This book left me HIGH!!//THE SEA BEAST TAKES A LOVER // REVIEW //

My interest in this book was limited to the title. I was intrigued. I JUST HAD TO READ IT BUT somewhere in my mind I had this feeling that I was going to be disappointed by what I encounter when I saw the email stating that my request for the book had been approved (on Netgalley), I felt giddy with excitement but there was also a hint of sadness – THAT IT’LL BE A BIG-ASS DISAPPOINTMENT.

And let me tell you one thing –

I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO FUCKING WRONG IN MY ENTIRE LIFE (except maybe once, when I was little and thought that if I dug deep enough, I’ll find lava ;p)

This is NOT the book cover. Just my aesthetic! 🙂

The writing was surprisingly gripping. It flowed from word to word, sentence to sentence like a river released from a dam. I felt myself drawn into these stories in spite of myself.

The writing is just as surreal and otherworldly as the title.

The author has this rare quality of making the simplest actions seem poignant, It wasn’t done to the extreme though – WHICH I QUITE LIKED. I wonder if there are more like him who can write with such ease? Or at least make it seem like it?

It’s amazing how the subtle, tricky emotions never leave the word. That’s the kind of narrative that actually leaves an impression on the reader – one soo faint YET effective. These stories will stay with me forever – even if just the essence of them. But I am NOT FORGETTING THE IMPACT – EVER!

The Sea Beast Takes A Lover deals with loss in a remarkable way. Reading these stories felt like being on a ship in the middle of the ocean: a constant splatter of emotions – Always on the surface, but embedded deep into the words as well.

UNEASINESS,
A SENSE OF DETACHMENT,
GUILT,
LOVE, 
FEAR, and 
HOPE

Every little thought is presented in a way that i felt like I was right there, in the author’s mind. It felt so effortless. The narrator’s thoughts enters the reader’s mind with a jolt and the distance between him and the reader seems to vanish as soon as he starts speaking.

Every story in this book was an odd mix of peace and restlessness and I could not avoid feeling either. There was such an easy originality to it, such that stares right into your face the whole time BUT is subtle in ways that you’ll miss if you do not pay a very close attention.

An alien abduction (one of the stories – BODIES IN SPACE) wouldn’t have been this interesting if it wasn’t simultaneously linked to the regret and memory of a man ashamed of his choices. The most impressive quality is the author’s ability to weave important matters – emotions – with the seemingly lifeless ones – providing a freshness to each word and a magical charm to each sentence.

As I moved from story to story, my mind was painted with such vivid images in my mind that I was left thoroughly shook. and I AM NOT KIDDING when I say that there aren’t many people who can do that with a literary quality. The details drawn around every little scene were marvelous and breathtaking.

The Sea Beast Takes a Lover poses magnificent questions hidden under a cloak of simplicity. This book demands your entire attention BUT AT THE SAME TIME, draws you in ever so stealthily, like a mouse nudging at a piece of cheese and you won’t realize what held power over your attention until AFTER you’ve been thrown out of the MAGICAL (in the most subtle ways) ride.  And then, you’ll just sit there, wondering if it really is over because your mind is still haunted by those stories and YOU LIKE IT THAT WAY.  It leaves your head full of the remnants once you are done reading it but it gives you the liberty to put in your own thoughts as well –

The beautiful union between the words on the pages and the thoughts in your mind will leave you in a gentle exhilaration.