The Familiar Faces | V Ram Praneeth | Book Review

Short stories have always been a pleasure to read. Their crispness and briefer narrative leave a lot for the reader to imagine and process. I don’t know if it does make sense but short stories make their readers dream more and live more.

The Familiar Faces: Volume 1 by V Ram Praneeth is a collection of stories of people like you and me that are very different and yet appear familiar. That’s their beauty. Their familiarity, their simplicity. It was a good experience to read them for a few of them managed to evoke certain emotions inside of me.

Familiar Faces navigates the lives of common men as they explore their paths. The stories touch upon the simplest of aspects and emotions such as the innocence of a child or looking at sunset as an anniversary gift! Some of the themes included are love, pain, disappointment, friendship, relationships, family values, etc.

I am sure one would feel light after reading these stories for how relatable they turn out to be. Some might even shake you for how well they bring forth the stark dark reality of our modern lives. I specifically liked the one that portrayed two kids fighting for a glass and a spoon.

With lucid writing and simple storylines, this book would prove to be a good read for beginners. I would have liked it more if the writing was impressive and the narrative more impactful. Because even if these stories seemed authentic, some of them didn’t make me feel anything. Certain depth was missing and so, the stories couldn’t strike a chord with me.

Despite this, as mentioned, the concept is lovely and if you’re looking for something easy-peasy, go for this. Wishing all the best to the author for their future literary endeavours.