Author: Raj
Doctor
Pages:
342
Genre:
Fiction / Romance / Philosophy
Rating:
7.5/10
‘Melancholy
of Innocence’ in author’s own words is ‘a
philo-poetic fable of love set in the late 1920s in Istanbul, just after the
political revolution leading to Turkish independence. It is an adolescent’s
journey into self discovery about the true meaning of love’.
13 year
old Umit has had a normal and happy childhood. His parents had a love marriage, and they are open and unorthodox in their upbringing. Umit is never forced to
do anything. Umit gets deeply influenced by Zeheb, who is a distant relative,
with spiritual and Sufi leanings. Umit considers him as his mentor and
philosopher. Sufi influence is pretty evident in his thoughts
and in the way Umit conducts himself.
Umit
feels a Ruh connection with Masum,
when he sees her for the first time on the streets of Istanbul. Umit is 13, while Masum is 21 at
the time. For quite sometime, Umit resists calling it ‘love’. For him, this
‘connection’ and his ‘feelings’ for her, are much beyond the worldly definition
of love.
The book
traces Umit’s single-minded devotion and love for Masum, while doing which he
does not even think about the society, family, future, differences between them
and accepted norms of conduct. He just devotes himself in being close to Masum,
and revels in the joy of those moments. This love story, as is evident towards
the end and in the beginning, had three phases. This book dwells in the first
phase when Umit falls in love with Masum.
The
author has put the caveat that whatever Umit does is not his preachings for
someone who worships another person, but just Umit’s way of expressing his
unconditional love. He may not be right, unmindful of consequences, yet he does
what he feels right. It is very easy to overlook that Umit is only thirteen.
After
reading the book, I felt that the title as well as the cover page captures the
essence of the story well. I also do not question the setting or the background
chosen by the author because it is his prerogative. My experience has been that
authors usually derive stories from their own personal experiences. I wouldn’t
say that the setting or the background has deep influence on this story but a
reader will certainly find several cultural and political references, and vivid
description of Istanbul
from 1920s.
The main
characters of this book are Umit and Masum. We get a lot of insights into
Umit’s character, mostly because the story is from his perspective.
The
novel is full of philosophical anecdotes but at the heart, is a love story, may be a little obsessive. At every
point, the narrator tries to explain behaviour, de-constructs human nature and
philosophy behind everything.
I liked
the references at the bottom of pages, which aid understanding; and the year
mentioned at the end of each chapter is extremely useful. I don’t know if it
happens with other people, when a novel goes back and forth in time, I
sometimes get confused on the exact time when a thing happens.
The only
issues I have are with narration and the pace. The narration is done by a third
person in a simple story telling manner. Occasionally it also speaks on behalf
of Umit. I felt that the narration was a bit unidimensional.
There
are a few typographical errors in some pages, wherein there are no spaces between words. There are also unwarranted paragraph spaces in between continuing
sentence.
This
book will appeal greatly to those who love philosophy. I personally favour fast
paced stories, so in a few places, I thought the story lost momentum whenever
author digressed to dwell on philosophies related to different facets of life,
but that I thought was intentional. Had it been just a love story, it would
have more pace but often the narration spirals into understanding human
psychology, actions and philosophies. But it would certainly appeal to the
readers who love this genre.
I am
happy that the author has not attempted to veil philosophy in the guise of love
story, and he chooses to call it ‘philo-poetic’ fable of love; because the book
is exactly that.
A story
introduces you to places, characters and their lives. For a while you live
their lives, go through the proceedings, and when you come out, that is when a
book makes a difference; were you able to know the characters intimately, were
you able to empathise, were you happy to be with them for some time of your
lives, was it worthwhile! If you answer these questions honestly, you know you
have got the answer of whether a book was good or not, for you.
Well, at
the end, I was pretty engaged in Umit and Masum’s unusual love story, and wanted
to know what happens in the end. I also tried to reason why Masum should love
Umit, who is not her equal in age, looks, social status or education. But even
beautiful people crave for adulation and love. Who wouldn’t want such single
minded devotion!
Towards the end, the
book says that Umit and Masum had 3 seasons of love, this story was just one of
those. A sequel seems impending. Will I read if there is a sequel? I am not too
sure because I don’t favour philosophies much, but then since I already know
Umit and Masum to some extent, I just might!
