A Succinct Folktale

It didn't take me long to finish this short and sweet novella, roughly three to four hours grabbed from here and there over two days. 

Don't run , my love by Easterine Kire is a short book, about 120 pages long, with a distinct folktale like flavor. The book describes the events that unfold in lives of two women Atuonuo, a young girl of marriageable age and her mother Visenuo, after a young, handsome man Kevi arrives offering them unsolicited help during the harvest season. 

Does Kevi manage to marry Atuonuo, does he get that maternal love from Visenuo he craved for from birth? Or are there some dark secrets hidden somewhere that push the lives of these two women into a state of emergency that they never thought of? Concise prose, beautifully written and densely packed because even ten pages of space carries lots of details. Also, we get a peek into the lives of farmers in a Naga village, know a bit of their traditions and practices, food and festivals by reading this book. 

A special reference to the section of the book between pages 30 - 70 because this is where through conversations between mother and daughter we get an insight into their life, also the tale catches up pace and energy. The conversations between elders in Atuonuo's family and her mother Visenuo strike complete familiarity.

There are no cons I see in the book, there is definitely some suspense but nothing like 'out of the box' climax. I guess it is more to do with Indian writing where most of the times, much like in movies, the endings are always happy. And if it is not happy, it is really not the end.

I will not call it a riveting read. However, surely a good read for its writing is highly meaningful and detailing perfectly appropriate in such limited space. 

PS: The above review also appears in my Instagram account.