Four Strokes of Luck

August 21, 2021

05:51 PM, Saturday

So finally I am trying to read more books and my friend Ravindra is helping me picking up some titles. His favorite is Perumal Murugan. I also have read a few books and a couple of short stories by Perumal Murugan as he suggested and loved the writing. He is a Tamil writer and had his works written all in Tamil Language which later is translated by some amazing translator leaving all of his readers in awe. Recently his book launched and when I was looking out to get advanced reader copies, I got to know that Ravindra has already bought hardcover of the same. So what better than getting the book from your friend. Along with this we had this bet that if I complete the book in next 24 hours he is going to buy me books. So here is a review to the book and also notification to Ravindra that he has to save money now.

“Four Strokes of Luck” is a book having 10 short stories written by Perumal Murugan and translated by Nandini Krishnan. The book has tales from the village and every tale has an amazing ending. After every story I was like, do I know this character from somewhere else as well as I know him/her/them very well now even in just 20 pages of story. The book has 10 stories and all the stories seem to be connected because of similar names of the character but the character description of every character is so well written that by the end of the story you will be thinking that I know how this character is going to react to this situation but the endings are always unexpected.
My favorite stories would be “Seemaatti the Buffalo” and “Four Strokes of Luck”. I found myself connected to them the most and the emotional ride they have taken me into.
Loved the way every story is unique in itself and not getting into the stories we hear everyday. Also, every detail is placed with utmost care and the placement is apt.

The cover and the overall quality of the book is great which shows the efforts shown by Juggernaut Books.

P.S.: One mistake I found in the book was that the last chapter which should be chapter 10, is mentioned chapter 9.

Overall a 87/100 kind of book.