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Condemned
7 short stories. 7 poems.
Love, the most benign force of the cosmos, clashes with the Seven Deadly Sins namely Lust, Sloth, Greed, Envy, Pride, Wrath & Gluttony. Travel through the chinar gardens of Srinagar in Pride, to the picturesque valleys of Nepal in Greed, to the fiery Maidan Square at Kyiv in Gluttony, to the underbellies of crime in Delhi in Wrath, to the jazz scene in contemporary India in Envy, to the murky suburbs of Texas in Lust and to a lifeless house in Kolkata in Sloth, to explore the ugly aspects of the seven sins in the stories. Romanticise each sin through the poem preceding each story.
Voila! Welcome to the Dark Side of Love.
Love, the most benign force of the cosmos, clashes with the Seven Deadly Sins namely Lust, Sloth, Greed, Envy, Pride, Wrath & Gluttony. Travel through the chinar gardens of Srinagar in Pride, to the picturesque valleys of Nepal in Greed, to the fiery Maidan Square at Kyiv in Gluttony, to the underbellies of crime in Delhi in Wrath, to the jazz scene in contemporary India in Envy, to the murky suburbs of Texas in Lust and to a lifeless house in Kolkata in Sloth, to explore the ugly aspects of the seven sins in the stories. Romanticise each sin through the poem preceding each story.
Voila! Welcome to the Dark Side of Love.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 8, 2020
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 15, 2020
The first book of the ‘Charades’ series, Condemned, was pretty good. It was a better read than what I was expecting it to be, to be honest. All the 7 sins, namely Lust, Sloth, Greed, Envy, Pride, Wrath and Gluttony were not just explained, but were done so exactly from the trigger point which we all have in us.
Lust (SULTANA GREEN)
At start it was a bit difficult to have character clarity, but soon the story took up its pace. There were two scenes which gave a very clear reflection of what ‘Lust’ actually is. The murder scene was quite intense. And the poetry, I would advise you to read it again after you have read the chapter.
• Concept- 3.5/5
• Writing style- 3/5
• Subject- 5/5
• Relevance- 5/5
• Candidness- 4/5
• Entertainment quotient- 4/5
• Overall- 4/5
Sloth (RAHUL ROY)
The story had a slow pace, just like the sin it was supposed to represent. That would have been fine if it weren’t a short story, but rather a novel by itself. Title was not well defined as per the story, in my personal opinion, but it was covered up by the closure of the story; the last line ‘They happily lived ever after, until death’: that was poignant and intense.
• Concept- 3/5
• Writing style- 3/5
• Subject- 4/5
• Relevance- 4/5
• Candidness- 3/5
• Entertainment quotient- 3/5
• Overall- 3.5/5
Greed (YASHIKA BEGWANI)
First of all, kudos to the writer’s vocab. I liked the way she kept the details of the story in her mind and sprinkled them at the perfect place. I could feel the experience she had. The punches and twists kept me glued on till the end. Maybe I was expecting too much. Story build up was pretty good, but sadly the end could have been more impactful.
• Concept- 4/5
• Writing style- 5/5
• Subject- 4/5
• Relevance- 3.5/5
• Candidness- 4/5
• Entertainment quotient- 4.5/5
• Overall- 4/5
Envy (NINGOMBAM CAPTAIN)
To start with, it had the best poetry throughout. The writer has explained the minute things very well. You won’t miss anything. The main character is gay and his wife is straight. And the plot’s twist: they both fall in love for the same person. I liked the irony this story held. Reality-checks were kept in mind while writing this story. And, of course the end: the ending of the story makes this one my favourite.
• Concept- 4.5/5
• Writing style- 4.5/5
• Subject- 5/5
• Relevance- 5/5
• Candidness- 4.5/5
• Entertainment quotient- 5/5
• Overall- 5/5
Pride (VISHNU VARDHANAN)
‘Truth is singular’ the line I saved in my head from the story. And it’s really very rare that we learn something which we would love to save in our memory. The writer knows how to describe beauty in a person.
I didn’t find this story very interesting, honestly, because I didn’t have much knowledge about the riots in Kashmir. That perhaps is also why I am not the perfect person to judge this story. But I can clearly say that the writer has a lot of potential.
