The Labyrinth by Gourahari Das (Author), Manoranjan Mishra (Translator)
My take on the book:
Draupadi was dropping her son Pintu at his school when she saw three goons thrashing and later killing a young boy. In that moment of shock she let out a cry which alerted the goons, who noticed that Draupadi witnessed their crime. Draupadi was worried the goons may harm her and her family to silence her from sharing their identity with the police.
While Draupadi worked and lived in Bhubaneswar with her son, her husband Debadutta worked in the forest department at a far away location Phulbani. Being alone with her son also added to Draupadi’s worry; Debadutta had his own troubles in Phulbani as his bosses did not take his transfer request seriously and local mafia threatened him due to his honesty about saving the forests from exploitation by smugglers. Both Draupadi and Debadatta worried for the family’s safety without informing each other.
Will Draupadi and Debadatta’s worst fears come true and will they both succumb to the evil around them or will they be able to face their fears forms the rest of the story.
The author has not mentioned the year when the story happened but based on the happenings, the story seems to be from mid 1990s; the timeline of the story is important as communication still happened through landline telephones, common people read daily newspapers, and Draupadi assumed any goon was member of Dawood gang who were famous for contract killings.
The story begins with the protagonist witnessing a murder and then delves deeper into the moral dilemma and fears faced by her. While Draupadi was a realistic person, when such extreme fear struck her, she resorted to all sorts of superstitions, even a wailing dog caused her anxiety. From palm reading to holy threads to Swamijis, the author highlights all the means we resort to when confronted with a sudden problem.
From the first page to the last, the author succeeds in maintaining the tension as every person the protagonists meet sound suspicious and dangerous. The story effortlessly moves between urban and rural Odisha. The only drawback is the translation as the story does not feel like a true English one.
A true Indian fiction, which intrigues the reader throughout, the Labyrinth will keep the reader engaged till the end.
My rating:
4/5.