R.K.Narayan and Swami and Friends
A little bit about the book...
Anything I mention about the book can be mistakenly understood as 'spoilers', so I would rather give a glance into the book without mentioning any events or plots of the story.
Swami is a mischievous little kid of about 10 years old and living in the era where India was under the British ruling... Like most kids of that age, Swami is a kid who cannot stay at one place and absolutely hated school, even worse Mathematics. School is his absolute nightmare. Anyway the story unfolds around the happenings of this kid and how he constantly gets into trouble and gets a good beating from his father.
Swami is a talkative little kid and thinks that's his way of facing life, talking himself out of everything. But he does learn the truth the harsh way. As many teens back then, all he wants to do is play under the sun, kick something, climb a tree, break something and harass somebody (unlike kids today!!!). This infact was (and in most parts of India, still is) the life of a typical boy growing up. Technology isn't big in a kid's life. All they want is to play havoc!!!
In this regard Narayan gets deeply into the workings of Swami's ten year old mind, explaining exquisitely how he thinks and what his perspective of the world is. The reader does feel like Swami and gets very attached with the character as the story progresses. That's the magic of Narayan.
Significance of the book...
Swami and Friends by R. K. Narayan is not merely an interesting read that could be enjoyed from top to bottom. R. K. Narayan's work attributes a lot of literary value, be it a teen book like Swami and Friends.
Swami and Friends is good read for the kids and teens alike. Also the book is widely used in the Asian continent as a study text for the students who study literature as a subject at schools. This does not mean that book is filled with heavy grammar and technical jargon. Actually the truth is in contrary to this.
Swami and Friends is written in such simple
Anything I mention about the book can be mistakenly understood as 'spoilers', so I would rather give a glance into the book without mentioning any events or plots of the story.
Swami is a mischievous little kid of about 10 years old and living in the era where India was under the British ruling... Like most kids of that age, Swami is a kid who cannot stay at one place and absolutely hated school, even worse Mathematics. School is his absolute nightmare. Anyway the story unfolds around the happenings of this kid and how he constantly gets into trouble and gets a good beating from his father.
Swami is a talkative little kid and thinks that's his way of facing life, talking himself out of everything. But he does learn the truth the harsh way. As many teens back then, all he wants to do is play under the sun, kick something, climb a tree, break something and harass somebody (unlike kids today!!!). This infact was (and in most parts of India, still is) the life of a typical boy growing up. Technology isn't big in a kid's life. All they want is to play havoc!!!
In this regard Narayan gets deeply into the workings of Swami's ten year old mind, explaining exquisitely how he thinks and what his perspective of the world is. The reader does feel like Swami and gets very attached with the character as the story progresses. That's the magic of Narayan.
Significance of the book...
Swami and Friends by R. K. Narayan is not merely an interesting read that could be enjoyed from top to bottom. R. K. Narayan's work attributes a lot of literary value, be it a teen book like Swami and Friends.
Swami and Friends is good read for the kids and teens alike. Also the book is widely used in the Asian continent as a study text for the students who study literature as a subject at schools. This does not mean that book is filled with heavy grammar and technical jargon. Actually the truth is in contrary to this.
Swami and Friends is written in such simple