Penning down a random collection of short stories could be an easy proposition. However, the author Sailee Tiwari’s collection of short stories ‘Extra Ordinary’ is neither a warts-and-all nor a random collection. The book poignantly explores an array of human feelings, circumstances, and vivid life experiences. The book offers twelve short stories, and through these stories we get a chance to meet 12 characters who have had put brave show and defined things out of the realms of commonness.

The book – Extra Ordinary by Sailee Tiwari – is a riveting collection of 12 short stories. All the stories are likeable as their themes gallop around our lives and its allied virtues and traits. Though the collection is different with characters and backdrop, however, the core theme of the book is to seek the factor of extraordinary in their lives. Different stories but coherent writing style gels up everything and at some point of time, readers may get an impression as they are traversing through a novella. Additionally, in most of the stories, the author ends the story with a short poem with a meaning and summary to the story, for instance:

 They played and rejoiced

For years in dawn and dusk,

They fought and lamented for

Years in crest and trough,

They promised they would

Not leave each other ever,

They loved each other as

They were friends forever…

On a broader term, the book paints tales of destiny, hope, fate, grim reality of our societies, and love. The collection is contemporary and covers mostly issues that are prevalent in our societies. One can be moved by the story of a poor boy that was forced on thieving to attend a basic school. In fact, other stories are also good and grand in their essence. The author has done justice to its characters by assigning them some flawed traits and frail human values. This makes the book sound credible with good stories.

Our View on the Cover:

The bluish backdrop of the cover is outstanding. The cover page looks simple with a white flower, but it has some underlying and hidden meaning. Probably, the author wanted to show readers that the book is going to tell about vivid experiences of life. The title is given in white space: it clearly indicates the hope message for readers. Overall, the cover is meaningful and highly attractive. Those who judge the book by cover may miss its value.

Characters:

Since it is a collection of short stories set amid various backdrop, it is likely that there is no protagonist in the book. On the other side, there are 12 characters but sadly they live for short time. It will be tough to track record of all characters but readers will eventually find the one most astounding and tall in its stature.

Writing Style:

Lucid narration with captivating storytelling! The stories are told in a simple and straight forward manner, without putting readers in any loop of hassle. The author has made use of simple writing technique as it helped in defining the characters in full capacity and built the ambience for storytelling with much gusto. Due to simple and decent writing style, the readability of this book is quite high.

Who Can Read:

We recommend this book to all readers looking for simple and clean stories built around many themes that matter most in our lives. Some may find the collection a little embarrassing but the truth has its own veracity, isn’t it? It will be better to read the collection over and again in order to get an immersive experience.

Our Final Verdict:

This is an easy to read book with 12 short stories. Readers from all genres can easily read this book. The author’s writing style is lucid and her development of characters from different perspectives throws light at her keen observation skills. The stories may sound normal but they depict a sense of being extraordinary. Not everyone can resonate with the tales of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. A wonderful collection depicting the traverse of life that is never at peace with its essence.