Just Another Day - Piyusha Vir - ★★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Piyusha Vir
GENRE: Anthology
RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A quick and interesting anthology. Indie Indian work. Enjoyed it!


This little indie story collection has just about 32 pages and three stories. So it is a super-quick read. But the short length or the indie tag definitely doesn’t indicate a lack of quality. Even more surprising to me was the fact that this is a debut work. The author has a strong control over where she wants the story to go.

What’s common to these three stories is that they take place in the course of a day. A day that is “just another day” in the life of the central character. But it turns out to be a day of unpredictable changes, a day that changes their lives for better or worse.

All the three stories are written in the first person. As such, we get to see the inner thoughts of the narrators in each of the tales. Two of the stories are written in a casual conversational style, with fillers also being present in the writing. But the first person approach justifies this informal style. The second one begins almost as a rant but soon you realise why the narrator was so aggressive.

The first and the third story have strong elements of humour, though they are from different genres. (Mystery and contemporary respectively.) The middle story, a feminist drama, is the most intense and somewhat traumatising in terms of impact. I am glad the author sandwiched it between two lighter reads because ending with that story would have been tough on the emotions.

Here’s a brief feedback on the three stories:

1. Writer's Circle: Set amid a murder scene and yet has a light-hearted vibe to it because of the narrator. The ‘twist’ is quite guessable and this is the only thing that took away a star from my rating. Better if read as a fun story than a mystery.
🌟🌟🌟🌟

2. Happy Birthday, Saisha: Unlike what the title suggests, this is NOT a happy story. Begins strong, ends shocking. Quite powerful in its impact.
🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

3. Elevator Tales: Such a funny and beautiful story! I simply loved the whole flow. The end caught me by surprise. I mean, I knew that there would be a twist awaiting me but I didn't guess what it was. It was so nice that I went back to its beginning and read the whole story yet again.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

As you can see, I loved all the three stories. This is definitely an anthology to try.

4.5 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each story.

This book is available on Kindle Unlimited. And if you don’t have KU, it costs a measly Rs.49 on Amazon India. Definitely worth it.

Disclaimer: I know Piyusha Vir through my Facebook group. But this review hasn’t been solicited by her, nor have I allowed our friendship to affect my opinion about the book. I had purchased this anthology a couple of years ago, and this review contains my honest feedback.

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