Book review of “Bhumi”, an anthology by Tina Sequeira

One thing that has helped me stay sane in the last few months is reading. So, I would be sharing some book reviews of Indian writers (few known names) during this campaign. This is an attempt to support our fellow writer friends, as I feel this is the least we can and should do. So, here comes my first post in the series – Book review of “Bhumi”, an anthology by Tina Sequeira.

 

Book review of “Bhumi”, an anthology by Tina Sequeira

 

Title of the book: Bhumi

Author: Tina Sequeira

Pages: 108

Format: Kindle e-book

Genre: Short Stories

Rating: 5/5

About the Author:

Tina Sequeira is a gifted wordsmith, a marketer by profession and moonlighting writer. She is a multiple award winning author, a few notable ones are the Rashtriya Gaurav Award (2019) in association with the Government of Telangana for her book, Bhumi, The Orange Flower Award (2017) by Women’s Web, Literoma Nari Samman Award (2020), and GrandQueens Leadership Award (2020) by Lions Clubs International. Tina has published over twenty short stories and poems in anthologies and international literary journals. She is also the founder of ‘Write Away,’ a creative writing workshop. She blogs at TheTinaEdit and is quite active on her social media handles @thetinaedit.

 

About the book:

In one liner, if I have to sum up this book, it would be – “Bhumi celebrates the spirits of womanhood”. This is an anthology of 16 short stories revolving around the women in our society. This book is about you and me, as you would find a glimpse of yourself or your mom or sister, friend or colleague, aunt or neighbor next door, anywhere in these stories. Hence, every tale is relatable and will make you laugh and cry. Tina has portrayed the challenges every woman faces, her struggles, dreams, and desires.

The protagonists in every story are from different walks of life, varied age groups and with a unique perspective. Each of them is strong, fierce, unapologetic with a vision and dream and a hope to fulfill her dream. What I like the most in the book and what makes it relatable is that it is about the real women with whom you can connect, understand her pain and happiness, her victories and failures.

Book review of “Bhumi”

Summary:

Tina has highlighted various common issues that women face everyday. Be it late marriage, rape, infanticide, body shaming, prostitution, being judged, gender discrimination, blackmailing, physical- assault, etc. Despite these sensitive topics that are prevalent in our society, Tina managed to do justice with each of them and crafted the stories with care. There is no gender bias in the book and the author did not shoo away from portraying men and women in the same light (bad too) so you would find both pink and gray shades of women in the book. There is no unnecessary glorification of women.

The book cover is elegant and classy and the title could not be any better. “Bhumi” means Earth and isn’t womanhood is like Mother Earth – Inclusive? The characters are compelling and strong. You cannot choose a favorite one for sure as you would love some and also hate some. The narration is beautiful and the language is simple and fast paced. An engaging plot, different story line, unpretentious writing makes Bhumi an engrossing read. There is no monotony as every story is based on a different issue and you cannot expect till the end what’s coming. Sometimes, the last line turns the complete story upside down like in “Stark Illusions”.

Bhumi can be finished in one or two sittings but I took my sweet time and let the essence of every tale sink in before I laid my eyes on the next one. These tales will make you pause, ponder, and question so grab your copy now and enjoy. And you never know you may get an answer to one of your problems along with the courage and inspiration to take that first step!

Its difficult to pick one favorite tale from this amazing collection of stories but still a few that will remain for me for a long time would be Amma, Grey, Crazy Courage, Fat Chance, and Juxtaposition. One story that has my heart is Amma.

I congratulate Tina for penning this brilliant book and sharing some eclectic stories with us. More power to her pen.

Availability:

Overall, an entertaining and intriguing book. Bhumi is available on Amazon as an e-book, priced at Rs. 150/- and Free on Kindle Unlimited. You can find your copy here.

You can read more book reviews by me here.

 

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