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Wednesday, July 02, 2014

Blue

My novel -- published by Harper Collins -- releases on the 15th of June!


To regular readers of this blog, a BIG thank you. Early drafts of this novel was serialized and written here. Then, I didn't know what I was doing. I wrote because I liked the idea of writing on the Ramayana. I continued writing because some people liked reading it, a smaller number commented here and encouraged me to plough on -- it was fun!

The novel has four sections: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4. With three of those Books, I wrote for the sheer joy of seeing where Reddumone would take me, where Rama would take us both. With the fourth, I took Reddumone back into his past. It is the most personal of the Books because I cannot tell where his past ends and mine begins.

Do grab a copy, if only to re-read an edited, crisper, modified version of posts long forgotten!


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats and good luck. Will pick up a copy - where does one find it? Flipkart?

Sharan said...

Anon: Thanks! Here's the Flipkart link. It says "Out of Stock" now, but should be available soon. http://www.flipkart.com/blue-tales-reddumone-two-faced/p/itmdxa3zffyyg9yp?pid=9789351362838&otracker=from-search&srno=t_1&query=blue+m.r.sharan&ref=ff02cccc-2cfd-40bd-808d-00c84936e205

Do leave a name the next time round!

Anonymous said...

Read it and loved certain parts. The conversation Reddumone has with his parents about his choice to become a spy, Rama's speech at the Underground and the tales of the day and night storyteller, for example.

On the whole, though, honestly, it felt a little rushed and incomplete to me - the premise held a lot of promise and there were moments when you seemed like you were fleetingly touching upon things that could've been more, only to rush away.

At the end of it, I had a faint feeling of...I'm not quite sure how to put it...lack of closure, perhaps?

The writing was lyrical and lovely, that said.

Have you read Ashok Banker's Ramayana?

Anonymous said...

Read it and loved certain parts. The conversation Reddumone has with his parents about his choice to become a spy, Rama's speech at the Underground and the tales of the day and night storyteller, for example.

On the whole, though, honestly, it felt a little rushed and incomplete to me - the premise held a lot of promise and there were moments when you seemed like you were fleetingly touching upon things that could've been more, only to rush away.

At the end of it, I had a faint feeling of...I'm not quite sure how to put it...lack of closure, perhaps?

The writing was lyrical and lovely, that said.

Have you read Ashok Banker's Ramayana?

Sharan said...

Anon: Thanks again for all the lovely words.

Writing it, of course, I, like Reddumone, got my closure -- though I can understand
why not everyone will.

In some ways, in my head, the book was a feeling -- (Ruskin) Bond-esque, in some ways, of marveling at the world around oneself (it is kind of like the time when Reddumone visualizes raindrops, sunlight streaming through them, a thousand tiny rainbows) -- and I was just trying to communicate that. The plot -- not neat or linear -- is the desktop to file away the feeling on.

I am also extremely happy you chose to be honest about what you made of the book. It's a pity, therefore, that you are still secretive of your identity. Write to me if you want to keep the reveal a secret from the rest of the world -- though I am pretty sure we are the only two people reading this conversation.

Haven't read Banker.

sharanidli@gmail.com

Poorna said...

Haven't been by the blog for a while, so was very pleasantly surprised to see your picture and the write-up in The Hindu.

So glad you wrote the book! I remember thinking that Reddumone deserved his own hard copy spot in the sun - especially when so many pathetic writers were clogging up the shelves.

Will get the book soon :) Hope you write more despite of the MBA

Sharan said...

Poorna!

Haven't been to your blog in ages either. SO happy to see you're still writing and so prolifically!

Thanks for all the support during the writing phase. Would have been that much harder if you weren't commenting and reading!