The Turning Point: Best of Young Indian Writers

by Nikita Singh (editor)

The Turning Point features stories by some of the best young Indian writers, each contributing a distinct tang to this interesting cocktail. The collection explores multiple emotions, ranging from nostalgia to obsession, the feeling of first love to that of delusion, from doubt to self-belief and from resignation to hope. Eight stories, eight spirited young writers-and a must-read book that doesn't just make you smile and think at the same time, but also brings you closer to the joy of reading and the craft of writing. Stories by: Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan Durjoy Datta Judy Balan Harsh Snehanshu Shoma Narayanan Parinda Joshi Atulya Mahajan Nikita Singh

Genres: Fiction

220 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2014

About the author

Nikita Singh is the bestselling author of eleven novels, including Letters to My Ex, Every Time It Rains and Like a Love Song. She is also the editor of the collections of short stories 25 Strokes of Kindness and The Turning Point.

After working in the book publishing industry in New Delhi for a few years, she got her MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) at The New School in New York. Invested in the fight against climate change, she handles marketing for a solar energy company based in Brooklyn.

Nikita is a digital nomad, currently obsessed with travel, tea and thrillers. You can follow her adventures on Instagram and Twitter (@singh_nikita).

Reviews

[Hema Dadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a very good num of stories . But little disappointed

[Ashish Manik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing; not recommended.

Only after I'd read a few pages, I'd decided to finish this book as early as possible - just to know what idiotic works of the Indian authors do get published, and to stop others from reading it.

However the vampire story by Judy Balan is quite creative and interesting. Even Shoma Narayanan's ghost comedy, 'The X-Boss' is fun to read.

Harsh Snehanshu's 'The Summer Showers', however a bit perverse, is entertaining and does infuse some feelings. And Parinda Joshi's crime thriller, 'An Unlikely Accomplice' is quite better than the others.

But two of the stories are so insipid that anybody would be writing in their daily journals, and two of the stories will make you feel as if you were reading porn. Not to mention the bad English at many places. They literally caused me headaches.

[Kanwarpal Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review: The collection of eight stories and the dferent genre
Like story of @decemberschild talk about two girl conversation and there relationship stories and break up..
@durjoydatta English teacher talk about student who is obsessed with his teacher. Story was interesting and fun read.
@amreekandesi "U-turn " talks about parenting of a child and his behaviour skill that are shown in the story.
The return of the original vampire by @judy.balan is a humorous story of vampires and increasing case of children love towards vampire stories.
@parindajoshi unusual accomplice is a criminal thriller story of retiremed army men who investigate the case and what he found out , and i personally feel its bit braggy story.

@shomanarayanan "the ex-boss" is a humourous story about a girl seeing her ex-boss ghost.
@harshsnehanshu story "summer showers " is a sweet heart love story and cute among the other stories
@singh_nikita story "whispered prayer" is about a girl who try to run from village for love got raped when she try to escape and then also run away from village is coming back to parents home with love of her life but she was not at all welcome truth revealed on way back towards there home.

These 8 stories have spooky and imagination love, humour ,dark humour , fun happiness and peer pressure.
Overall it's a fun read for readers

[Gurpreet Kaur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book : The Turning Point
Edited by : Nikita Singh
Published 2014 by Wisdom Tree

My Rating : 3 stars

I enjoyed reading all the eight stories in this book. The stories which I liked the most are:

first - Insert the Carrot by Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan (funny, light-hearted and gives a friendly vibes)

fourth - Summer Showers by Harsh Snehanshu (gives hopes)

seventh - The U-Turn by Atulya Mahajan (a turnmoil and confusion of a overly ambitious father and the way the story make him take a u-turn and enjoy life)

eighth - A Whispered Prayer by Nikita Singh (a serious one and shows the reality which still exists in the society, and love the relationship between the lead characters)

[Amarnath · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given it a two star but the last story in the collection really touched a cord with me, rest of the stories are just attempts at storytelling. I took it from college library because it contained English Teacher the often talked story by Durjoy Dutta. I like his novels beginning from when only love remains but this story was something else. I can't quiet understand what it is. A Whispered Prayer was the winner.

