BLURB:
Amudha is a Ph.D. scholar, practically living in her research lab, leading an uneventful life. Amudha’s life takes an adventurous turn, when she finds a puzzle in an old Mathematics book. Surprisingly, the puzzle has nothing to do with Mathematics. Amudha embarks on a journey to solve the enigma. Every twist and turn in her journey is filled with suspense and surprises. The journey challenges and threatens Amudha. Whenever Amudha solves a part of the puzzle, a new one presents itself. Will Amudha solve the puzzle? How far does the rabbit hole go? What awaits her at the end of it? Will Amudha be the same person if she comes out of it? Read on Magic Square for answers.
MY REVIEW:
Well, if you are looking for a short read with an intriguing mystery to be unveiled, you can definitely give this a try. Magic square is a debut Novella by Salini, but stands out good with very minimal characters. As the name sounds, it isn’t deep into mathematical knowledge or concepts but mathematics does play a role.
Amudha the protagonist is a PH.D scholar. After being rejected by umpteen interview panels. She finally decides that Ph.D is the destiny for her. And she also made it to the list of candidates chosen by Prof. Murthy. She practically starts living in the lab, since she feels ignored at home between an elder sister and a younger brother who take away all the attention from here. Dheeraj is also one of the research candidates, but has practically been longer in Murthy’s lab than Amudha.
Amudha had gotten used to being with Dheeraj that she is confused if she is in love or it was just like how she was attached to every table and chair. Dheeraj hopes on every submission that he would be called by the professor to intimate that he would graduate the next year, but it just doesn’t seem to happen. One fine day hes given a list of problems to be solved. HE together with Amudha search google in all possible ways but couldn’t find even those questions online.
That’s when Amudha decides to take Dheeraj to her favorite place next to lab, an old library. The place is not organized with books lying around on all corners. She tells Dheeraj to help himself to find the solutions to the problems and not to divert himself to other areas.
Dheeraj while going through random piles of books uncovers a discrete mathematics textbook from the year 1965. It belonged to L V Sreenivasan. The book had solutions to all the problems he was puzzled with. HE began to worship this unknown person. Amudha also takes time to see the book where she notices a tamil poem of few lines written to a person named Harini.
While Dheeraj goes to spend his Christmas vacation in north India, Amudha decides to go in search of L V Sreenivasan. Thanks to the name of the college written on the book, she first calls the reception, then to the records department; only to know that she has to go in person to Chennai; to meet the registrar to gather that information.
Does Amudha find the unknown L V Sreenivasan immediately or what are the situations she is put through, does Dheeraj help her is the rest of the story.
A wonderful gripping read, I finished the book at one go. The writing style is simple. Characterizations are given very much importance. With just few characters each doing a critical part does give the plot a heads up. I found few editing mistakes at places. For a debut novel the choice of plot and writing style is appreciable.
BOOK DETAILS:
- Format:Kindle Edition
- File Size:4432 KB
- Print Length:62 pages
- Simultaneous Device Usage:Unlimited
- Sold by:Amazon Asia-Pacific Holdings Private Limited
- Language:English
- ASIN:B07KSHCVQL
MY RATINGS:
Cover: 4/5
Title: 4/5
plot: 4.5/5
Writing and Presentation: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
The Author an Indian-English writer who lives in Bangalore, India. This is her debut English fiction novella. She is an engineer by profession but she enjoys writing stories and travelogues. She has recently quit her job to start full time writing. She can be reached at sasidharan.salini@gmail.com
That Madras Mom 