that each chapter leaves a trail…to the next one. The reader must reach the end in order to have all the strings together. False Ceilings has succeeded in doing that for me. Amit even has wonderfully used the ‘stream of consciousness’ style in a few places.
My Verdict
Covering a wide span of time through which the story went was not an easy task for the author. Amit has done elaborate research to make things look plausible and realistic. The mention of Rabindranath Tagore and Subhash Chandra Bose’s stay in Dalhousie clearly shows his painstaking research even for minute details.
Amit didn’t spend many lines to delineate the black days of partition, of people fleeing for their lives, of neighbours murdering each other for the sake of religion; but what he said, were enough to convey the horror of those turbulent times. Similarly, a single incident described through the eyes of 5-year-old Aaryan, and one can at once feel the miasma of events of the historic year of 1984.
I’ve already stated my fondness for the narrative technique followed by Amit, but, this very quality could be a turn-off for some readers. In the first half of the story, things are narrated in a disjointed manner; a constant past-present-future roller coaster and the characters seemingly look as if not connected with each other. Whereas it has intrigued me to find out the interconnection and piqued my interest as a whole, it might just be the opposite for some.
The secret remained wrapped in silence till the very end of the story. But, at a point, the reader reaches a crescendo and wants it to get revealed as a plethora of imagination plays in her/his mind. Sometimes, the story gets a bit drifted from the main plot making it unnecessarily long.
But, trust me, once you are engulfed in the story and delve deeper, you would find it interesting enough.
The cover looks not so appealing at a glance; it’s only after finishing the book the reader is supposed to comprehend the picture on it. So, go by the adage of not judging a book by its cover.
Last but not the least, there are a few typographical errors here and there. But, even a nitpick like me, just ignored them while reading.
It’s a nice read as the first venture of the author. I find it as a great relief from the love-you-with-tears-in-the-eyes stories.
We all have some secrets nicely kept in the cupboard. But some secrets are a kind of prison, it makes us lonely at heart. It promises us nothing but helps us to rear the malice and false pride, sometimes, through generations.
A quote from the book says it all:
“Sometimes people go trough a lifetime of pain by holding a secret that could have changed everything. It is an intoxicating addiction, an act of dominance to know that you hold something in your grip that could have changed the life of a person you detest.”
Thanks to the author for sending me an author-signed copy.
Amit Sharma is a Software Engineer in TCS. He can be found at,
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Buy Links:
Amazon | Flipkart | Amazon USA | Amazon UK
[ This review was commissioned by the author. Views are my own and honest.]
Hello, I just read your review and it was good enough for a reader to make a decision whether to go ahead for it or not. I have recently published my book with Amazon and would like you to review it.
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Hi Rohit, glad you liked the review. Kindly connect me at maniparna5002@hotmail.com 🙂
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Looks interesting. Will try to grab one for myself… Have a great week
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Thank you. Yes, it was a good read… 🙂
Wish you a great week ahead… 🙂
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Great review Maniparna!
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Thank you… 🙂
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Reblogged this on It's All About the Book.
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Thanks for the reblog… 🙂
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I like the cover and naturally started reading into it immediately, it sounds like an interesting book, Indian literature is something I really need to get more into.
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AS one of friends commented here, so many books to read, so little time we have… 🙂
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Great review, made me interested to read the book.
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Thanks, hope you’ll like it… 🙂
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NIce review. And you did a great thing by starting it with an Orwell quote. GOOD JOB.
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Thanks a lot, glad you liked the review… 🙂
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very well written review Mani… you made it so intriguing! Sigh… so little time… so much read! 🙂
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Yeah…true that. One day, I wish I would have to do nothing and can spend my days reading and reading… 😀
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🙂 🙂 🙂
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Thank you for the wonderful book review, Maniparna! The story is intrigue and the video make it even more so. 🙂
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Thanks, Amy…glad you liked … 🙂
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Very in depth review!
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Thanks , Lynn… 🙂
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🙂
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It sounds readable and the mountains as a backdrop even for a while will make it attractive for me!
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Thanks, Mridula. The book was a nice read… 🙂
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It seems like my kind of theme. Wonderfully reviewed!
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Thank you. I think you’ll love the narration…go for it… 🙂
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I hardly read book reviews but this one kept me reading. And as Vinay says, most of us better relate to numbers although details about the review are most important.
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Thanks and I’m really glad to know that I’ve succeeded in making you read this one… 🙂
I think I will rate the book in my next review as both you and Vinay have suggested… 🙂
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This sounds interesting. Very well reviewed, Maniparna. It is no mean thing to write a story spanning 130 years..as you say the author has done is homework well. ..I am sure this would be an interesting read.
