Siddhartha Street

Swapna Peri

Jun 29

Book Title: Siddhartha Street
Author: Sudha Yadav
Format: Paperback
Published By: Viswakarma Publications
No. of pages:176

Review Headline
Life in a street, colourful, grey and black!

What to expect?
Expect a story showcasing the daily chores of middle-class living on the street.
Expect a story that talks about the trivial situations people usually confront.
Expect a story that is a collection of small tales that are interlinked.
Expect a story that is narrated from various perspectives.
Expect a book with stories that remind Premchand, Vinod Shukla, or R.K.Narayanan for their simple and profound writing.

Who can read?
This is suitable for beginner-level readers to voracious readers for its beautiful cover page and whimsical stories.

My Thoughts
To be happy is simple, but to be simple is difficult. This is one of the strongest statements that I have heard, and ironically, it is a fact.

Likewise, some books and stories look simple in their writing and presentation, but the interlaced morals and thoughtful lessons make them wonderful.

This book has such a story that it will leave the readers to re-think. It is set in the fictional lane Siddhartha Street, located in South India. The character names suggest it could be South India. It was in May I visited Chennai city and most precisely the famous Mylapore. Then I read the book, and it was a magical experience. I could see Kaveris, Poonammas, Aruls and many more characters coming to life. The surreal feeling that I felt is wow.

While analyzing the characters, I could realize that the story is elegant, emotional and touching. It conceives all feelings of people living their lives in different directions and dimensions. The book is a collection of 10 short stories that revolve around different characters who are arranged in the same garland of life with Siddhartha Street as a thread.

Warmth, suspicion, ego, love, compassion, and many are portrayed as balanced. I recommend this book to those readers who wish to read light-hearted stories.

Grammar & Vocabulary
Simple and colloquial language is used in the story. Not much scope to use rich vocabulary is found, but the story adhered to the grammar, syntax and semantics.

Writing Style
The smooth and easy writing style makes the book readable. Most of the narratives follow a conversational tone. This style makes the characters look familiar and relatable. There may be similarities between our neighbours and the characters in the story; such is the writing. Kudos to the story creator – Sudha Yadav, for this.

What did I like
1. The title and cover page.
2. The climate and the fabric of life in Siddhartha Street.
3. The ending of each story gives a chance to the readers to think and conclude.
4. Tilakammal and Poonamma's characters.

What could have been better?
The story is a fine read in its place; if only more chapters were there, it could have been nice!

Entertainment quotient
The story allows the readers to interact and travel with the characters with their stories and narratives. The writing helps the thus readers become involved in the story deeply.

Pick it if
- you like quick and short reads with good content.
- you enjoy reading perspective-driven stories.

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