The Chronicle of Golgotha Days by Sujith Balakrishnan

Book: The Chronicle of Golgotha Days
Author: Sujith Balakrishnan
Published by: Leadstart Publication
Year: 2019
Reviewed by: Mukesh for Book Reviews Lab
Rating: 4/5 stars

The cover suggests a lot. The Chronicle of Golgotha Days is a novel that’s more a chronical re-telling of an incident that took place about 23 years ago. Sujith, in his very debut work, has sparked a debate – is our justice system so slow that a victim has to wait almost two and a half decades and still denied her justice? The story of Abhaya (a dramatic name given to the victim of the Suryanelli rape case of 1996) will leave the readers in awe. Her torment will make the readers ask many questions of themselves and of society and also of the justice system that we have in India.

This is the novel that leaves no room or very little space for the discussions other than the theme of the fiction. Sujith has picked up a subject that is enough to get the attention of the readers involved. A girl of 16 is raped by many men for many days and the culprits are left on the premise that girl’s version has been varying with time – what else? A person with a heart can imagine what a girl might be going through.

As far as the novel is concerned, it’s written in the simplest form of language but with an effective narrative that does not let the readers go off the hook. Abhaya’s journey into the hell and coming out of it battered and defeated has been described in a manner that creates sensations of rage in the minds of the readers. And this had to be the author’s motive as well – give the voice to the voiceless and rest will follow by itself.

I will urge the readers of all sections and across the age group to go through this amazing debut novel by Sujith Balakrishnan. The Chronicle of Golgotha Days will be the novel that might make you think many things at once if you go through it carefully. It has the elements of pathos and sentimental narrative – it had to be so. And I truly impressed by the writing of Sujith. Though he has written two Malayalam short stories collection before, this was just his debut novel in English and he has done wonderfully!

I will conclude my review by saying that we need more novelists like Sujith who are willing to change the course of the narrative. His novel is purposeful and meaningful as well as a fiction that is strong in its basic elements. You can get your Kindle or Paperback copies and read this novel:

buy it from Amazon – click here to get a copy

review by Mukesh for Book Reviews Lab