[Jayneel Modi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cover -“Best of Young Indian Writers”.

Well, It’s definitely not the best. Grammatical mistakes break the flow of your reading. The writers seem very young and naive.

[Rashmi Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good collection of short stories

[Surbhi Jain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Turning Point is an interesting novel with eight stories by young Indian writers. The stories as promised have a turning point in them.
Each story has a different genre, a collection of versatile work by the writers.
Here's an overview about the eight stories:
•  'Insert a Carrot' by Meenakshy Reddy Madhavan: It's about the conversation of two girls about their relationships and breakups.

• 'The English Teacher' by Durjoy Dutta: The English Teacher is a story about a high-school boy who is obsessed with his teacher. Durjoy Dutta's writing style and story is quite engaging that comes up with a twist. Best of the eight stories.

• 'U-Turn' by Atulya Mahajan: It's a story about the parental love and decisions one has to make about careers and family. The protagonist finds it difficult to make a choice. Overall it’s a nice read.

• The Return of the Original Vampire' by Judy Balan: The Return of the Original Vampire is a satire and narrates about the growing craze of vampires among the teenagers.

• 'An Unusual Accomplice' by Parinda Joshi: An Unusual Accomplice is a crime thriller and narrates a story about a retired army officer who investigates a case. The author has stretched the story to quite long extent.

• 'The X-Boss' by Shoma Narayan: The X-Boss is something unique than the usual stories. The story of a secretary who can see the ghost of her boss. The story keeps you read it till the end.

• 'Summer Showers' by Harsh Snehanshu: Summer Showers is a light-weighted love story. It is entertaining as well as a fun read.

• 'Whispered Prayers' by Nikita Singh: Whispered Prayers is story of a rape-survivor ostracized from society. The story speaks how the victim manages to survive adverse conditions with the help of her boyfriend and how the society should change their outlook.

Overall, The Turning Point is an easy read with short stories on various genres, love, adolescence, super-natural and thriller with slight twist in every tale. It's a 3 out of 5.

[Chinmayee Sahu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Turning Point edited by Nikita Singh....is a collection of eight short stories written by some of the best young Indian writers......it has everything from love to obsession , from first love 💕 to illusion , from scary boss to scarry ghost ...... from hope to self belief ....

I would definitely mention about The English Teacher by Durjoy Datta honestly this story will make your heart sink...Summer showers by Harsh Snehansu is a beautiful ❤️ love story... An unlikely Accomplish by Parinda Joshi is an eye opener for the privileged elite class children to see the underprivileged masses which are a part of our country.....A whispered prayer by Nikita singh herself written about a rape victim abandoned by her parents but accepted by her muslim boyfriend who stood like a rock throughout ..

Every single story is very different from each other 🙂 and reading this is a cosy, funny,interesting,weird and an exhausting ride... But I enjoyed it 😊😊

[Tathagata Kandar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got the book via the goodreads giveaway. One good thing about the book is that the stories are all different and unique - the bad thing is that they are extremely mediocre.
All the stories are devoid of a plot. The style of the 1st one is unique and new, well, kind of.
The only one I kind of liked was the rom com....although usually I hate such flicks. It had a refreshing new tone with a bit of mystery.

All in all, not a book I would suggest for others. It's more like a sitcom (and not a good one) where you can stare at the screen, phase out and start from the middle and still understand what's going on.

[Book'd Hitu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fine collection of short stories by Indian Talents. The stories were quite unique and thoroughly entertaining.

Thus book can also be called as a showcase of writing talents that our own nation have and they have every quality to become established and most read Indian writers.

I would like to mention, the overall quality of book viz. Paper & print quality and binding durability is also of high standards.

I thank Nikita Singh for providing me the review copy of the book and convey my best wishes to all these aspiring writers.

This review is my own views about the book and in no way influenced.

[Sheetal Dash]

I have read 2 of the author's work and want to read this one too.

[Samarpita Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://sankshvet.blogspot.in/2014/08/...

[Swaton Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just awesome with really fantastic short stories not the most amazing thing with this book is that some of u could relate yourself with its protagonists
good job nikita