PLOT: 4/5
CHARACTERS: 3/5
WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5
CLIMAX: 4/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5
“We build our personalities through our experiences, Kani. Our personality exists because of our thoughts and actions. It is not a ghost.”
Divided into 23 chapters, Indigo Awakening is a grim yet exciting read into the topsy-turvy world of a woman who has been suffering from the feeling of being visited by apparitions at night time.
Though she’s tried several times to brush aside her thoughts as mere whims, she can barely overcome the sweat and fear that they leave her with once the visions are over.
Through a grim prologue, Kanika Kumar leads the readers into this world of mayhem that barely makes sense to the lead character (also named Kanika) as she debates whether her life is a bane or a boon amidst the given chaos.
The plot moves gradually at a steady pace but it is the manner of storytelling that is unique to Kumar who holds up the suspense till the very last word of the book.
It is this suspense that is enthralling and makes the reader want to know more about what exactly happens next. The way in which things unfold is surreptitious.
Scene after scene there are several philosophical debates about what exactly those visions signify and who can be behind it all.
Kumar’s narrative has a minimalist style that allows for little to be revealed and makes it hard for the reader to skim pages. Added to that, her offbeat rhetoric calls for close attention to linguistic cues that hint at various possibilities of Kanika’s maladies.
This makes for the chances of multiple explanations and understandings of the plot line.
Akin to a psychological thriller in some parts with several hidden mysteries, the minimalistic aspect is so strongly stressed that the book doesn’t come with a blurb or a cover photo. This puts all the focus on the text that pulls the reader in and just won’t let go too easily.
It all makes for a highly unpredictable narrative that seems to find no proper solution.
The conflict lies within the character of Kanika who is extremely confused about what exactly ails her. Despite recommendations to visit a doctor, Kanika wants to beat up her demons on her own.
Underneath it all is a woman who is either possessed or suffering from extreme anxiety and depression.
What follows is a mind-boggling mix of mathematics, permutations, combinations and a lot of power of the X chromosome.
Being able to connect with Dark Energy means an opening into other dimensions. While Kanika may be a magnet for the spirit world, it is also highly possible that she is simply a mad woman going through a difficult phase of her life.
After a certain point, Indigo Awakening gets too philosophical and may seem problematic to those who do not enjoy a world outside of the empirical and rational company.
Be it a hallucination or over imagination, Kanika is confident that it is definitely supernatural. According to her, a higher intelligence has spoken but it is up to her to handle it.
The book is a great read for those who are ghostbusters or believe in ghosts, astrology, the power of spiritual healing or simply enjoy philosophical debates about abstractions of the universe and higher order thinking.
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Well explained.