I had read Gandhiji's biography My Experiments with Truth and it was a great read and this book was to reveal to me the other side of Gandhiji's life. A diary of his better half and so I got this book. Though the disclaimer claims that it's a work of imagination still I somewhere knew that it should be based on the facts available from various books written on our Father of the Nation.
The book should have been named as the Gandhi household since the book is more about the family than of Kasturba though from the eyes of her. The initial chapters of the book seemed like directly copied from Experiments with Truth. As a diary of Kasturba I was expecting to read what she saw and what she felt but the book also focussed on those facts and aspects where she was not present.
I also found some contradictions in the narration, for instance Kasturba was illiterate and Gandhiji tried to teach her to read and write but failed to do and still when Kasturba goes to South Africa for the first time she notices Bible and Quran on Gandhiji's book shelf. How did she identify them?
A large part of the book focuses on Gandhiji's eldest born, Harilal which was a delight but again the narrative as though she was present was a put off. Many narratives are very novelish writing and you cannot connect it with reality. There was no need of description in detail of the bedroom scenes of Harilal and Gulab which may have been incorporated for some interest to the readers but is a huge disappointment to the pace of the book.
One thing the book aroused is the curiosity to read a book on Gandhiji's eldest born son Harilal. The clashes between him Gandhiji did make a gluing read. The history of freedom fight is narrated in detail thereby destroying the very essence of the name of book.
You can easily skip this book and read My Experiments with Truth instead.
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