Frosted Glass-Sabarna Roy

Book: Frosted Glass

Author: Sabarna Roy

Publisher: Leadstart Publishing

Do you believe emotions are the true drivers of one’s actions and destiny?

Frosted Glass by Sabarna Roy is a collection of 14 short stories and 21 poems that are primarily based in and around the city of Kolkata. The 14 short stories are bound by a common thread, and that is a character named Rahul, who features in all the stories. The stories are across various themes with infidelity, romance, assault etc. featuring in some form or the other. The 21 poems are on the same lines of varied ideas, but the common theme that I found was melancholy and sadness that was a common thread in this cycle of the book.

Talking about the short stories first, I loved the way the stories have been crafted and the manner in which Sabarna has treated the plot of each of the story. Even though the name of the central character remains same, each of the story enjoys an individual flavor that is the true soul of this book. Set primarily in the city of Kolkata, you come across some typical landmarks of the city like Camac Street, Victoria Memorial and it seems as if the author transported back to old times and wrote it in the truest flavor, when it was Calcutta, and not Kolkata. Out of the 14 short stories, I loved Midnight Conversation, The Reunion and The Lie, for they were very soul stirring and interesting. The one thing I found peculiar was the abrupt ending of the stories, which was a constant throughout the book. While this could be by design, I would have, however, preferred a better ending to the beautifully crafted stories.

Coming to the poems, this was where it was a miss for me. Poems like Love and Wishes worked for me, the others in this cycle were a bit confusing. Put as a part of the poem cycle, these are formatted like a story and that creates a deception for the reader. The full stops are missing, which again lead to a perception that it is a poorly edited story, rather than a poem. The emotions in the poems were raw and effective, but they missed the charm that the short stories exuded.

Overall, Sabarna has created a good piece that invokes a flurry of emotions as you read the book. The storytelling is engaging, and the concept of an open-ended story is interesting to see. The title of the book, Frosted Glass is probably a way of hinting that the stories have a hazy point of view and the reader gets to imagine as the story flows.

The book gets a 3.88/5 from me.

Get a copy of the book here.