The Yellow Book: A Traveller's Diary

by Amitava Kumar

One day passes. Then another. A whole succession of days turning into months and years. How to mark our separate days? The places we have been. Our individual passions, our pain. Against the blurring of years, the clarity of a record. And even amidst crises, how to keep creativity alive?

Also, how to stop time?

After the first wave of Covid had passed, the lockdown was lifted and travel resumed in earnest. Amitava Kumar found himself in London with a group of American students on a study tour-in the midst of the Omicron wave. A year later, he was in India, in his native Motihari among other places. Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine and Rushdie was assaulted with a knife in upstate New York. Amitava kept a journal-to record the times he was living through and how he would like to remember them.

In these pages, through words and drawings, an acclaimed author and artist reveals how a writer observes the world around us-and the world inside us. The Yellow Book, like The Blue Book, shows us how we can put together not just a journal or a book, but also how we assemble a life; and, in our troubled times, why we must plant memories and continue to believe in spring.

184 pages, Paperback

Published November 18, 2023

About the author

Amitava Kumar is a novelist, poet, journalist, and Professor of English at Vassar College. He was born in Bihar, India; he grew up in the town of Patna, famous for its corruption, crushing poverty, and delicious mangoes.

He is the author of Nobody Does the Right Thing; A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb; Husband of a Fanatic: A Personal Journey through India, Pakistan, Love, and Hate, a New York Times “Editors’ Choice” selection; Bombay—London—New York, a New Statesman (UK) “Book of the Year” selection; and Passport Photos. He is the editor of several books, including Away: The Indian Writer as an Expatriate, The Humour and the Pity: Essays on V. S. Naipaul, and World Bank Literature. He is also an editor of the online journal Politics and Culture and the screenwriter and narrator of the prize-winning documentary film Pure Chutney.

Kumar’s writing has appeared in The Nation, Harper’s, Vanity Fair, The American Prospect, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Hindu, and other publications in North America and India.

Reviews

[Areeb Ahmad (Bankrupt_Bookworm) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great! Amitava should keep writing these hybrid books until all colours are exhausted.

[Pranavesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

funny, tender, moving to the point of tears; so keen to discover the rest of amitava kumar’s oeuvre

[Swapna Peri ( Book Reviews Cafe ) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Yellow Book" is a captivating journey through the author's observations of global realities during the COVID-19 pandemic. It offers a unique perspective on the world both physically and mentally, focusing on self-discovery through exploration. The narrative takes readers from London to Motihari, India, and beyond, revealing the author's experiences during the Omicron wave with American students and subsequent travels in India. As the 38th book by Amitava Kumar, "The Yellow Book" showcases his ability to assemble not only a journal or book but also a life. Kumar's writing is marked by introspection, describing the world through a personal and universal lens. The conversational tone of the writing invites readers to join Kumar on his introspective journey, with descriptive and journalistic elements vividly depicting places, people, and events. The incorporation of art adds depth to the narrative, resembling the original "Yellow Book" publication. "The Yellow Book: A Traveller's Diary" is a multi-faceted reading experience, allowing readers to engage with the text on various levels and find inspiration in the author's profound journey.

[Sahiti Nallagonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The blue book” and “The yellow book” both show how much impact very simple stories can have. Every walk you take, every phone call everything is a story and you need to just slow down and discover! Amitava’s books along with “The book of simple living” by Ruskin Bond have inspired me to start writing and journaling everyday.

[Isha]

The yellow book feels like taking a stroll down the writer's mind through some pleasant and muddy events around the time Covid struck the world, the drawings will keep you warm on this walk but carry a jacket, always.

[Nikhil Kamath · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Yellow Book provides an insight into the author's days during the Covid Lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. The book acts as a document that sheds light on how life was during that time and how the author was travelling with his students in the UK during a semester abroad.

It also gets you a closer look at the author's personal life and his relationship with is wife, son, father and sisters. There are also references to the time when work was in progress on books that have now been published.

This book is a very personal account and unlike The Blue Book, the author has really put himself out there for the world to look at his life.

[Dhwani · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

The Yellow Book by Amitava Kumar is the diary of our traveller, our author through times thick and thin, throughout his travels.

This isn’t a diary, this is a part of his life that Amitava Kumar has so wonderfully presented to us readers.

Colourful illustrations often abstract in nature with a beautiful palette of colours help the reader ravish the book and the writing.

Another specification that I loved about the book was how the author explains why he named the book The Yellow Diary. I love it when things add up and this particle reason made me love this title even more.

This book is a testament that tough times may pass on but what you create will always stay with you. The author has recorded his experiences in the books and a reader like me, the one who doesnt know the author at all got to know him distinctly.

It is a book I will choose to keep in my bookshelf forever.