Book Review | The Earthspinner by Anuradha Roy

Rating: 4/5

The story starts off with Sara, alone in a new world and rediscovering her love for pottery. She reminisces another time when a potter named Elango taught her this wonderful art; Elango who dreamt of a horse rising from fire, an embodiment of his love for Zohra. And of course, Chinna, the dog Elango found in the forest one day – or did Chinna find him?

Much like the cover, the story is vibrant and exhalating, raging with fire and burning in different hues. Anuradha Roy’s writing doesn’t fail – the smooth flow, the imagery, the eminent use of words keeps one on their toes to know more.

The story is written in a mismatched format. It shifts from narration to diary entries to random letters, a mix and match to get the story to sting together into a whole. And in complete Roy fashion, the novel ends with loose ends for the reader to figure out.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is the kind of writing that reminds me why I tend towards fiction more than anything. The story did feel a bit draggy at times, it was worth everything that unveiled. Certain parts of the novel felt surreal and I could almost imagine them right in front of my eyes, like the way the Urdu script was described or every time Elango dreamt of the horse coming alive.

The book explores themes of religion, superstition, home, love, longing, lost crafts and much more. All of it originating from different ends, intervening into each other at some point and again going their own way.

My one trouble with the book is that it took a lot of time. The writing style is fluid and loose, and it takes a while to get used to. While it is also entertaining, it got frustrating to read at multiple points. While I commend a good story, it did drain me out with it.

If you are someone who appreciates open-ended, flowy stories with advance use of language, this is definitely the book for you!

Reviewed by Muskan Rajani