“The face at the window” by Kiran Manral, entails upon a guilt with delicate emotions of having been emotionless, it is the story of a lonesome orphaned woman brought up in a missionary convent who decides to lay bare the hidden secrets of her bloodline, at a ripe age by writing about her life but strangely the loneliness and the guilt of being emotionless seems to be running like a chronic gene in the family.
Mrs. MacNally, who relives a regimental routine of her tangled and deserted youthful days in the bewildering loneliness of old age is the main protagonist who is hounded by the reverie of a raging face that leads to the discovery of her roots.
The story is set in the solitude of the Himalayan foothills like in a postcolonial atmosphere, where the protagonist constantly struggles to come to terms with her old age but settles down proudly remembering her glorious youth!
Although she has never had a meaningful family life, having been a teacher for a long innings, she is perfectly able to resonate well with the younger folks as she can relate to their indifferences and read their emotions, recalling many of her own awkward situations in life with botched-up stints at serious relationships, that still demands her to answer many questions in her sub-conscious mind.
There is emotion, love, romance, guilt, betrayal, suspense, horror and realization all set in a modest tone with an aptly poetic yet ghoulish pitch in the serene backdrop of the beautiful hills.
Initially the story steers like an old woman’s sordid tales but as the story moves the characterization dawns afresh with livid and timid characters leading and drawing you into it, the narration is free flowing complementing the nature that the scene is actually set in and makes it believable as they take you into that ambience and aura.
Kiran’s style of writing brings alive even those little lifeless objects and can give a gothic touch to your own surroundings where you are reading, that could perhaps skip your heartbeat with those ghoulish apparitions.
The elaborate descriptions of nature and emotions where every little thing around is described with the utmost precision just enough to drift you there into the actual scene where emotions resent and dissent, body parts frown, protest and bargain and your own soul could harass you!
It is a saga of solitude till the end that one might shudder to think of yet filled with the sacrilege of tender emotions; and sacrifice of serious relationships that gets sanctified with a stint of survival struggles and social stigma.
While Sumit, the young journo cum writer keeps the story rolling with suspense as he finds out a virtual doppelganger of Mrs. MacNally in the quiet hills, Nina, the fun loving footloose teenager is the epitome of energy who falls headlong for Dr. Sanyal, a rather mature person but Mrs. MacNally sees her own reflection in Nina and fears losing her, just like Millie her indifferent daughter.
Amidst tackling old age and untold emotions, the protagonist is struck between the truth and the tormentor as she has seen the skeletal remains in her backyard, and the shadows now stalked her dear child, what happens in the end is a total twist in the tale, unexpected and grudging yet there is surreal love in the air in the end with the most stoic embryonic embrace that was long overdue!
GoodReads rating: 3.5/5.0
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