Ghosts and supernatural things have always fascinated me. Having grown up in village, there was never any dearth of stories of ghostly encounters by other people. So naturally, when this anthology on the Indian ghosts was published, I was eager to read this. Having finished reading this book, I am left craving for more of the ghost stories.
Spanning just over 250 pages, The Book of Indian Ghosts carries 84 entries, each centred on a ghost found in some part of India. Of the 84 ghosts found in this book, majority of them belong to the region of Bengal. This is because the author, Riksundar Banerjee, is a Bengali himself. However, as a North Indian, I wanted to read more about the ghostly figures about whom I have heard stories as a child. But the book as whole was enjoyable.
The book is meant to be read slowly, nibbling at one or two entries at a time. The methodology adopted by the author to present the ghostly figures featured in this book includes fictionalised narratives, personal narratives and descriptive passages about the ghosts. The book also carries a few illustrations, which only serve to enhance the reader’s experience. Although the book is based on a thorough research, the narrative aspect of the book could have been better. I mean, when reading a book about ghosts, I want to be scared a bit. But that seldom happened. There were only a handful of entries that were interesting and scary at the same time. I also feel that ghosts should have been classified into groups, perhaps on the basis of their geographical location or something else. The alphabetical arrangement did put me off a bit. But as a final verdict, I would say that this book is definitely worth a shot.
My Rating: *** (3/5)
I was kindly sent a copy by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. views expressed are entirely personal and unbiased.
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