Book Review - Harables: Short Stories 1 & 2 by Haidji

Before I start my review I would like to apologize Haidji and my husband for ignoring these books for more than a year. In 2017 beginning my husband became so active in book blogging that I got excited to help him (as he got this bookworm-iness from me). So in excitation, I gave him a list of genres I can help him. He gave confirmation on my promise to few authors. "Harables: Short Stories 1 & 2" by Haidji were two of them. I still remember my husband giving me the deadline of 3 months while handing me thse two books. But later on, I got busy with my kid and was not able to finish 50-60% of the books I took. During this year Diwali cleaning I found these two books in the storeroom and I got guilty feeling so I took them on my vacation. 

Book Blurbs

Harables (Short Stories 1) brings together eighteen of Haidji’s short stories. Each story is prefaced with a hint of what’s inside, for example: “To be shaped for life is never easy…”. “Life seemed to be just a letter, or a few words, in the metaphor of the Earth’s biography.” “All lines are drawings!”… “For the Earth to survive, for the human race to survive, we need to overcome our own survivor instinct.”

Harables - Short Stories 1 and Ines' Words now brings us Harables - Short Stories 2, with fifteen new stories. Each story showcases Haidji's unique voice and imagery, including "The Gondola Walker," "Lob's Castle," "The Blue Spot," "Final Destination" and "Candles." True to Haidji's form, this book is beautiful and magical. You'll want to read each story more than once, to uncover all Haidji's meanings. Entering Haidji's world, you will find hope, love and wonderful mysteries.

I would like to tell the author to come up with an attractive cover, another major reason for the delay in the review was the cover, I didn't get strong urge/appeal to read the book at first go.

When I started first part I was not sure whether I would be able to read second as well due to dull cover. But content or I would say amazing stories of part-1 made me jump to part-2.

Both books contain short gems (yes I would call story/poem gem, read the review to know why) with a different tone. Some were funny, some were cute, and many of them are thought-provoking. It will take you in a rollercoaster of various phases and emotions. Inspiring messages are the real reason I called there stories as a gem. And the icing on the stories are quotations given for each story as a crux.

Stories I liked in part 1

1. One Euro
2. The New School
3. War Love Story
4. The last to go

Stories I liked in part 2

1. Pipo
2. Lob's Castle
3. The Pine Tree
4. The Gondola Walker

The language usage is simple and narration style is straight and sweet. You may fall in love with many characters. I sure shot recommend to any genre lovers. Even if you don't like some stories, you can simply skip them.

Talking about ratings

1. Cover - 2.5/5 (I strongly recommend the author to have another design)
2. Content - 4/5
3. Overall - 4/5

Book Links

Amazon - Part 1 and Part 2

Goodreads - Part 1 and Part 2