The Rainbow Acres By Simrita Dhir | Book Review

Migrants are viewed differently by different people. Do you think one wants to migrate to some unknown place if he is comfortable at his/her own place and is able to find everything one is strived for? Mostly one approaches a different land only when he see a better opportunity there. Hope for a better and secure future invites people to try their luck in an unknown land.

The book we are going to talk about here is focused on two migration stories. The Rainbow Acres by Simrita Dhir (Publisher:Om Books International) explores a cross over story of an immigrant from India and another from Mexico!

Let us take a look at the cover page.

Book Cover:

A cover page is nothing less than a port key for the book it is associated with. By creating the first impression of the book, it can influence (in both positive and negative ways) purchase/reading decisions for sure.

As you can see, the cover page of the book has a Turquoise (light blue) background that looks calm yet appealing. The main object you can see in the center requires no introduction/explanation, right? It represents the second half of the book quite authentically. A very thoughtful cover page, I must say.

Book Plot:

Let us take a bird’s eye view of the book plot.

There are main two tracks running parallel (till they merge).

Kishan Singh, a 17 years old youth from a village named Noor Mahal in Punjab, India was living with his maternal uncle Baldev Mama and aunt Nihalo Mami. His cousins Lakhvant and Khushvant shares an interesting relationship with him. Kishan was in love with Roop and they both wanted to marry each other. The fate, however, has something else for them in its magic box.

Sophia lives in Guadalajara, Mexico. She has her own dreams. The aftermath of Mexican revolution and changing circumstances made things turn upside down for her. What will she do now? Will she try to hunt for a better future across the border?

Well, Kishan and Sophia, two different fellows, from two different countries, two different cultures and two different genders somehow are bound to go to California! The gold-rush has made the place quite popular by then. How their paths will cross with each other, and how they set up their own identity in a foreign land is explored in the rest of the book.

The incidents took place in various areas of these 3 countries. During the course of the story, you meet many characters. Some of them add positively to their respective journeys while some of them prove to be villains. Rather than talking much about them, I would suggest you to read the story first hand.

Views And Reviews:

Simrita, the author, came up with an interesting story. Of course, it is fictional, but, is surely inspired by lot of real incidents. Actually, modern-day readers may not connect with the circumstances of the era explored in the book, but they could have heard about the incidents explored in the book (or similar one) from grandparents or via media. Some old movies also reflect various similar incidents.

The way the author explores the situation in Punjab (from British India) is very authentic and a lot of real input and research work is reflected there. She must have even more research work to explore the incidents and situations in Mexico and California.

A few facts are elaborated quite effectively in this book.

• A person has a potential to do unimaginable things, if he keeps his mind and heart at the right places and don’t shy away from doing hard work and act reasonably.
• It doesn’t matter to which country you belong, mostly, all the humans are suffering through similar problems and they share same joy too.
• Being an outsider, creating your acceptable presence is challenging for everyone, everywhere.
• Human beings are animals by nature. And, the beast within is still alive in many of us. We often don’t like others succeeding in their lives.
• We have the divine presence of the supreme entity within us. We share empathy towards others and we often love to help them selflessly.

Some points are contradicting each-other right? Well, this is the truth of live. And, author has successfully elaborated it.

Simrita is a well-read person. As it is said, the author often explores some of his/her own attributes/likes/dislikes/habits through the characters. Simrita, though the male protagonist refers to the works by Bengali author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay 🙂 . She also emphasizes the importance of books and reading at various places in the book. Here are some examples:

Sophia was nonetheless aware of the power of books. They could not just change lives but also save lives, connecting people to the wide world.

Stories are no one’s slaves. They follow their own course, not anyone’s wishes or dictates.

The author has an enriching vocabulary. On the one hand, she talks about “Chocotail” and other similar stuff, on the other, she came up with some really beautiful lines:

The afternoon gave way to an orange evening.

Her daughter was a twinkle of starlight breaking through the confounding darkness.

Milano is restless, and intrepid voyager. The sea speaks to his soul, and he responds by sailing far out into the horizon every day.

… It felt as though the glint from Roop’s eyes come to settle in Any’s igniting his world again.

The author is also good at defining characters. The way she talks about the attributes of a character and empowers him/her is interesting.

She loved their dare and her own too. It felt wonderful to be living her truth. To dance the dance of life, one had to be a great dancer. To be a great dancer was to possess great passion. And courage. Turning the page was never easy. … It had to be left behind to make room for surprises, new endeavours and feats. Bidding a grateful adieu to the past, she stepped up to new beginnings.

In a foreign land, people like to be in groups. Eventually, they start considering other groups as their competitors. It often leads to scuffles between groups of different countries/ethnicities. The author didn’t shy away in talking about such stuff. She utters a wisdom line through a character’s thoughts.

… in the new land, a man must keep his head else he would be lost forever. …

The author is good at exploring emotions too:

In time to come, those who remembered his laughs scanned his face, and ended up studying the brooding looks and curtailed smiles that had come to replace his toothy grins.

… “If” was a devil who was a friend to none. …

When it comes to life-lessons and philosophies, the book has some good lines in those aspects too. Here are some of them:

Life is a gift, Savour it and be grateful for it. Many never get a chance to live it through.

Life is not fair, but it is beautiful and worth every struggle.

If I had to choose a single line to quote from the book, I will settle down with the following:

The human journey is not the travel of the sun or the moon. It cannot be predicted. One cannot fight one’s story, it always wins.

Of course, there are many incidents mentioned in the book that reflects various attributes and characteristics and are worth sharing and talking about. However, as always I want to make this review as much spoiler-free as possible. The quotes above must have given you an idea about the quality of the content of the book.

It is an emotional saga where a lot of emotional and cultural cross overs are done. The book is not for everyone. It becomes serious at places and you often feel the joy of characters too. Being more realistic this book might be found being a little dull by the fantasy and thriller lovers.

Summary:

Overall, a simple, emotional story of various emotions and relationships. It is not for everyone. If you love reading something with a substance, having a touch of reality, and set up in a little “old” time; this book is a good choice for you. Not for time pass reading.

Around 7.5 out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy Book From Amazon India – Paperback
• Buy Book From Amazon India – Kindle Ebook
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Paperback
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Kindle Ebook

Over To You:

If you already have read the book do share your remarks and thoughts via comments below. Does this review help you in making your decision to buy or read the book? Do not forget to share this article with your friends over various social networks via Twitter, Facebook and others. And yes, you may like to subscribe to our RSS feeds and follow us on various Social networks to get latest updates for the site to land right in your mail box.