Bookish Bubble

Hello everyone,

Very recently, I had the pleasure of reading an amazing book- ‘You beneath Your Skin‘ by Damyanti Biswas. Many of you must already know her; she is an exceptional storyteller, a successful blogger (Daily (w)rite) and now an author of an Amazon bestseller. She also volunteers for ‘Stop Acid Attacks’ and ‘Project Why’. Though I have known her for a brief amount of time but nonetheless I am completely impressed and inspired by her.

Review: You Beneath Your Skin

DISCLAIMER: This review is my humble honest opinion. I DO NOT claim to have any authority/power/intention to add/delete any value of the book or of the author. I wish nothing but success to the author.

Riveting and evocative, makes you think!

The book with its deep complex layers and intricately woven story-line will impact you in ways you can’t comprehend. The story artistically sketches characters which are flawed, with tangled and twisted relationships, yet beautiful in their own ways.

The author, through her fast paced story, teleport the readers to the streets of Delhi littered with congested slums and make-shift dhabas in the cold smoggy winter and spell-bounds them in a thrilling and authentic journey of poverty, misogyny, crime and political corruption.

Though the story is set in Delhi (capital of India) and author’s detailed narration makes you eye-witness the whole plot; it very quickly surpasses geographical identity and connects with you on an emotional level. Damyanti Biswas very boldly manages to show a mirror to our (degraded) society without euphemising or sensationalizing anything (especially the involved violence and sex).

As a reader, things which shine the brightest for me and makes me appreciate it even more are:

• Strong female voices: Though the story deals with misogynistic themes and violence against women, female characters in the story never come out as weak or fragile.
• Use of Hindi and Shayaris: Maybe its my Indian-ness speaking but I truly admired the scattered use of common Hindi dialogues and shayaris, it made the story all the more authentic.
• Authenticity: I keep coming to this; the book is complete fiction but certainly doesn’t feels like it. Every aspect of the story, from autism to medical procedures to police-investigation, bleeds authenticity. The amount of research and detailing done is commendable.
• Much more than just a crime thriller: The book mainly deals with crimes against women but subtly sensitizes readers about various other evils and problems which still prevail in our society (child sexual abuse, autism, parenting etc.).

So, if you have even a little bit of inclination towards reading then do yourself a favor and get a copy now!

Thank you Damyanti Biswas, for dropping that first like on my first blog post.