The small town sea – Anees Salim

It must be fun being an author with a vivid imagination … To make up characters and give them characteristics, to decide their quirks and idiosyncrasies. To walk the reader into your imagined locations, where they unquestioningly follow….up the mountain or down by the sea.

This book, narrated in the voice of a thirteen-year-old boy, takes us into the innocence of childhood and also its acute helplessness. It takes us into a small town by the sea, where a child, uprooted from the city tries to find his bearings through a very difficult time of his life.

There is refreshing use of language here. The sentences are beautifully and meaningfully woven. The scene of a chase left me breathless as I ran with the protagonist and his friend Bilal through narrow lanes and rugged landscape, willing them to escape to safety.

As the story takes shape in an unhurried manner, one is lulled by the pace of the small town sea. While it looks innocuous, this book has deeper layers that invite one to introspect. Children become unhappy pawns in the games that adults play. Quite often swallowing the screams and questions that arise…
I did take time to get fully involved in the story and many a times my pug got his teeth into it faster than me… But I persevered and was richly rewarded!