Book Review of 'Silver Haze'

About Author:

Pankaj Varma started as a Probationary officer in State Bank of India and retired as a Deputy Manager in a career spanning four decades. He lives in Panchkula (Chandigarh) with his wife and his mother. This is debut work.

Plot: 3/5 

The plot revolves around life of an old lady, who is suffering from Dementia. As soon as she becomes aware of this disease, one unusual desire comes in her heart. She decides to write memoir of the memories of her life.

Characters: 3.5 /5

Kamala Puri aka Neeru Sharma: Protagonist of A simple lady with simple dreams and common fears of typical woman.

Suresh Kumar: Kamala’s first love of teen age, somehow destiny turns him into nightmare for her.

Jatinder: Husband of protagonist, very simple and such a husband that every girl will dream of.

There are also minor characters like other relatives of Kamala, who play minor but important roles in life of our protagonist.

Writing Style: 3/5

 ‘Silver Haze’ is the debut novel of Pankaj Varma, who has voiced his mother’s emotions in this work. The cover of book is not stunning yet it gives certain kind of feeling of peace to reader’s mind. The storyline is also very simple and nothing unusual is there. It seemed to me as if I was reading story of woman living next door. If you are reading this novel for any twists and turns, or any thrilling unexpected revelation then you will be little bit disappointed. Storyline flows smoothly. It is true that literature takes inspiration from life and fully description of life is provided here, especially of a woman. The interesting part is later in the novel as here reader is acknowledged with many facts about Dementia. Overall novel is good one, something different from novels of contemporary time, yet it seems a good read.

My overall rating for this work is 3.5/5.