Tall Man Small Shadow by Vipin Behari Goyal

Salil loves a shadow which transforms into many characters to reveal the secrets of life. Aalya, his neighbor, is doing research in English literature. Her guide Seema is a childless lesbian. Paul, husband of Seema, is a drama director. I am the protagonist, who coins philosophies for day to day events and my wife Sulekha is the second protagonist who makes coincidences happen with her artful manipulations. Read on to learn what happens next ..

Nimue Says : Vipin bihari's debut novel deal is a story based on "existentialism" which I came to know later means that the "individual" choices  , living and thoughts define his place and role in society. 

So we have the author introduce us to a voice [ I often assume it to be the author himself / an extension of his thoughts ] of a man who lives with his wife and daughter. Salil is the guy next door who is both intriguing and a bit mature beyond his years. We meet Alya , the daughter who secretly likes Salil . Now , you can imagine the reason for the cover design !

Before this book , I was reading this book which had a story on shadows. How shadows love to hide and be left to plot their own life rather than being dragged all places with the binding human. This book again talked of shadows and in a much amusing way. I loved the scene where Salil asked Alya to give him her shadow in return for a favor she asks.

The story plot is quite simple for this 152 pages book but what made it a long read for me was the need to pause , ponder , assimilate the philosophy and wonder if this is how the threads tie each one of us to number of people in real life. I can mention a few of the conversations and the gist here but that will ruin the beauty of the thought process you might be engaged into when you read. I shared a few with my best friends and it was so nice to have that perspective in life. 

Each character has his /her grey shades , the curiosity , the knowledge and the wisdom to use that knowledge to best is something the author and his wife are most capable of. We hear the wife's voice and ultimately know the name of the old guy. It is amusing to know the story from her point of view and that kind of fills a lot of holes in the narration too.

The book is a different read , an interesting one too. Definitely recommended by me.

Rating : 4/5