Book : From the Eye of my mind
Author : TGC Prasad
Genre : Fiction
Publisher : Random House (Ebury)
Copy source : www.mysmartprice.com
My rating : 4/5
Blurb from the back cover of the book
I am eighteen years old and five feet six inches tall. I have big eyes,long fingers ,and I am healthy because I eat my food on time.I also have a mole on my left palm. Grandma says," Mole on the palm is bad luck.' Eric Hoffer, an American writer, said ,'A great man's greatest good luck is to die at the right time.'I wondered what a right time to die was? I feel I have an eye in my mind and I close it when I am with strangers.
Mallika is autistic and lives in a strangely whimsical yet ordered world of her own.When her mother breaks the news to her that her beloved brother Ananth is going to be married. Mallika's fragile world collapses. How will she deal with a stranger in her life and home? Told in an inimitable style, From the eye of my mind is a charming tale of acceptance,love and a beautiful mind.
My thoughts
I have an autistic cousin whose brother is getting married in a few months. So, when I got to know about this book ,I didn't think twice before wanting to read it. I hadn't read any reviews about the book then.Now that I have finished reading the book, I am happy that I picked it up. From the Eye of my mind is a charming , sensitive book. The story line is fairly simple and told from the POV of an 18-year old autistic child. She loves humming beetles songs , downloads and reads anything she can lay her hands on and is a mini encyclopedia of sorts. Her world is shattered when her big brother decides to get married . Mallika doesn't know how to deal with the new 'stranger' in her life. The rest of the story is about Mallika's journey towards acceptance.
I don't know much about autistic children , except that certain faculties are extremely well-developed , while certain others(particularly social interactions) are lacking . TGC Prasad wonderfully captures Mallika's thought process well and has let his simple story-telling style shine. One can't by start loving Mallika and her motley family. I quite liked Mallika's dad's charecter - a hen-pecked mild-mannered LIC officer who sells LIC policies to all and sundry.Other characters are also extremely believable. I also loved the way Mallika spouts trivia at the most inopportune moments.. The book is totally adorable, I have to say.
The story is not just about Mallika's acceptance of the her sister-in-law , but also about the family coming to terms with a new addition to their family. Mallika's mother's attitude grated on my nerves , but I am willing to concede that a lot of Indian women with sons of marriageable age think that way, and that it is very representative of the thinking of the Indian middle class. I would have given a 5 , but decided against it because I didn't like the way the ending was handled.It was a little rushed and dramatic for my comfort. Maybe I am too much of a feminist to accept the brother wanting his new bride to quit work to help his mother cook and take care of his sister. Which is why the book gets a 4 from me.
Overall , a lovely book that is breezy and poignant at the
same time. One would be reminded of Mark Haddon's The curious incident of a dog in night's time. But this book is very Indian in the context and brims with extremely believable characters not to mention being narrated from the POV of an extremely adorable and intelligent child.
My rating : 4/5
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