Ghostbusters and Other Stories | Book Review

Short stories are surely the most challenging form of prose fiction because an author has to convince the readers in the fewest of the pages ensuring that he provides entertainment, enlightenment, poetic justice and also the reading satisfaction. Those who read the short stories in plenty must know that why the likes of Anton Chekhov and Saki are adored by the readers! In India, though, there has been a constant search for the short story writers with that depth in vision and that arrow in the quiver. Nevertheless, I get sometimes the vision of some of the authors who seem promising in their works. (I am talking of the modern scenario.) Recently, I got to read Ghostbusters and Other Stories by an author based in Odisha, Debadatta Satpathy. His short stories are not like the fiction at large; his short stories are rather the down to earth tales, mostly inspired by the author’s experiences at various stages of his life. And I must say, those are praiseworthy attempts at writing fiction and worthy to be read and enjoyed!

10 short stories are packed in the book which is covered by a picture showing kids in the jolly jolly mood; does it say a story? The first story begins with kids who go onto an adventure which aims at finding a ‘lady ghost’. The story will surely connect with the readers because we all have our ‘ghostly pasts’ and those memories of childhood will be re-touched by this amazing short story. It ends at an ambiguous tone and that’s the best part of the story. You need to read it to see what do I mean.

The storytelling capabilities of the author Debadatta Satpathy is surely fresh and genuine. He does not use those vociferous and amorous (at times) metaphors and analogies to voice his thoughts. He keeps it simple and as near to the realism as possible and this will surely attract the readers.

“An eerie thought suddenly struck me. How did these people enter the compartment? I was standing at the entrance the whole time the train was at Sambalpur. The other entrance to the coach was at far away, but I was sure I had not seen anybody entering through the other door as well.”

These lines create a pure suspense and the story (the last one) is full of almost supernatural experiences explained in the simplest terms possible which the readers can comprehend and enjoy. This tells that stories can be told in the common language as well without being so much a fan of ‘delayed decoding’.

What I liked especially about the book Ghostbusters and Other Stories is that it has not protracted stories as we see in some of the books. The stories are short, entertaining and communicating without being boring and dull. And then, there is a serious story like The Stalin House as well which encapsulates the existential dilemmas in the possible common terms. I will surely say that this book Ghostbusters and Other Stories is a pack full of different kind of flowers, to be precise, ten in number, that you can enjoy. Read it in a go or read two stories each day and enjoy the pack for five days. You won’t be disappointed by the stories by Debadatta Satpathy.

Grab a copy of this wonderful book from the Amazon link below:

Ghostbusters and Other Stories on Amazon