Mridula Koshy's Not Only The Things That Have Happened - A Review

Author: Mridula Koshy
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Pages: 360
Price: Rs.474
Publisher: Fourth Estate
ISBN Number: 9789350293942

About the Book:

Happily enough to say that both my daughters will be one year older in these coming months leaving behind all the mischievous acts that they did last year. I feel great collecting all those cheerful as well as naughty days of my kids in my memories. Last week I finished up reading a book that my hubby and I have bought recently. It was titled 'Not Only The Things That Have Happened' written by Mridula Koshy. Actually, the book title words were the same word fragments said by the protagonist, Annakutty herself to her only niece, Nina. How about these ramblings on my tongue - 'only the kids who cause everything to happen'? Those one of you would say the same thing if you have kids at home just like mine.

I have all the empathy for Annakutty's sufferings, her losses, and her longing to see her lost son, Asa before she dies. Mridula Koshy has very beautifully and tactfully illustrated the protagonist, Annakutty's struggling life along with happy clippings through different phases of memories. Not only this, the author has shown the real side of Asa as oppose to the dreams of Annakutty.

I find this book quite unusual and intriguing from the usual story books. I readily appreciate the author's far-fetched mind probing into smaller details of life. One interesting thing is that the author has set up a stop-watch of exactly 36 hours time-period during which the story has been told, memorized, dramatized, and acted by different characters. Mridula Koshy has strong hold of past memories, and future dreams and that reflects in her book too.

Turning pages of this book seemed to me like watching different scenes actually been happening. Bad as well as good memories that inflow very naturally and smoothly through Annakutty's mind and how the past memories and future dreams shifted towards the present scenes are all very impressive to me. I would like to say that the author's hard work has in fact shown the true work of art.

About the Author

Mridula Koshy's short-story collection If It Is Sweet (Tranquebar Press, 2009; Brass Monkey, 2011), won the 2009 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and was shortlisted for the 2009 Vodafone Crossword Book Award.

Koshy lives in New Delhi and Portland, Oregon, with her poetschool teacher partner and three exceptionally wonderful children.