17 October 2014

Review #8: Gingerbread by Robert Dinsdale



My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nancy Wynne Newhall was an American photography critic, who once quoted remarkably about the wilderness in nature:
“The Wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask.”

Robert Dinsdale, an English author, has spun a spectacularly wild tale about a boy, some unforgettable forest fables and forest in the unexplored land of Belarus, in his new novel, Gingerbread.

Synopsis:
A young boy travels to the other part of city with his mama to visit his grandpa, who he used to address as "papa". But then his mother dies due to cancer, and his mama make him promise her that he would take care of his "papa" no matter what. Thus begins the story of a boy and a man who was once a boy! His mother wanted to take her ashes to the tenement where she grew up with her baba and papa in the forest. But after reaching the forest and after laying his mama alongside her baba, his "papa" couldn't leave the forest and become relentless to go away from the wild, so they settle up there in the forest by making camps and dens and eating the dead his mama's gingerbread and listening to the trees and living up with the wild. Each season goes by, and the boy's "papa's" wild fables become wilder and more sinister with the tales of the Perpetual Winter in the City of Gulag and the Winter King's wrath. But when a little girl, named Elenya comes to live in the forest along with her parents in the boy's old house, things get changed and the boy becomes more drawn to the life he had abandoned in the city and seeing the girl with her parents in a warm
home, leave the boy with a longing feeling and thus eventually he grows more distant from his "papa". Will the boy hold onto his wild "papa" to keep his mother's promise? Will his longing make him go away from the wild which is now his only home? Read this delirious novel which not only awes your mind but also leaves your heart with a longing feeling for the unknown wild out there.

You must be wondering what the boy's name and why the protagonist do not have a name, well to be honest, that's a mystery and it is revealed later, and for that you really need to read this compelling novel!

This is a good book to break away from the daily hustle-bustle of the city. But this book is not a light-read book, instead, it has got a depth like The Devil's Sinkhole, that for the whole time you lose yourself in the wilderness of the forests. What can I say about the author's illustrious storytelling, in one word- completely incredible. Not even for a single second, I found myself wandering away from the gripping tale.
A boy, his dead mama, and his papa (his mama's father), Elenya and Mr. Navitski are the key characters of the book, which adds an edge to the tale which makes the story more believable and justifiable. Their flaws are dark sides are strikingly portrayed, for example, the girl, Elenya had a dark side and it was not revealed in the story and that anticipation made the story more intriguing. The characterization is skillfully crafted and the unfolding of the plot was remarkably narrated by the author.

The author has shed light about the wilderness which somehow held the answers to the boy's unanswered questions and curiosity.
I'm looking forward in reading the author's previous novel, Little Exiles.

Verdict: Do read this novel and find yourself losing away in the wild of the nature and in the fables that touch your mind and soul by leaving an impression upon your mind.

Courtesy:  I'd like to thank the author immensely, for sending me over the copy of his new novel, in return for an honest review.
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Author Info: 
Robert Dinsdale was born in Northallerton, North Yorkshire in 1981 and went on to study at the University of Leeds. In 2010, he spent four months in Australia researching the novel that would become LITTLE EXILES, which was published by Harper Collins in February 2013.
Visit him here

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