Hello everyone and welcome to another book review! Today’s review is of The Sacrifice: A Collection of Short Stories by Indrajit Garai. I was given a copy of this book by Estelle, a friend of the author, in exchange for an honest review! This was a three star read.
Book: The Sacrifice
Author: Indrajit Garai
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Summary: In this collection, meet: Guillaume, who gives up everything to protect his child; young Matthew, who stakes his life to save his home; and François, who makes the biggest sacrifice to rescue his grandson.
I was given a copy of this book by a friend of the author.
The Move
The Good:
*Characters. Guillaume is an okay character. His anger, struggles, and fight to keep his farm are relate-able. Hugo was furiously protective and in love with the animals on the farm and I felt for him at the end.
*Plot. The plot was okay. The ending left me a little confused though.
The Bad:
*Anaïs. Through-out the story, I picked up bits and pieces about Anaïs and Guillaume’s past. She still mystified me and I would have liked to know more about her.
*Continuation. At some points in the story, things happened without continuation. On page 13, Guillaume was heading home, on page 15, he was swimming in a lake?? It left me confused as to the setting and where this lake was.
*Ending. That ending left some questions for me. There are spoilers on my Goodreads review if you want to know more.
*Dialogue. There wasn’t a whole ton of dialogue, and I personally like dialogue, so…
*Grammatical. A few grammatical mistakes and the writing was a little formal at times.
Overall:
2 stars
The Listener
The Good:
*Characters. Mathew’s fight to save his trees showed his true personality. He was willing to fight for what he saw was right and in the process, he found himself and strengthened his relationship with his mother.
*Plot. A forest by Mathew’s house was being cut down. Mathew hadn’t really paid any attention to it because he’s favorite tree had been left unharmed. But as the Forest Office tries to chop down his tree, he stands up and refuses to let it be cut down. I really liked the plot.
*Dialogue. The dialogue was a little better in this book.
The Bad:
*Relationships. Mathew’s relationship with his mother changed abruptly for the better after several months and years of them co-existing without much love towards one another. I would have liked to know what was behind this frostiness. I also would have liked to know more about Thierry and Mathew’s mothers relationship.
Overall:
3 stars
The Sacrifice
The Good:
*Characters. I really liked this story and felt for François so much. An author with books that don’t sell well, he’s desperate to make money to keep his grandson in school, pay his bills, and get rid of his late daughter’s debt. Arthur was such a sweet and mature young boy who understood his situation and did his best to be helpful. I loved him very much.
*Selflessness. Even when François was trying to find out how to save himself and Arthur, he still managed to be optimistic and think the best of people. It showed me how selfless he was and made me ponder how if someone was upsetting me, I’d never try to see things from his/her perspective. This book shows the power of realizing and enjoying the small things in life.
*Plot. The plot was realistic, and the ending made me emotional. François sacrificed everything to do his best for his grandson. I’m just glad that in the end, Arthur would still be given a chance at life.
*Dialogue. This story was much better from a grammatical point of view. And even though there wasn’t a whole ton of dialogue, I really didn’t care because I was more worried about Arthur and François.
The Bad:
*The ending. It was slightly abrupt and I’d have liked to know more about what happened to Arthur (an epilogue would have done the trick). Otherwise, great story!
Overall:
4 stars
Overall:
This was an okay book and I liked the last two stories better than the first. While there were some technical errors, there was a great amount of effort put in to the story. The stories are thought-provoking and I’m glad that I read this. Overall, 3 shining stars.
About the Author:
Indrajit Garai, an American citizen now, was born in India in 1965. After his Bachelors degree from Indian Institute of Technology and Masters from Harvard, he worked as a corporate strategy consultant and as an investment banker in America, Spain, and England, while studying parallelly Ayurveda (ancient medicine of India) for stress management. In 2001, after the birth of his daughter, he moved to Paris, opened his private practice of stress management, and then authored six books in this field (five in French and one in English).
**I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Eternity Books 
I love how you reviewed each story individually. It does seem like it is quite thought-provoking. Are you sure English isn’t his first language? I actually had a lot of professors from India, who spoke English as their first language, as Indian culture and education was heavily influenced by the British colonial period. Don’t know if that matters toward your overview of the book though.
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Point taken. I guess I assumed that because he was born in India and currently lives in France. Thanks for pointing that out! My opinons are still the same but I’ll fix that! 💖 Thanks for pointing that out 🙂
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