In the book – Corona Chronicles – An Intimate History of the Pandemic, author Rana Nayar has recorded every possible aspect and all possible dimensions to the corona pandemic. And he has done so in that free flowing way. An easy, absorbing read. Though the book is loaded with facts and factors and details to the big or small happenings but it just flows along. No burden on the head or on the heart! A book review by Humra Quraishi
Title of the book – Corona Chronicles – An Intimate History of the Pandemic
Author – Rana Nayar
Publishers – AuthorsPress
Pages – 164
Price – Rs 295
Book Review by Humra Quraishi
Well-known academic and theatre personality, Rana Nayar, has come out with his latest book – Corona Chronicles- An Intimate History of the Pandemic. And as the title more than relays, the focus is on Corona with all possible dimensions to it.
Before curiosity overtakes you and I, along the strain that why did he decide to write this latest book on Corona, it’s best to quote him from the Prologue,
“ It is my considered opinion that re-visiting an event, howsoever painful or traumatic, is not so much a reactivation of negative emotions associated with it, as it is an active release, a liberation from those very emotions…This book is intended for a common reader, who is prepared to take the rough, with the smooth, and is brave enough not to be intimidated by the painful memories of the pandemic…For those who are more ambitious would perhaps look for a sense of history in these chronicles as well. While writing Corona Chronicles, though I was conscious of the fact that history was literally unfolding itself right in front of my eyes, I chose the narrative over the historic method for recording my impressions …”
Yes, after reading this book I can say that Rana Nayar has recorded every possible aspect and all possible dimensions to the Corona pandemic. And he has done so in that free flowing way. An easy, absorbing read. In fact, the forte of this book is exactly this. Though it is loaded with facts and factors and details to the big or small happenings but it just flows along. No burden on the head or on the heart!
This book should come in handy for researchers and students and planners. And definitely for the survivors of that Corona phase! Not to overlook its significance for the future generations; all those who didn’t really witness that Corona phase and the upheavals it bought along and inflicted on the citizens.
And if the sarkari men and the so called medical ‘experts’ would find time to read this book, then it would portray to them details to that phase, with all possible hues and dimensions … Beneficial knowledge, just in case any further calamities and viruses hit the fragile human being!
Leaving you to introspect on what Rana Nayar comments: “If I’m making the reader walk through the ‘valley of death’ called Corona, it is mainly to provoke him into asking questions that have to do with our survival as a human race. It was a tragedy that had wrapped its head around the entire humanity.”
