This novel tells an unusual story set against the background of a tribal community's quest for herbal medicine that can fight off disease and death. The setting offers immense scope for display of primordial emotions, and the novelist makes every effort to put it to good use.
Mountain, sea, rain and wind, appearing mostly in moods of fury, assume the role of full-fledged characters. Occasionally, they loom large over the human characters, giving the story an altogether new dimension, one of depicting the lives of weak humans caught in the fury of Nature.
The narrative style Reghunath uses matches the theme but the conversations of the characters do not quite jell with the setting he has chosen. As a result, the story in some places appears very contrived.
HIMASAGARAM: P. Reghunath, DC Books, DC Kizhakemuri Edam, Good Shepherd Street, Kottayam-686001. Rs. 125.
