Review of 'The Scar' - by Varalotti Rengaswami!

purnima_2k · Mar 30, 2006

Hi ,

This is my second attempt in writing a formal review, and this time its for a short story written by our dear family member- Mr Varalotti. This review is dedicated to you, Sir!

Please pour in your comments after the review !

Thanks and Regards,
Purnima

- --beg of review--

'The Scar ' (posted by VR on June 15th 2005) -- "To be read by all brothers in remembrance of their dear sisters"

The Scar is a story of a loving sister showing selfless love towards her brother.

The story circles around a small family involving Sharadha , Sethu and their mom

Sharadha, 13 years older to Sethu has a scary scar on her face, which terrorizes Sethu right from his childhood till her death. The various instances where Sharadha puts up with Sethus taunts shows how mature and a beautiful person Sharadha is.

Sethu , a medical college student wonders which field in medicine to pursue on, his mother wants him to choose cardiology as his father had died an unnatural death at a very young age cause by heart attack. His girl friend wanted him to pursue on Orthopaedics. His heart is full of hatred for his sister Sharadha and her ugly scar forces him to introduce her as their house maid to his friends!

Varalotti Rengaswami has done a brillant job in bringing out one of the worst evils of the society—“Physical Appearance”,he has unearthed the basic truth of life very beautifully , that appearances are very deceptive.We all beleive that what we see is what it is, but what lies beneath? Many people fail to notice!

The story is a must to read for people of all age groups. The author has maintained the suspense throughout as to what is the history behind the scar which Sethu unearths after her death!

The words uttered by Sharadha “This scar always reminds me of Sethu. When Sethu stood first in the District in the HSC exams, when he got a gold medal in his MBBS exams, I used to fondle the scar as if to say, 'What laurels have you brought to my Sethu!'” , is very touching , he has bought out the emotions of the sister very well.

However, the fact that Sethu’s mother did not reveal the truth behind his sisters scar even after such taunts given by Sethu that led to Sharadha running away from home for good , JUST to keep up her promise to her daughter was a little hard to believe. The emotions of the mother towards Sharadha is not very clear. Was she also a little distant from her own daughter??? Well, that is left to the readers to analyse.

Overall a touching and a wonderful snippet highlighting a social cause.Language used is very simple and understandable by everyone. Must Read!

--- end of review---------

Belated congrats Mr VR for getting Best poster of the (June) Month!
with max number of views for the month!

Purnima

(ps -to read the story pls go here )

purnima_2k · Mar 30, 2006

HI all!

I am trying to improvise on my review skills . Everyone feel free to pour in the comments for the same!My intention is to do full justice to the story as well as the author!

Cheers,
Purnima

sudhavnarasimhan · Mar 31, 2006

Hi Purnima,

Your reviewng is ofcourse getting better, i can see you have incorporated all he points, like quoting sentences and also voicing your own opinion. I guess now we can call this an impersonal review ! GOOD JOB! and keep up the enthusiasm!

purnima_2k · Mar 31, 2006

Thank you very much Sudha!

Your kind words are very refreshing and gives me a lot of energy Thank you very much. I am thinking of giving a gap for about a week or 10 days and then will post my review on" Veronica decides to die", gives me time to read the book thoroughly!

Once again thank you for your support!

Purnima

prathi · Mar 31, 2006

Good job Purnima

You have done a good job purnima. Keep writing and revive our interests too!

Your review made me read the scar again after months. A very touching story indeed. The predicament of a boy torn between mother and lover (many cases..wife) is absolutely factual. Many a time the noble self-lessness of people is made use of. That is depicted dramatically in the situations where sethu makes use of sharada's love. Sethu can be seen as "A countenance more in sorrow than in anger ". We can pity him for failing to comprehend his sister's love. There is an underlying moral that tells us not to hide our love for anyone or hate any one as easily as sethu did. It may be too late! Sharada even in her death seems to have solved a problem for sethu like she always did. This is evident in the line " Become an expert in removing scars from the faces of loving sisters so that their brothers do not carry uglier scars on their souls. "

Varalotti Rangasamy has the knack of making us travel with the story itself and allows us to be a part of it. His lucid style of writing is highly commendable and appealing to the masses.

Time for some soul-searching!

purnima_2k · Mar 31, 2006

Your explanation is much better than my whole review!!!

Thank you very much prathi. For a beginner like me, words of support from all of your really means a lot and motivates me to do better each time!

Yes, since Varalotti deals with social topics, it enables us to relate to it so much to the extent that we almost feel that its happening at our next door! . All his moral stories certainly causes goose pimples thats for sure!

Thank you once again prathi for the kind words!

Regards,
Purnima

Chitvish · Mar 31, 2006

Hello Purnima !

Your review makes interesting reading. This was a very touching story & it was sad to read that before the sister's value was recognised by the brother, she died. Probably, if she had lived, he might never have recognised !
This was a story which I enjoyed thoroughly.
Good job !
Love & regards,
Chithra.

purnima_2k · Mar 31, 2006

i am so thrilled, ChitVish!

Your words make me truly happy! Thank you very much! Even i enjoyed the story very much!

Warm Regards,
Purnima

varalotti · Apr 3, 2006

A Nice Job Again, Purnima!

Dear Purnima,
The Scar is one of my very precious stories and when you took that up for review I was first a little afraid. But you have done a nice job. A clean review which justifies the author's work and makes the reader run for the story.
This story is something I treasure and will never forget till I die. For my daughter has been telling every now and then, 'Write a story like The Scar, Dad'. It's Tamil version (thazhumbu) appears in my short story collection recently published. Reading the Tamil story my father called up and said in a choked voice, that the story is very good and he could not help crying. I was moved, Purnima.
Congrats, a nice job. Thanks for the nice words.
sridhar

Dear Prathi,
You have done a mini review while reviewing Purnima's work. And you quoted the same words which I love the most in the story.
I could not thank you adequately for the nice words.
sridhar

Sharada · Apr 3, 2006

it's ok Purnima

Purnima, like the others I won't praise you effusively. The attempt is good, but there are many areas you need to improve upon. Focus more on grammar and sentence structure - for instance "on Orthopedics" is incorrect. There was no need to bring out the essence of the story and the characters in the first two sentences - this is the way students are taught to do reviews in school! You should be more innovative - perhaps you could have started this way - "The Scar" is Varalotti's most engaging and touching story to date. It highlights the oft-repeated fact that beauty is more than skindeep. The central characters of the story comprehend this in different ways.

Quoting lines from the story is a good technique - but you should add your view/slant on this.
Purnima you are certainly on the path of improvement.
Wishing you all the best,
Sharada