The Chronicle of Golgotha Days by Sujith Balakrishnan – Review

There have been many novels on the issues that are related to women and their issues. However, not all of them are as intense as the recent novel by Sujith Balakrishnan is – The Chronicle of Golgotha Days. This novel has been written in the first person and the subject of the novel, Abhaya, herself recites the story of her devastation.

The novel is based on the incident known as the Suryanelli Rape Case of 1996. A 16-year-old girl, a schoolgirl, was gang-raped, tortured, humiliated and harassed mentally and physically by many people including some of the high-profile persons from the civil society – politicians, advocates and officers included. The justice, however, is still in the queue.

Sujith Balakrishnan has raised the issue of injustice and ghastly crime against a girl in his novel. He has based his characters according to the real criminal incident and he has let the victim narrate the story herself. By doing so, the novelist has been very successful in creating an atmosphere that gives space to empathy – as a reader, you will certainly feel for the victim!

All that comes out of reading this novel is a shame that we have created such a society that’s unable to stop crimes against women and girls. A society where it’s troublesome to trust someone in relationships like love and friendship – Abhaya trusts a bus conductor and he is the guy who abandons her and propels the tragedy. Sujith has also exposed the sordid state of the justice system in our country that’s still unable to establish what happened 23 years ago! Are we being serious?

Being the very debut novel of Sujith Balakrishnan, he has done some commendable job as a novelist. He has been able to compel his readers to think and feel in a certain direction. He has been successful in inducing a chain of thoughts in his audience – a craving for justice. The language used by Sujith has also been ideal for modern readers’ tendencies. It’s neither too complicated nor too simple.

This novel will be an ideal read for the readers who love reading serious fiction or fiction with a cause other than leisure. Sujith Balakrishnan has opened a new door into the world of realistic fiction and this one leads the readers, certainly, to a world where they can seek cause, effects, remedies and possibilities of betterment.

You can get a copy of this novel from Amazon India by clicking the link below:

Buy the book from Amazon India – click here

review by Ajay for The Book Blog