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My Chameleon soul
“A heartfelt account of a young man growing up without a father in a contemporary conventional India. The trauma of not knowing, if he is alive or dead! It’s also about growing up being ‘different’. Written in a simple but lucid style that grips you immediately. A MUST READ.” – Mr. Aanand Mahendroo, Producer and Director of Bollywood Movies and TV Series.
220 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 23, 2019
One day, shortly before his wife is to give birth to their second child, a man named Sujoy Malhotra disappears. His wife Kiran is left to bring up her children—her three year old son Samay and the daughter she bears, Samaira—on her own. But though there are relatives and friends to lend support (and criticise), the sudden and unexplained absconding of Sujoy has a lasting effect on the psyches of Kiran, Samay, and Samaira, leaving each of them with some burden to bear which they must resolve in order to find happiness…
On the surface of it, that could have been an interesting story of human resilience, of the power to pick oneself up and keep going. It could have been a poignant and heartwarming tale, a story about human emotion.
Sumit Sehgal, in his debut novel, chooses a combination of the diary form (all three protagonists—Kiran, Samay and Samaira—keep diaries), conversations, and poetry, to tell the story. While the concept may have been good, the execution of it, as far as I was concerned, left a lot to be desired. For one, the poetry I found to be very distracting. For another, the prose, after a while, became too languid and repetitive. The fact that these three people live interconnected lives means that Kiran’s diary contains a lot about what happens in her children’s lives, so we first read about them in her diary, and then we again read about those same incidents (though in greater detail) in the diaries of Samay and Samaira.
Worst of all was the editing or lack of it. There are errors galore in My Chameleon Soul: grammatical, spelling, word usage, even something as basic as spacing. It looked as if the book hadn’t even been subjected to a spelling and grammar check, let alone an edit.
Given the high praise from a range of people (the quotes cover the first eight pages of the book), I was expecting something really outstanding. Perhaps my expectations were too high. At any rate, I found this book disappointing. It has potential—that I will concede (Samay’s story, especially, has the makings of an interesting glimpse into the mind and heart of a man struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, even as he struggles with his own personal demons)—but that potential remains just that: potential. What this needed was much more polishing, and a very good (and brutal) editor.
On the surface of it, that could have been an interesting story of human resilience, of the power to pick oneself up and keep going. It could have been a poignant and heartwarming tale, a story about human emotion.
Sumit Sehgal, in his debut novel, chooses a combination of the diary form (all three protagonists—Kiran, Samay and Samaira—keep diaries), conversations, and poetry, to tell the story. While the concept may have been good, the execution of it, as far as I was concerned, left a lot to be desired. For one, the poetry I found to be very distracting. For another, the prose, after a while, became too languid and repetitive. The fact that these three people live interconnected lives means that Kiran’s diary contains a lot about what happens in her children’s lives, so we first read about them in her diary, and then we again read about those same incidents (though in greater detail) in the diaries of Samay and Samaira.
Worst of all was the editing or lack of it. There are errors galore in My Chameleon Soul: grammatical, spelling, word usage, even something as basic as spacing. It looked as if the book hadn’t even been subjected to a spelling and grammar check, let alone an edit.
Given the high praise from a range of people (the quotes cover the first eight pages of the book), I was expecting something really outstanding. Perhaps my expectations were too high. At any rate, I found this book disappointing. It has potential—that I will concede (Samay’s story, especially, has the makings of an interesting glimpse into the mind and heart of a man struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, even as he struggles with his own personal demons)—but that potential remains just that: potential. What this needed was much more polishing, and a very good (and brutal) editor.
June 19, 2017
My Chameleon Soul is the story of three people - Kiran Malhotra and her two children, Samay and Samaira Malhotra, their lives, and how their lives are affected by the actions and decisions of those around them.
The book, written in three parts, each being a first person account in form of a journal entry, it is heart-warming and painfully tragic at the same time. I found the journal entry format of story-telling quite unique. Not only did it provide a great narrative of the developments and events in the story but also an insight into what the characters felt and how they behaved in a certain way.
All of us have an alternate ego right inside of us - call it a soul or an inner voice - it guides us, criticizes us and generally is our best friend and worst enemy at the same time.
This book not only explores that dark existence but also the goodness that may exist in there somewhere, and how the inner voice leads us to do things we may not have otherwise.
The poems that are written as part of the emotional journey of the three characters are beautiful and add to the narrative.
My only complaint was that the story could have had more details and more effectively narrated by adding more descriptions and incidents. I found it ended too soon for me.
This was my first attempt at realistic fiction and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
The book, written in three parts, each being a first person account in form of a journal entry, it is heart-warming and painfully tragic at the same time. I found the journal entry format of story-telling quite unique. Not only did it provide a great narrative of the developments and events in the story but also an insight into what the characters felt and how they behaved in a certain way.
All of us have an alternate ego right inside of us - call it a soul or an inner voice - it guides us, criticizes us and generally is our best friend and worst enemy at the same time.
This book not only explores that dark existence but also the goodness that may exist in there somewhere, and how the inner voice leads us to do things we may not have otherwise.
The poems that are written as part of the emotional journey of the three characters are beautiful and add to the narrative.
My only complaint was that the story could have had more details and more effectively narrated by adding more descriptions and incidents. I found it ended too soon for me.
This was my first attempt at realistic fiction and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
March 14, 2021
A quick and gripping read ❤️
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews