A Hundred Little Flames by Preeti Shenoy is a story of eternal and selfless love on one hand. And on the other hand, it is about selfishness. It is also about values and relationships. The story revolves around three generations of a family. But above all, it is the style of writing that's mesmerizing. The flow of the story is magical yet simply touches the heart. It depicts two kinds of people. The first kind of people care about relations, follow societal bindings and discipline, and live with values and moral. On the other hand, the second kind of people has only money and success as their top priority for which they can do anything. The book is like a mirror that lets you introspect what category you fall in. In fact, all the characters look like people we find in real life.
It is easy to become practical and heartless like Jairaj and Shaila but difficult to become thoughtful and sensible like Gopal Shanker, Ayan, Velu, Nithya, and Rohini. There, you find two extremes of personalities and characters. A Hundred Little Flames is about hope and faith. In all, there are 40 chapters and 360 pages. There are four sections - Thekke Madom, Gopal Shanker, Rohini, and A Hundred Little Flames. There are important takeaways for every generation in this beautiful fiction. Ayan loses his first job without any fault of his. He has to leave his job in a multinational company on a bad note and a label that restricts him getting another job despite having good quantification. For a change, life takes him to a small village in Kerala to stay with his grandfather Gopal Shanker. And that becomes a point of a big transformation in his life.
A Hundred Little Flames Is Simple Yet Powerful. In fact, he comes to know so many facts and truths about his own family members there. And there is one more person he gets to know through his grandfather who becomes the most important person in his life and his biggest inspiration. Nobody is right or wrong in this story. It is all about circumstances and situations that impact our lives in a big way. There are some excellent lines in this book A Hundred Little Flames that I would like to share here:
Many times, things have a way of sorting themselves out. We just need to be patient. P79
We all try too hard to do the right thing and stay in control. Once in a way, we should just let go and see what it takes. P96
Things are only as expensive as the value you place on them. P244
Memories are best packed up and put away in boxes. P246
Finer things in life take time. But once you get them, they are yours forever to treasure. Just like true friendship and true love. P331
The problem of the present generation is that they are not willing to give time to a relationship. They should allow it to breathe. To grow. They should nurture it. Above all, they should be patient. P339
Life is full of surprises. We do things which we never thought we would. P345
When those we love, die, they live on inside us. P360
And then there is A Hundred Little Flames that you discover on p93. Dancing. Creating a mesmerizing sight. Overall, a nice story by Preeti Shenoy.
