The People Tree
The People Tree is author Beetashok Chatterjee’s second offering after the immense success of his debut anthology titled – Driftwood, stories washed ashore. Since I am a fan of Mr Bee’s work, I expected this book to be at par with the first, if not better. I was not disappointed.
The People Tree is a compilation of fourteen wonderful stories that span not just continents but also genres. These stories are a mishmash of strong emotions such as love, loss, grief, tragedy, betrayal, deception, anger, etc. Written in an easy to read style that involves the reader in the written text, the book traces incidents and situations in the lives of its protagonists who are lay people. Their lives could be our lives. Their situations and conflicts could be ours.
The book opens to a story titled ‘The Little Oxford Dictionary’ and I swear this reference took me back to my school days. Didn’t we all carry around such a dictionary in our school bags? The story itself has an ominous undertone but the masterful manner in which Mr Bee has heightened the emotional quotient of the story, touches the right chords. Although this book is a work of fiction but there are instances in the stories where you can find a reference to the author’s personal life and associations.
‘Course Correction’ is a witty story about adaptation with an underlying thrill element to it and it is the perfect foil for the next story in the book titled ‘Ground Zero’ – one of my favourites and a story that is highly emotional in its appeal. Now, I could wax eloquent about the other stories but it would be remiss of me to not mention two that especially touched my heart – ‘Leaves that are green’ and ‘the vintage car rally’.
Mr Bee’s style of writing is visual. It familiarizes the reader to the well etched protagonists so that the reader feels very much a part of the setting. The language in the book is easy to follow with well crafted characters that endear you to their habits and idiosyncrasies. All the plotlines in the book adhere to the central theme of the book to make it a volume of stories that are about people – you and us. I am certain that as you read the book, you will identify with some of the characters. Don’t we all know such people in life?
I recommend this book to everyone.
Buy the book here-