The Last Ones-Multiple Authors

Book: The Last Ones
Authors: Multiple Authors
Publisher: HarperCollins India

The Last Ones is a crowdsourced novel that explores the journey of Manorama, who is the only person left in the city. She wakes up one day and finds herself in a world where there is no one, but herself. She can hear the birds chirping, but no humans can be seen. In this state of being alone, her phone rings and soon discovers a person who claims to be her husband’s illegitimate child. As Manorama and her unlikely companion embark on a journey to find some answers, they realize that the nightmare is only just beginning. Can Manorama confront the demons from her past to make sense of the present, or will the truth destroy her? The Last Ones is a crowdsourced story about loneliness and human connections, built chapter by chapter by writers across the world, brought together by the power of storytelling.

Each chapter is penned by one person, and the list of the authors are Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Nikita Singh, Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta, Kanchana Banerjee, Sumira Khan, Krusha Sahjwani, Neha Gupta, Mohana Talapatra, Snigdha Mallik, Harini Srinivasan, Gitanjali Maria, Shreya Gupta, Shylin Sam, Ananya Banerjee, Leena Pandey, Priyadarshika Ingle.

The story of the book takes an interesting turn with each chapter. The idea of a crowdsourced novel attracted me the most to the story and I wanted to see how this chain of storytelling happens. The first thing I would like to mention is the seamless connectivity and continuity, despite each chapter being written by a separate person. The story from the beginning till the end does not lag and the plot makes sense in the manner it goes on. The language is comprehensible, and a comfortable read, with no over the top words or phrases.

Secondly, while one story came out in the end, each of the author left their own mark in the chapter they wrote. Kanchana’s chapter has some elements that are almost her signature, while Sandeepa’s chapter had an element of food, which is her forte. Nikita’s chapter was an apt closing, and like her stories, it had a pleasant and a soothing element to it. The story that Chitra starts could have gone in any direction, but after reading it, it feels that this was truly the natural flow of the plot.

Each writer preserved the essence of the base character of Manorama, and yet added their own flavor to her which helped develop a person that exhibited a myriad of shades of love, anger, and envy. Other characters are well crafted and seamlessly become a part of the narrative once introduced.

Overall, this idea of a crowdsourced novel by HarperCollins India is something I would love to see again, and I am glad I picked up this story. This was truly a story that shows us that even though we are sitting apart, the emotions running through us are similar.

I would give this story a 4.63/5.

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