IN THIS BOOK, ENGAGING PROSE ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND CONTEMPLATIVE POETRY

Book Review: "Frosted Glass" by Sabarna Roy

Though many writers express their musings through both prose and poetry, only few authors are excellently adept in both these forms of literary expression. One such author is Sabarna Roy, whose books like "Pentacles", "Winter Poems", and others have proved his mettle of writing different literary compositions, in varying genres and writing styles. His book “Frosted Glass” also is a mix of both prose and poetry, and comprises of one story cycle consisting of 14 stories and one poem cycle containing 21 poems.

The stories are set in Calcutta, a city which features elegantly in Roy's many works, bringing to the fore the contemporary realities and the dark underbelly of the city. In this book too, Calcutta comes out as a distinct character in itself.

The blurb reads, "The stories, compactly written and marked by insightful dialogues that raise contemporary issues like man-woman relationships and its strains, moral and ethics, environmental degradation, class inequality, rapid and mass-scale unmindful urbanisation, are devoid of sentimentalisation". The stories are meditative, showing society's various facets through the same character which acts as a connecting link between the stories. The different stories in this story cycle feature the same protagonist Rahul, and the narratives foray around the themes of personal relationships, existential themes and societal demands. Rahul symbolises modern man; he is not just one character, but all of us rolled into one. The narrative style is brilliant, and and the subtle insights of the stories and the bold themes that the stories delve into, making the reader ponder on it, makes for great reading.

The poems featured in the book are contemplative, and put forth the writer's thoughts and feelings. Some poems are surreal, some realistic, whereas some transcend the fine boundary between dreams and reality. Many poems are written in a narrative tenor within a poetic idiom.

The vivid poems evoke Calcutta's fragrances, noises and aura for the discerning reader. As in the stories, and as the blurb states, "Calcutta features in some of the poems like the looming backdrop of Gotham City in a Batman movie". For people familiar with the beat of the city, the poems hit with a wave of nostalgia; and for those who haven't visited the city and for armchair travellers, the poem's settings feel like one is in for vicarious travel.

The stories and poems in this well-written book are a delight to read, and should be read by those wanting to explore reading prose and poetry in the same book. Dive into this book for reading prose-poetry on striking themes, and for getting a beat of the city of Calcutta.