All of our lives are a series of stories, anecdotes and tales, of who we are, of what we see, of whom we meet, of people around us, of things we do. Stories make our lives interesting and worth living. It brings people closer, it weaves relationships, it fosters bonds, it stems laughter and love. And such is this book of short stories, Keepsake.
A beautiful collection of short stories that envelopes a myriad of themes, plots and emotions. The author has carefully and beautifully designed the conversations, experiences, which almost all of us have in life into stories that hit the right chords. The book has seven stories, each an exploration of lyrical and literary beauty.
Be it the one titled Chutki Bua where we get a protagonist who solves issues with stories and goves you space to make your own ending and perceptions, or be it the one where we have a couple who always fight but couldn't fathom getting away from each other like in Maape. Life is all about living and if it means to wander, to rebuild, to restart, so be it, like we see in Jaan hai, Jahaan hai. In all of us we have a burning, for things varied enough, and that burning makes us do things, hide things, love things and the story titled Soz, is a beautiful representation of that. If we need to know how the turn of events can actually prove to be lovely, we read Lahore to Jagraon.
My favorite story was Patr(characters) which has a lot of bookish mention, is about characters, about books, about how we all are characters in our lives. It is so beautifully written and it made me so elated as a reader.
The author has seamlessly blended the themes and presented to us a lovely amalgamation of love, longing, self-expression, exploration, nostalgia, fate, and everything beautiful that our lives are. Stories, tales and beauty it weaves. You feel connected to it, it feels like a warm hug on a chilly day. You resonate with the stories which is one of the standouts for me in the stories.
If you love short stories, wonderfully writen piece of literature, you need to read this book.
Highly recommended, go get it now.🌻✨️