Title: An Indian Farrago: Stories and Poems
Author: Mohit Khare
Publisher: Leadstart publishing
Genre: Short Stories, Poetry
First Publication: 2021
Language: English
Book Summary: An Indian Farrago: Stories and Poems by Mohit Khare
A crook messes up his first murder due to a misplaced phone call, a tenant grapples with his grumpy ex-landlord to get back his deposit, a son revels in his father coming out of depression due to a leopard.
An orphan slum boy and his dog caught in Mumbai’s biggest deluge, a young boy’s escapades in the hills only to be held captive while witnessing wildfires, a gifted but struggling poet becoming estranged with his wife due to the adversities of life.
In this seeming farrago of short stories and poems – you will encounter incredible but real characters dealing with tricky situations, complex human relationships, dreams, superstitions and even reflections on the basic premise of life. From these myriad pieces, some of which are broken, some complete, some colourful and some dark, there emerges a synergy, a harmony in the way they are all cemented together to create a beautifully imperfect mosaic that promises to resonate with your mind and nudge your heart.
Book Review: An Indian Farrago: Stories and Poems by Mohit Khare
It’s difficult to rate a book of short stories, for me. They can be so different from each other, so that one is totally to your taste and another is not. Throw in some poetry too, and there’s even more opportunity to leave people cold. An Indian Farrago by Mohit Khare is a collection of a variety of stories and poetry that don’t fall into a single category other than they are all from the same author.
There is a diversity of material in Mohit Khare’s latest collection of short fiction. It is a delightfully eclectic potpourri of twenty four pieces, 12 short stories and 12 poems. A bit of an uneven mixed bag, but all interesting and imaginative and some of them are very good.
The stories in ‘An Indian Farrago’ reveal a lot about human nature and how the author perceives the world, what it was, what it could be, what it is. Each tale has an underlying current of philosophy and moral contemplation. Some of these stories are extreme and some of them are so normal yet they all belong together in this book.
I really liked the humane elements in many of the short stories and the vignette-esque style they were written in. The brevity of the passages makes it an extremely quick read. The deliberate arrangements of the words of the poems were compelling as well. Whenever I read free verse, seeing the way the words are spread out on the page and the rhythm their position evokes can be as potent as the word choice.
Mohit Khare is undoubtedly a master in the art of writing: his prose are sublime, his imagery evocative and his characters raw and real. The subject matters were also of a varied and intriguing nature that aroused my initial interest. Each story deals with themes that could be deemed as triggers. He twists endings into satisfactory curls for the most part, wanders far afield in setting and content, tosses in a few poems for good measure, and even offers up a few chuckles. The storytelling and his ability to paint a picture with words is fantastic. These stories are tales of tragedy, woe, despair, and typically end well. All the stories are creative and enjoyable.
As with every short story collections, some pieces were better than others in this collection too. That being said, I really enjoyed much of the material in this collection. There were many times when I raced along, breathlessly turning pages and wishing the book would not end. It showcases the wide range of tone, style and genre of which author Mohit Khare is capable. There is tragedy, comedy, satire, pathos, and poetry.
In general, this is a great collection of stories that definitely has something for everyone. If you are not smitten with the story you are reading at a given moment, not to worry, there is another close behind that is certain to satisfy. They are all written quite brilliantly, even the ones I didn’t enjoy so much, and I think Mohit Khare demonstrates his ability to write a story that falls under every genre imaginable!
