Love in the time of quarantine by Siddhartha Gigoo

I’d won a coupon to buy this book from Amazon in a contest conducted by @NewAsianWriting on Twitter. @NewAsianWriting also requested me to review the book.

The author Siddhartha Gigoo wrote the short novella of 58 pages in 21 days. It is a poetic description of two lovers who are separated during the lockdown. Their musings are interspersed with the story of a homeless family and the confusion that the children of that family face at some of the events that take place.

The structure and format of the book is a little confusing since it switches from the point of view of the lovers to the perspective of the homeless family. The lovers’ musings are recorded once in the morning and once at night through a stanza for every one of the thirty days. In between, the homeless family’s confusion is described, too. One has to read it more than once to grasp the story.

The author highlights how the lovers are privileged to be able to think of their love and separation rather than worry about basic needs like food and shelter.

Siddhartha Gigoo has won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Asia) in 2015 for his “The Umbrella Man.” Proceeds from the sale of 'Love in the time of quarantine' will be spent on the welfare of strays in New Delhi.

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