A well built, but bored Yamraj in its cover and a colophon saying that he gets emotional which causes a cosmic chaos so much that even Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar feel jittery; my curiosity was piqued by this thin read which already is a translated version of an Odia best seller.
Book Blurb
What happens when a clone of Yamraj, the Lord of Death, gets emotional and upsets the power structure in Devlok, the realm of Gods?
Yamraj Number 5003 is the story of one of the thousands of cloned Yamrajs in Mrityuloka. The Yamrajs are supposed to carry out their duties like robots, but by some fluke one Yamraj—code-named #5003—has a ‘manufacturing defect’ by which he can think and feel, making him ‘different’. He begins to question the status quo, shaking the very foundation of the power structure in Devlok, making the divine trinity—Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar—jittery. What happens when they decide to take action against the erring Yamraj? Woven with humour, this multilayered novel will move the readers as well as entertain them. Originally published in Odia and translated into Assamese, this hugely popular novel is being published in English for the first time.
“Yamraj Number 5003” is a simple plot story where Yamraj 5003 (a clone of original Yamraj) spares one life and it causes a modern media like scandal uproar amongst the Gods.
The book is written in mostly third person narrative but there are times a second person narrative is used as well. It felt like a modern-day remake of the movie “Lok Parlok” which I had watched many years ago which dealt with a similar situation.
The author has given the Hindu Gods a human touch. The Gods here behave like office employees. Narada plays his role well as a nosy journalist. Be it the human characters like Sumati and Subrata or be it the Holy Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwar, no role is overused. Mrinal Chatterjee has given apt justice to every character.
There are times especially in the first half where the storytelling becomes too much and the plot is paused too often. But overall this book is enjoyable and considering it was written around 20 years ago no wonder it was a best seller.
For Mrinal Chatterjee’s humorous short read my rating for “Yamraj” would be 3/5.
Overall Verdict:- Simple, humorous and worth a read
Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads
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