Abu Shahid

One of the best story-tellers i have ever come across. The 8 words of the closing sentence made me relive the book. Ouch!!
Never knew closure could be portrayed as simply and painfully.

Story of 2 men driven by ideals, crossing each others path multiple times over the span of 60+ years, if only ......

Failed bechdel test but damn, recalibrated the reading experience in itself for me.

As someone who loves trains and coffee and other things; I give this book 5 stars. Informative and sensational. All praise for Mr Sparrow for being such a terrific loco pilot.

Laborious (and might I say a little boring) read with an ultimate deus ex machina.

No; not an easy read. Not an easy read at all; to begin with. The book is pickled. Pickled with distractions, tangents, references from Islam and Independence of India. The author rambling ahead of time.
It felt like reading DMs of my friend except they chose to send me a book.

I just cannot appreciate the writing style enough. One of the most unique.
And I am still trying to digest that change in narration in the chapter Buddha.

All that coming together in last giving a perfect cathartic release; like eating that last bite of aloo-paratha generously spoilt with pickle and chutney.

Horrible. Where should I start.
Vague descriptions of the setting. Clay houses, dense mango groves, green blue river. It is as if an unsocial person leaves his 21st century abode and marvels at roads and malls and telecom tower.

But what angered me was the blatant misuse of Hindu(?) words which don't even make sense. Words like Samana, Atma, Om are just thrown around here and there without any sense or context. Infact even the people who indulge themselves in spiritual materialism would not appreciate it.

Hermann Hesse did 0 homework when he decided to write this book. At all his flaws and instances of cultural appropriation, this could at best been an essay or a short story.
What's more, even with desparate attempts, the book is painfully shallow and is not even about Buddhism or the founder of Buddhism- Siddhartha.