Jun 01, 2003 01:57 PM
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(Updated Jun 01, 2003 02:01 PM)
A collection of short stories is always difficult to review because of the law of averages. After all, you win some, you lose some!! That is also the case with Archer's ''A Quiver Full of arrows''. Archer has always been an excellent story teller and will continue to remain so. But it his his habit of churning out mediocre stories with extremely good ones, which is quite irritating.
AQFA is a collection of 12 stories, each of which is good in its own league. If there was ever a contest to choose the most emotional short story, the last story titled ''Old Love'' would win it hands down. Emotion not quite being Archer's forte exactly, he has penned one of the most beautiful love sagas running parallel to Segal's ''Love Story''. However my personal favorite remained a story titled, ''The Perfect Gentleman''. The general reaction I perceive post-reading of this particular story is ''Hats-off!!''.
Archer's strongest point has been the portrayal of his protagonists. In the better stories, the portrayal has been solid and it doesn't take long to sketch an image of the hero. However in the less-better ones, all that comes to mind is a sketchy outline of the pseudo-protagonist and the reader is left with unsatisfactory answers to questions he absolutely needs answers to.
The difference between reviewing short stories and novels is that you don't have to review ten plots in a novel. The most sub-plots that can emerge in a good novel are three, at the most four, but not any more. With short stories the reviewing part becomes difficult, more so, if more than half the titles are really good, which is exactly what happens with Archer's AQFA. Only a few stories are rotten, that too, speaking relatively. Personally, I found 9 of the 12 stories to be more than readable; they had me glued to the seat for the end. Definitely, a page-turner!
AQFA has its share of comedies too, each exquisitely penned and exceedingly laughable. All are ''Ek se badhkar ek'' (i.e Each better than the other). Archer has a habit of penning serious situations in a comic fashion to appease the masses and to be frank with it, he does a damn fine job of it! Satirists and satire-lovers may find '' Henry's Hiccups'' and ''Broken Routine'' to their liking.
Bottom-Line...
AQFA is definitely a good buy. As is the case with any other short story collection you have a choice of 12 plots and there is no compulsion to be bound by any one of them. If you don't happen to like a story you don't have to rue over money lost; there are always other stories to compensate! All in all, a good read for all kinds of readers (except bored ones!!).
Suggested for those who are impatient and don't like the concept of reading through 200-400 odd pages of novels. Twenty pages and you're through!!
If you like novels better, mind you, this has plots which could have evolved into novels but did not, for reasons only Mr. Archer can tell...