• Concept- 3.5/5
• Writing style- 4/5
• Subject- 3.5/5
• Relevance- 3/5
• Candidness- 4.5/5
• Entertainment quotient- 4/5
• Overall- 4/5
Wrath (MONISHA VISHWANATH)
The poetry in this story did beat the best poetry I had read in this book. The small plot twists and punches were compensating with the flow of the story. But later the story took its pace, and turned out to be a page-turner.
This story is the best example to get a thought in anyone’s mind, “What songs do to a movie, poetry does to a story”
‘Love’ was explained in a manner which could make you fall in love with the writer herself. And the 3rd was a nuclear bomb. It had strong punch lines, it had dilemma, It had chaos! The end was well written.
• Concept- 4.5/5
• Writing style- 5/5
• Subject- 5/5
• Relevance- 5/5
• Candidness- 4.5/5
• Entertainment quotient- 5/5
• Overall- 5/5
Gluttony (VISHAL BAGARIA)
Whether it is war based movie, a book or any form of story of the same genre, personally I am not a huge fan of the same. But I loved this one! From the point it started to the pace it took, to the vocabulary this writer had to characters of the story. Everything was simply perfect.
I specially loved the scene when one of the main characters was trying to provoke another main character in the climax sequence and we hear the sound of a gun-shot. That scene was intense enough to make me read it several times.
The title was well defined and the end was expectedly great!
• Concept- 4/5
• Writing style- 5/5
• Subject- 5/5
• Relevance- 5/5
• Candidness- 4.5/5
• Entertainment quotient- 5/5
• Overall- 5/5
Overall Rating
• Concept- 4.5/5
• Candidness- 4/5
• Entertainment quotient- 4/5
• Overall- 4.5/5
I would like to recommend this book to all the people who think they are human, but deep down, are just fragments of corroded souls.
Lust (SULTANA GREEN)
At start it was a bit difficult to have character clarity, but soon the story took up its pace. There were two scenes which gave a very clear reflection of what ‘Lust’ actually is. The murder scene was quite intense. And the poetry, I would advise you to read it again after you have read the chapter.
• Concept- 3.5/5
• Writing style- 3/5
• Subject- 5/5
• Relevance- 5/5
• Candidness- 4/5
• Entertainment quotient- 4/5
• Overall- 4/5
Sloth (RAHUL ROY)
The story had a slow pace, just like the sin it was supposed to represent. That would have been fine if it weren’t a short story, but rather a novel by itself. Title was not well defined as per the story, in my personal opinion, but it was covered up by the closure of the story; the last line ‘They happily lived ever after, until death’: that was poignant and intense.
• Concept- 3/5
• Writing style- 3/5
• Subject- 4/5
• Relevance- 4/5
• Candidness- 3/5
• Entertainment quotient- 3/5
• Overall- 3.5/5
Greed (YASHIKA BEGWANI)
First of all, kudos to the writer’s vocab. I liked the way she kept the details of the story in her mind and sprinkled them at the perfect place. I could feel the experience she had. The punches and twists kept me glued on till the end. Maybe I was expecting too much. Story build up was pretty good, but sadly the end could have been more impactful.
• Concept- 4/5
• Writing style- 5/5
• Subject- 4/5
• Relevance- 3.5/5
• Candidness- 4/5
• Entertainment quotient- 4.5/5
• Overall- 4/5
Envy (NINGOMBAM CAPTAIN)
To start with, it had the best poetry throughout. The writer has explained the minute things very well. You won’t miss anything. The main character is gay and his wife is straight. And the plot’s twist: they both fall in love for the same person. I liked the irony this story held. Reality-checks were kept in mind while writing this story. And, of course the end: the ending of the story makes this one my favourite.
• Concept- 4.5/5
• Writing style- 4.5/5
• Subject- 5/5
• Relevance- 5/5
• Candidness- 4.5/5
• Entertainment quotient- 5/5
• Overall- 5/5
Pride (VISHNU VARDHANAN)
‘Truth is singular’ the line I saved in my head from the story. And it’s really very rare that we learn something which we would love to save in our memory. The writer knows how to describe beauty in a person.
I didn’t find this story very interesting, honestly, because I didn’t have much knowledge about the riots in Kashmir. That perhaps is also why I am not the perfect person to judge this story. But I can clearly say that the writer has a lot of potential.
