Lamplight: Paranormal Stories from the Hinterlands

by Kankana Basu

The year is 1934. The picturesque town of Monghyr, in Bihar, lies devastated after a massive earthquake. The mansion of the Chattopadhyays an old aristocratic family continues to stand upright though a wall is cracking right down the middle. The members of the big joint family find their lives suddenly touched by the eerie and inexplicable. The ancient house has always had its share of creaks and quirks, but now strange incidents suddenly start occurring.

189 pages, Paperback

Reviews

[Akshay Ahuja · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is really a terrible book. I bought this book after seeing it being mentioned on The Hindu newspaper and I have now come to heavily regret that decision. There are multiple problems with this book but the one which is most irritating and basic is the language this book uses. The author goes for a very flowery language with annoying metaphors that distract you from the context the book wants to set. On top of that the stories adidn't have any weight to hold your attention and the narration comes off as quite juvenile in its treatment. Some of the passages that try so hard to instill some scares come off laughable.
For a book that seeks to establish itself as a compendium of horror stories for mature readers I doubt if it will even give some scares to 5 year olds.

[Debarati · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming and spooky collection of short stories. A perfect rainy night companion!

[Madhusree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exuding an aristocratic old world charm, Lamplight is a collection of short stories each about a member of the Chattopadhyay family set in 1934 in the idealistic landscape of Monghyr, Bihar. Each of them rub shoulders against the paranormal that sometimes comes as a blessing and other times, a curse.

Although not your typical horror fiction featuring demons and exorcisms and other jump scares, Lamplight uses elements of the unknown to bring out the insecurities and dreams of its protagonists. It's a fast read and my favourite out of the lot would be the chapter on Rosy because of it's abject strange-ness and the author's clever writing , never really giving us any closure.

However, the narrative focuses only on the rich and intelligent members of the house and you're left wondering what role do the numerous servants play apart from being used as comic relief and amusement. We also hear the word "caste" thrown around once in the beginning, never to come back to it. This is where the writing lacks depth due to assuming a mostly apolitical world view.

Pick this up if you want to read something light. And read it in a linear manner for all the stories are interconnected.

[Gen-v · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was quite enjoying the story initially. i like the plot of the book but after some stories it started getting boring. Finished this book only because i don't like to leave a book halfway. P. S all the ghosts were so kind and gentle. (Except the one with mala) felt more humanity in the ghosts of this book than my surroundings!!

[Prasanth Sunderasan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather an interesting collection of paranormal stories! Loved it.

[Adyasha Rout · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its was more emotional than horror

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second half was better.

[NB Saren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a simple book with spooky scary stories to read at bedtime.

[Swati Daftuar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complete review of this book appears on my website, The Booklegger =)
Full Review Here

I feel almost lucky to have discovered this book. It isn't really all that visible, though I don't know why. Lamplight is one of the nicest Indian horror I've read in a while. Or it would be, but I haven't read much Indian horror so the comparisons are few and far between. This naturally bums me out, because who doesn't like to curl up and drink chai and get a little scared?

The thing is, Lamplight is also a sweet book. In it's old fashioned quaintness, it's almost sepia toned. It felt a bit like I was looking at old yellowed pictures and listening to stories about the people in them. This quality is almost too endearing to be scary, but Basu balances things perfectly...

[Tavishi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It has been a while that I have read an Indian author and it was nice to be taken back to the old fashioned writing style, where one is in a dilemma to look up a word in the dictionary or carry on reading! I especially liked the simplicity of the stories and the way different stories were told through the view point of characters within the same family. The simplicity was also the reason I was terrified reading some the stories. Basu gives just enough details to make you imagine the most horrific things in your mind! I would recommend this book for a leisurely read, especially at a time when your imagination is overly active.

[Rohan Kachalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The complete review is here:

http://ponderingtwo.blogspot.in/2014/...