Title of book – The Fire Ant’s Sting: Desire Diaries
Author : Kamalini Natesan
Language : English
Price – Paperback – INR 211/-, Buy it HERE
Pages – 240
Publisher – Om Books International
Genre – Realistic Fiction , Anthology
About the Author – Kamalini Natesan
Born in India, Kamalini Natesan is a teacher of French language and a trained vocalist, currently residing in Bangkok, Thailand.Her first published work was a novel by the name “Naked beneath the Midnight Sun”. “The Fire Ant’s Sting :Desire Diaries” is her latest book.
About ‘The Fire Ant’s Sting : Desire Diaries’
The cover page
Not only does The Fire Ant’s Sting :Desire Diaries have a very interesting cover that depicts a bright fiery background and a the silhouette of a woman with her neck arched back (probably to depict desire ) while a red ant crawls up her neck but also the cover does the job of enticing you to get the book.
In fact, the cover provokes you to discover what lies inside.
What I loved about this book
The Premise – Exploration of human desire in its various forms through 12 different characters that not only belong to different genders , ages, socioeconomic backgrounds but are also at different stages of life. All held by that inner burning desire. Desire comes naturally. It is a natural characteristic of people; it is what motivates people to succeed and fulfill their ambitions. While desire cannot be suppressed, it can be restrained. It consumes if given unchecked freedom, just like fire. It is compulsive. Desire can drive you to success but can also hurt a lot much like the the Fire Ant’s sting , which is painful and itchy but in sensitive individuals it can become dangerous!
The first page of the story seemed drab and I was about to give up but my persistence paid off because soon the tale started getting exciting and later it started appealing to the heartstrings.
Kamalini Natesan explores the various aspects of desire – the desire for sex, the desire for beauty, the desire for money etc. in intricately woven stories. From a Lesbian relationship, to migrating to the big bad city for work , I must say K. N. has covered a large canvas of humanity quite effectively.
Her characters are real people and believable with real issues .I might even have related with some of them, my personal favourite story was ‘Pin drop” though I won’t divulge why to not spoil the fun for you.
Many of the stories start with an interesting quote about the theme of that story, few of them by famous authors.
What could have been better?
Some stories could do with more ruthless editing. Naturally, as blogger I know, it is easy to get carried away trying to cover many aspects simultaneously which could take away from the tautness of the plot.
While K.N. shines when she talks about small city folks yet something seems missing when the set up is a foreign land. Maybe I can not relate to them as well as I relate with the Indian stories.
K.N. seems to be coy at places when she talks about intimacy between her characters , it is implied but never visible. A little boldness would add the necessary heat to make “The Fire Ant’s Sting “more realistic and potent.
FINAL VERDICT
The author weaves some very interesting stories , her characters are real, relatable people, their struggles and desires are very much like ours. Her language is rich and lucid even if on a rare occasion it seems to drag down with too much detail. Her description of food really was quite vivid and I see a love for food definitely there.
Over all I rate it a 4/5 , pick it up any day and enjoy the voluptuous sting of the Fire ant ,that makes you keep reaching for that spot.
This review is powered by the Blogchatter Book Review Program.
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