Book review: Stuck Like Lint by Shefali Tripathi Mehta

 

This is more a brief take than a review of the book.

Reading my friend Shefali Tripathi Mehta`s book, the evocatively titled Stuck Like Lint  (Niyogi Books) was like taking a walk down a moss-hedged path in a secret garden.

A contemplative walk, the surroundings lush and green, almost overwhelmingly so, and the branches seemingly reaching out to grab hold of you. Even as you relish the solitude, the quietude of this walk, you are wary, looking from the corner of your eye at unclear shapes and shadows. And within you, some door has opened and bittersweet memories come flooding in. 

It`s a cachet of captivating stories, tinged with the faintest touch of gentle melancholia. These are everyday tales, the life accounts of people like us, people unlike us, people next door to us, people in faraway cities who share our hopes, fears, longings. The reader will recognise themselves in characters, situations, decisions taken, lives unravelling, moments of joy, moments of anguish.