The five-dollar smile: Fourteen early stories & a farce in two acts [Hardcover]

Shashi Tharoor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1990

COLLECTS TOGETHER THE EARLY STORIES OF THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE GREAT INDIAN NOVEL

Product Details

• Hardcover: 239 pages
• Publisher: Viking (1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067083985X
• ISBN-13: 978-0670839858
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,814,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read, October 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The five-dollar smile: Fourteen early stories & a farce in two acts (Hardcover)

A very compelling read, this book by Shashi Tharoor is a collection of short stories written by the author in his teens and early 20s.This book is a beautiful collection of writings by Tharoor before the well-known "The Great Indian Novel" and is in a different genre from the author's other books.

Each story starts with a note by the author disussing the mindset in which the story was written, and the age at which he wrote it, thus giving the reader a better insight into the story.

The stories are diverse in nature and use the backdrop of India to give the reader a view of the country and the people from a youth's point of view. The title story is a sensitive portrayal of an orphan who is the face on the poster of a fund-raiser campaign for the orphanage. "The boutique" is another touching story revealing the discrimination that soceity imposes on its classes and its impact on a young boy.

The stories in this book impress with their simplicity and subtleness. Most of all, it brought back memories of youth in me. A book I enjoyed immensely!