The Speaking Stone – Book Review

I still can’t forget my experience of reading Paradise lost and found. The simplicity of the book and the way it held the reader’s attention was something that is rare. Ratnadip Acharya’s new book, The Speaking Stone is yet another masterpiece but is very different from his previous book.

The Speaking stone is a kind of book that I would like to see on the big screen with a high budget setting and cast. A kind of a movie that could be the Bollywood’s answer to National Treasure series of Hollywood.

Coming to the book, it presents you with two different eras to tell a single story, one is set in the 1900’s and another in 2016-17. Saikat and Suhasini are the main characters of the book and they are characterized quite brilliantly. The narration of the book, the way it travels from past to present, the writing, the description of places and the settings, the mystery factor, and the best part, the climax, everything was just picture-perfect for me.

The Speaking Stone is one of the very few books of this genre that focus on ‘why’ rather than ‘what’. ‘What’ can definitely amuse you to read further but ‘why’ is the only thing that stays with you after you have finished reading it.

Another thing that I would like to mention here is the amount of research that the author has put in while writing this book. The description, the knowledge and the translations of various Sanskrit script shows that the author has presented everything that was expected from him.

Now coming to the setbacks. The book cover, for me, was a kind of disappointment. I would love to see a vibrating cover in the upcoming edition of the book. Also, there were some places where the narration of the book is pretty slow (although, I know that the description was more important than taking the narration forth at those moments), but still, I would have loved to see the author improvising with something unique at those moments.

Overall, the book is a stunning read and deserves every bit of your attention and excitement. I would love to read more from the author in coming future.