• Concept- 3.5/5
• Writing style- 4/5
• Subject- 3.5/5
• Relevance- 3/5
• Candidness- 4.5/5
• Entertainment quotient- 4/5
• Overall- 4/5
Wrath (MONISHA VISHWANATH)
The poetry in this story did beat the best poetry I had read in this book. The small plot twists and punches were compensating with the flow of the story. But later the story took its pace, and turned out to be a page-turner.
This story is the best example to get a thought in anyone’s mind, “What songs do to a movie, poetry does to a story”
‘Love’ was explained in a manner which could make you fall in love with the writer herself. And the 3rd was a nuclear bomb. It had strong punch lines, it had dilemma, It had chaos! The end was well written.
• Concept- 4.5/5
• Writing style- 5/5
• Subject- 5/5
• Relevance- 5/5
• Candidness- 4.5/5
• Entertainment quotient- 5/5
• Overall- 5/5
Gluttony (VISHAL BAGARIA)
Whether it is war based movie, a book or any form of story of the same genre, personally I am not a huge fan of the same. But I loved this one! From the point it started to the pace it took, to the vocabulary this writer had to characters of the story. Everything was simply perfect.
I specially loved the scene when one of the main characters was trying to provoke another main character in the climax sequence and we hear the sound of a gun-shot. That scene was intense enough to make me read it several times.
The title was well defined and the end was expectedly great!
• Concept- 4/5
• Writing style- 5/5
• Subject- 5/5
• Relevance- 5/5
• Candidness- 4.5/5
• Entertainment quotient- 5/5
• Overall- 5/5
Overall Rating
• Concept- 4.5/5
• Candidness- 4/5
• Entertainment quotient- 4/5
• Overall- 4.5/5
I would like to recommend this book to all the people who think they are human, but deep down, are just fragments of corroded souls.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 20, 2020
Flaws that break us, make us!
I loved reading this compendium of short stories. Each short story could be fleshed into a separate novel. It's like your late night self-flagelating talk, but that eventually leads you toward self-compassion instead. It's not perfect. It's not meant to be. But characters are real and raw and you know them.
I loved reading this compendium of short stories. Each short story could be fleshed into a separate novel. It's like your late night self-flagelating talk, but that eventually leads you toward self-compassion instead. It's not perfect. It's not meant to be. But characters are real and raw and you know them.
March 15, 2020
The tagline of the book "Condemned", with an intriguing cover and an even curious tagline, made me flip through this unique compilation almost immediately; and having read through it, I am blown away by the rawness of each of the stories penned down based on the seven original sins.
What impressed me most is the vivid detailing of characters amidst their entangling circumstances, and how the essence of the poems written at the start of each chapter echo the deepest, darkest vices throughout each story.
The curators, Vishal and Shradha, have done a fantastic job in picking out gems for authors and compiled their contributions into a dazzling piece of work. The next two parts to the Trilogy are eagerly awaited.
What impressed me most is the vivid detailing of characters amidst their entangling circumstances, and how the essence of the poems written at the start of each chapter echo the deepest, darkest vices throughout each story.
The curators, Vishal and Shradha, have done a fantastic job in picking out gems for authors and compiled their contributions into a dazzling piece of work. The next two parts to the Trilogy are eagerly awaited.
March 18, 2020
Bought this e-book for a weekend & was blown away by the stories and the poems! They were just perfect! I loved how all of them deal subtly with the sin and make it more about human nature than the sin itself. I loved the stories on Pride (a beautiful love story in Kashmir by Vishnu), Gluttony (a very good global topic on protests in Ukraine and political corruption and a basic human desire by Vishal) and Greed (climate change - very well written by Yashika!) and Envy (by Ningombam) just blew my mind off because I love jazz music! Great detailing, great plots, great characters!!!
I’m eagerly waiting for the next two in the series by Vishal & Shradha!
Three cheers for yourselves, guys!!!
I’m eagerly waiting for the next two in the series by Vishal & Shradha!
Three cheers for yourselves, guys!!!
April 29, 2020
Great Book.
An Amazing book, if you're looking for an entertaining Book this is it.
Poems in the book are also commendable!
An Amazing book, if you're looking for an entertaining Book this is it.
Poems in the book are also commendable!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews