Book Review: ‘The Eye Opener’ by Indrajit Garai

Title: The Eye Opener

Author: Indrajit Garai

Publisher: Self Published

Publication Date: 2017

The Eye Opener is the second collection of three short stories by author Indrajit Garai. All of the stories are grounded in the real world and, as the title suggests, each one features a revelation or eye opening event which causes the protagonist to change how they view the world.

The Alignment

In The Alignment, Franck is determined to provide the best future for his wife and unborn child. With a sub-plot of corporate and financial misconduct, the story sees Franck travel to America for business. In his quest for more money he misses what is truly important in his life.

This was my favourite of the collection’s three stories and it definitely stayed with me the longest after I’d finished reading. This is the plot I can most imagine happening in real life and therefore, to a point, it is the story I found most relatable.

We’ve all had moments when we’ve spent more on an item then perhaps we should have. Or spent a bit more to ensure our homes or appearance give the impression that we are more better off than we actual are. For those of us raised in a capitalist society, we are taught from an early age that money can buy happiness. Sometimes this pursuit can cause us to lose sight of what is important. Only when we find balance can we be truly happy.

The Changing Turf

In The Changing Turf, Nathan travels from India to America for his education and enrols in college. Blinded by the American Dream, Nathan falls victim to the banks and an endless, unpayable amount of credit/debt. This leads Nathan to experience the poorer and more troubled aspects of American society as he tries to get his life back on track.

Unfortunately I found Nathan to be the weakest of the three protagonists in the collection. Nathan is a deliberately naïve character and the reader can see how his situation will unfold far sooner than he does. As a consequence this means we spend the first half of Turf waiting for Nathan to have the same revelation before the story can progress further.

The second half of the story is stronger by comparison. The story’s sad subject matter does lead to some emotional moments through a melancholy acceptance. That said, Garai does make a point to end the story with the promise that there are many chances in life and it is possible for a person’s situation to improve.

The Eye Opener

Set in France, Cedric returns home from prison to find his brother his been killed. Cedric was wrongly convicted and we can clearly see that, at heart, he is a good person. However society can’t see past his conviction and Cedric struggles to find employment or have anyone believe his version of events when things start to go wrong for him again.

The Eye Opener heavily focuses on the social commentary aspect of the story and it reminded me a lot of Garai’s novella A Man Without Shelter, which also deals with a recently released wrongly accused convict struggling to make his way in society. Whereas the longer Shelter takes it time to set up the details of the plot, the faster pace of Opener provided a higher amount of action and emotional moments.

In what could easily be a depressing story I liked that Garai once again chose to end his story on a hopeful note.

Personally I feel The Eye Opener is an improvement on Garai’s first short story collection: The Sacrifice. Having now read a few books by Garai it’s great to see how he is continually growing and developing as a writer.

A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Estelle, a friend of the author. You can find more information about Indrajit and his works on Estelle’s website.

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