The humor and irony stick out and are worth to some LOL moments. The entire story is all about a youth called Baru who becomes the victim of a dalal while he sets out on his journey for foreign employment.[break]
His presentation is good. But readers need to comment on his language because he has dealt with such a beautiful issue but his language does not seem be eloquent. Rishi, like traditional Nepali authors, dedicates this book to his parents.
In the disclaimer, he writes, though the book is inspired by his own infant son and experiences, he appeals that the book must be seen as fiction. The initial pages of the book are set up in Goa, India, where Baru and Rosha meet.
If you have leisure, it will be a good pastime reading, considerably easy on language, low on price, motivating in parts, witty at times. Readers may put in one more reason to read it: this novel includes a story of our time, and space where we live in.
It’s somehow an exploration of “modern” Nepal with cultural and religious divisions, caste lines and a type of trait of the contemporary age group. But Wisthapan is neither a formula book nor it works equally with all Nepali readers.
It incorporates less emotion, sex, friendship, Nepali families, white girls, and couples on the brink of breakup and somewhere just-for-laugh lines but an unsurprising ending. It has a very few remarkable things.
Even the plot is a classic Nepali movie type — boy meets girl, they fall in love or something like that. On the one hand, there is no worth mentioning witty quality throughout the book and on the other, the tempo of the story is uneven.
At times, it accelerates and sometimes readers become tired because of its slow pace. Candidly speaking, the book is of average quality. Not a praiseworthy reread.
However, the author has captured somehow an unusual leitmotif but he does not seem to be able to give justice to his theme.
His writing style bears a resemblance to traditional and old-generation writers. My book reading habit is not tilted to any particular genre.
I can read poetry one day and fiction on the next. I always consider I can get a little to learn from every book published in this world. I don’t classify books on the basis of literary values.
But I cannot read books with poetic language and with flat description that leads nowhere. Into the bargain, I hate incredibility and fantasies. However, this book does not incorporate that much of intolerable incredibility.
This book is a semi-autobiographical “love” story. A story between a Nepali “thito” and a “Kuireni”! Here, Rishi has an aim to write for the young trendy mass.
In this very volume, he has made an attempt to incorporate some of the problems of our contemporary generation. However, some readers may love it, some may hate it, and some readers like me can’t overlook this volume though the author does not seem to be a mature one.
He could have taken help of a good book editor before publishing it.
In this book, some readers can find strong message about the compulsion of thriving self-displacement of Nepali youths.
Moreover, some readers find unworthy details. One thing to be noted is that he has tried to create a center of attention by using some real incidents, places and people. While reading it, at times, some readers find confidence to get in to writing. So come on, guys, you all youngsters – let’s start writing!
Nevertheless, Wisthapan is not a very enjoyable book as it has lots of poorly constructed paragraphs, roundabout sentences, unbalanced ideas and an over-dramatization in some parts and some insipid storytelling.
Into the bargain, some readers can criticize this book as thespian and clichéd. But Rishis’s narrative also has several punch lines with the flavor of lucidity and unfussiness. The novel closes with a close ending; he could have closed it with an open ending to give it a classy hue in the corpus of Nepali novels.
Some readers’ Nepali vocabulary may be improved with terms like Murai. Wisthapan stands out for the reason that the atmosphere is unusual, characters are close to real life, and episodes of the novel move back and forth between the real and absurd.
Rishi cleverly takes every university student down the reminiscence path.
All situations might not have been the same for everyone; however, reader cannot stop comparing his/her own life with Baru’s most challenging life.
Had he worked with a book editor closely for reviewing and rewriting the manuscript, this book would have been able to catch the attention of a large number of readers.
The book has a unique innovation wherein the characters speak for themselves, from their own standpoint, which truly offers the reader a more weighty insight into their character and due acknowledgment to the author for this amazing presentation.
The story has an Indian background and is connected to the customs and other social and political environments prevalent in Nepal.
The story also comprises the flipside of the American history and Vietnam War along with some other unfolding complexities of the western society.
Nonetheless, “Wisthapan” deserves reading for its ease and its propinquity to down-to-earth depiction of the common university student as well as for its youth-related and career-oriented leitmotif.
The end cannot be disclosed out here for fear that the spirit of the actual reading is lost. But one thing is sure, and that is no frustrated eyes will leave the pages unturned, and a few discontented readers will criticize it.
The reviewer is a student at Nepa School of Social Sciences and Humanities.
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