Pinakini Naik's first ever review is of my book Scream and Other Urbane Legends

Sharing my review on the awesome book Scream and other Urbane Legends ! 😃

Scream and other Urbane Legends by the creative powerhouse, poet, critic, academicianDr. AV Koshy is an eclectic collection of 28 short stories and a novella. It features some hard hitting, surreal stories that invite the reader to drop linear thinking, stay alert and dive into exploring twist and turn dreamscapes of fiction and fantasy where unique plots shape shift, quicksilver-like on the story teller’s perceptive canvas.

Once I picked up the book, I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a single sitting, a thoroughly enjoyable read indeed. The stories bump and flow into each other creating an eccentric rhythm not unlike the onset of vivid rapid eye movement (REM), lucid dreams, etched and borne in the cradle of paradoxical sleep, impacting the reader’s subconscious mind in a such a way that it tends to revisit certain plot twists in the mind’s eye to gain deeper insight into the stories and comprehend what might have been missed in the first read.

Death is a recurring theme used as a common thread to interweave the stories with an existential ambience. The minimalist and non attached style of narration reveals what’s absolutely necessary and leaves the rest to imagination, open to interpretation, which works in the favor of the book. This deliberate space allows the reader to absorb, contemplate, savor what has been left unsaid.

Some stand out moments in the short stories were in ‘Aouda: The Confluence’ where the character, Asur, transitions effortlessly from driving a car on a hot desert highway to swimming underwater in the ocean to have a casual conversation with a brown seahorse; Mystical and intriguing viewpoints presented in ‘The Creation Myths on Poetry: A Trialogue’ require a reread to be fully absorbed; The understated melancholic beauty of the short but eloquent piece ‘The Last Scarecrow’ is brilliant in its craftsmanship; The sci-fi story ‘Written on the Body’ reminded me a bit of the movie ‘Cloud Atlas’ directed by the Wachowski brothers, in how beautifully the futuristic scenes flow, then culminate into the ultimate sacrifice of love and life offered by Bride Rose and Kay who save the world with a complete reboot.

The book saves the best for the last and ends with a beautifully woven, intense, self exploratory novella, Anamika. The evocative prose has an autobiographical tone,layered with subtle sensuality, erotic at times, embellished with inlaid poetic gems throughout, keeping the reader deeply involved to its poignant, unforgettable end. A beautiful one liner that stood out and is self-evident in the story, “ Poetry communicates before its understood. “

To conclude, Scream and other Urbane Legends is an introspective book with a whimsical flavor, best recommended for readers with a poetic bent of mind or an eclectic mindset or anyone who is willing to step out of the box.