#Book Review: Illicit by Dibyendu Palit

Illicit by Dibyendu Palit

Translated by Arunava Sinha I have always enjoyed reading translations by Arunava Sinha and this was one of the reason for me to pick up this book. But, it was an utter disappointment.Dibyendu Palit’s Illicit, translated to English by Arunava Sinha, was originally published in 1989 as Aboidho.  The plot spans just three days and is a slice of the protagonists’ illicit life. Jeena, an attractive young housewife is bored of her ‘wooden relationship’ with much older husband, Ashim. Partha, her neighbour, is married, a father of two, and equally bored in his marital life. We are introduced to them in the …

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Red Oleanders by Rabindranath Tagore

Red Oleanders by Rabindranath Tagore

I was intrigued to pick up this book due to the fact that it is a work of translation by the Nobel Laureate himself Rabindranath Tagore and I have no shame in accepting the fact that I had no clue that Tagore also wrote in English. This is the story of Nandini, a beautiful woman who appears at a time of the oppression of humanity by greed and power. The antagonist in the story is the King, who represents enormous authority but barricades himself behind an iron curtain. He transforms a town in to a fort and the humans into …

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