Gayatri Chandrasekharan

Gayatri has a very evocative style of writing giving the reader a fly on the wall kind of cinematic view while the story unfolds. Her easy and light style helps bring out the nuances, quirks and traits of the various characters, the beauty, splendour and magnetic aura of Bangalore and the eternal conflict between the old and the new, the traditional and the modern, the conservatives and the liberals as well as the invaders and their colonies without being preachy or pedantic.

Her command over the English language, the tribute that she pays to the various authors that are clearly her inspiration and the use of quite a few words and phrases that left me scurrying in search of a dictionary played to some of the things that I like in a book and/or an author. Credit to Gayatri, that each of these was used in context and helped elevate the narrative.

Overall, Gayatri’s first novel did exceed my expectations. She is a natural and I hope she has already started off on her next creative sojourn. I hope the wait for her second book won’t be too long.