Circus Folk & Village Freaks – Book Review

• Author: Aparna Upadhyaya Sanyal
• Genre: Poetry
• Hardcover: 156 pages
• Publisher: Vishwakarma Publications; 1 edition (20 September 2018)
• Language: English

Poetry is an art of weaving emotions and words so as to produce a piece of music in the mind of its readers. This tool has been used in this book to bring out the ugly truths, the naked faces of our society, and lays bare our mutilated humanity.

Circus Folk & Village Freaks is a tapestry of 18 folktales bound together in the lyrical form of poems. Each story finds its root in a circus. A circus where bizarre and outcasted people of society come together to entertain and live a life in each other’s solace. A circus which comprises a man who becomes a crocodile god, a master who is eaten away by his trained dogs, five sisters with the shared organs, A clown who finds meaning as a porn star, a firangi  who gives up on his lavish life to settle in the village, two men dying in love, and the rage of the daredevil dart thrower. Each tale leaves a deep imprint on your mind with the underlying meaning behind the witty writing style. They prick our insides and leave us to contemplate over the circus we live and breed in. It also brings forth the plight of being labeled as ‘different.’

The book is one of its kind. It has amazing stories presented in a fantastic manner. One would definitely love to read those poems over and over again. Such is its beauty and magic. They are bitter in tone, making us laugh like a clown, and yet pulling us out of the pool of our indifference to see through the misery our fellow beings live with. I am happy that I got the opportunity to read this wonderful book. Its sheer simplicity and veracity intrigued me. Kudos to the author for putting up such a grand show of circus. I thoroughly enjoyed viewing it.

MY RATING: 5/ 5

---

BUY YOUR COPY  HARDCOVER