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It really is. Thanks Bushra for reading and commenting… 🙂
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I like how you bring out the pros and cons of each book you review. It is a tough job to maintain that balance and you do it so well. 🙂
Great review done.
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Thanks, Indrani…really happy to read your comment… 🙂
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Very well reviewed dear. Sounds like an interesting book 🙂
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Thanks, Purba… 🙂
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Very nice review of the book.
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Thanks, Rajeshji…
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A very exhaustive review dear. Seems quite an interesting book! 🙂
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Thanks, Maitreni..it is… 🙂
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Very interesting…your review is a definite value addition 🙂
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Thanks, Amitji…your words mean a lot… 🙂
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You do make it seem like an interesting read. Lets see if I can get my hands on, will give it a go! Thanks!
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Thanks…hope you’ll like it… 🙂
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It sure looks like a great read, I’d surely give it a read soon. Thanks for sharing the review
– Chaicy – Style.. A Pastiche!
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Thanks for dropping. Hope you’ll like it… 🙂
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A very interesting review Maniparna, I see what you mean by the cover, the colours are pretty dull and could turn off a first time buyer. Kudos for a first time writer though to be getting such a detailed review from you.
One request though, a numerical rating out of 5 or 10 although cliched might have added more value for me as a reader
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Yes, I understand what you are saying. A numerical rating helps others to guess the quality of the book at a glance. Actually, I used to rate the books in that way, but of late, I’ve stopped doing that. There’s no specific reason though. I’ll rethink on starting it again. For this particular book, my rating would be 4/5… 🙂
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Thanks Maniparna. Thing is I’m an engineer, the stupid brain is wired to numbers most times . so doesn’t clearly understand the subjective aspects so well 😀
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Hehe… I can understand 😀 I’ll bring back the rating part again in my next review… 🙂
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Maniparna, This is a beautifully written review that would pique a reader’s interest. A secret held over a long period, dilemma of if-then-else, and a span of 130 years from the pre-independence era to the digital age -all put together, seem to have made an interesting story.
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Thank you. It’s a well-written novel and, I liked the non-linear narrative technique… 🙂
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Wow this is a great review Maniparna – no doubt that you really enjoyed the read. Good for the author to having found the time to devote to writing the book, outside of his work.
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Thanks, Mary. I think it really needs dedication to find time to write a book when one is not a full-time author. It’s like chasing one’s dreams and passions… 🙂
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A very crisp and detailed review. Must be a good read as you’re saying so high of it. I’m wondering what the secret could be 😛
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Thank you. It was a nice read indeed. Haha…to know the secret you have to read the book….it’s impossible to make a correct guess…I bet! 😀
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A very detailed review. I enjoy non linear narrations. looking forward to read this book. 🙂
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Then you would love the book, Meera…go for it… 🙂
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You have described or should I say publicised the book in a way that even I want to pick it up and give it a read..
Great review…and yes secrets are hard to keep and sometimes they come out at very inappropriate times..
All the best to the author…
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Thanks, Bikram. … 🙂
Glad to know that you found it interesting…. true, secrets are dangerous things at times!
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I wonder people find time to write a book while working. Hats off to him.
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It’s about time management, I think…and chasing the dream… 🙂
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Very true 🙂
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What about you? No post for a l-o-n-g time… 😦
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Brain gave up working 😦
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Writer’s block… hota hain… 😛
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Hehe… I won’t call myself a writer yaar 😀
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But, you are one, undoubtedly… 🙂
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So kind of you 🙂
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Memory lane and parallel plots always are fascinating especially the way you have reviewed it’s basic ethos makes me pick up this one.
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Thanks, Chaitali. It was a decent read…really enjoyed… 🙂
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Your review is compelling Mani. I seriously am thinking of buying the book. It must be a great read.The mention of the secret is highly interesting!
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Thanks…let me know how you liked it. 🙂
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Wow a great review …I can’t image a book taking place for that long of time….I’m very interested in reading it now … Have a great week ….
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Thanks, Sara…wish you the same… 🙂
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I thought you described a fine book with interesting and well rounded characters, Maniparna. Excellent and complete review, my friend.
Good luck to the author! 🙂
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Thanks a lot, Robin. It was a nice book to go through. I’ll convey your good wishes to the author… 🙂
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The mystery is slowly unwrapped and you did a great way of reviewing but not revealing all of the story. Well done, Maniparna!
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That was the purpose, exactly… 😀 glad you liked the style…
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