An Absence of Squirrels by Aparna Kapur
My take on the book:
Thutta Island which is shaped in the form of a tooth had a train that ran through all the sectors — A to H. Thirteen-year-old Katli imagined seven versions of herself to get rid of boredom on this island, one version and one persona for each situation she faced. Katli One was obedient; Katli Three was disruptive; Katli Seven was friendly; Katli Six tried to be invisible; Katli Five was in detective mode.
One day when Katli followed a cat while getting off the train, she sets off a chain of events bringing to the fore mystery of missing animals, residents of the island losing selective memory and meetings that happened with hidden agendas. While Katli tried solving this mystery, her methods made her appear insane and her friends, classmates and neighbors distanced themselves from her. Will Katli be able to solve the mystery of Thutta island while also accepting herself as a singular version, forms the rest of the story.
The story begins on a mysterious island where its residents, their daily routines, professions — all sound weird at the beginning but as the author slowly reveals the suspense, their behavior makes sense. The story and the characters are so layered that the reader will realize the depth of the story with each chapter. The story which begins like that of any young girl slowly brings forward today’s reality of how powerful people go to any extremes to maintain their status quo and hold on others.
The best message by the author is through Katli’s character who, inspite of being a smart young girl, like most teenagers, suffers from low self-esteem and to find acceptance from all kinds of people around her, she creates multiple versions of herself. And this is the reality of us grown-ups as well as we display different facet of ourself based on the person we are interacting with.
Along with Katli, Abhay and other kids also have equal importance in the story and together they prove how young minds are capable of bringing imminent change. While this book is a very good read for kids, adults will enjoy this equally for the smart writing and fresh story.
My rating:
5/5.