Slices of Life by Richa Gupta is a collection of 12 short stories presented together. The cover image features slices of various fruits and much like the cover of the book, the book features short slices of stories that are of different flavours and genres. While there is no specific theme for the book, but most of the short stories are centred around women, their relationship, their struggles and how they manage to find a footing in the society.
The book has an impressive narrative. One can relate to the characters of the stories and also the events are identical to what we face in real life. Most of the circumstances depicted in the book will be akin to what we have experienced or heard of especially if you come from a metropolitan city such as Mumbai and Delhi.
The plot for almost all the stories is interesting. Most of them have touches of humour at the same time have a pathos of everyday Indian life interwoven nicely. How India reacted to the whole COVID-19 is also well captured. There are twelve stories in the book but the switch from one to another is seemingly seamless.
The last story is titled “Knots” and it contains a good bit of suspense which keeps you glued and turns out to be quite a page-turner.
One of my favourite story in the book is the one that is titled Bridal Wear. It is hilarious and relatable. Bridal Wear captures the essence of what people getting married and telltale of two women. The entire story is told in a bridal shop and delves into the nuances of the ritual of selecting wedding clothes.
While there are many stories that I like but there are also some plots where the build-up is really nice but post that the story is not progressing anywhere. Also, there are instances where the author has tried to complicate things with big words which kind of take away the main USP of the book that is its simplicity.
However, on the overall, it is a great read and a good amalgamation of stories.
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