Customer Reviews

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

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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!