Category: Books

Life With A Pinch Of Salt ~ Asfiya Rehman

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“Life With a Pinch of Salt” is a collection of short stories and micro-fiction by Asfiya Rehman. What ties these twelve stories together is life. Our messy, unpredictable, full of surprises and yet, beautiful life.

It was the cover and the title of the book that first intrigued me. But later, it was the stories inside that engrossed me. A short read, one can finish the book in about half an hour, “Life With A Pinch Of Salt”, is a mix of short stories and micro-fiction. Few of the stories have tongue-in-cheek humour, like “Fear” and “Bhai and NRI”. “Death Lurks In Every Corner” is a great attempt at humour, with a twist in the tale. “Wedding Vows or Woes” is the quintessential Indian wedding mishap story. I think most of us, who have attended Indian weddings, would remember an anecdote about some issue that had the potential to derail the whole wedding. This story shows a similar incident in a humorous way. “The Best Mistake of My Life” showed the author’s way with words. The reader is kept guessing about the protagonist’s character. “Devi”, on the other hand, was poignant. A micro-fiction tale, it succeeds in touching the reader’s heart.


The best story, in my opinion, was, “Is It Kinder To Give or Receive”. This simple tale shows the innocence and purity of childhood. Saifi is an adorable character whose nuances the author has captured very well. In fact, the story reminded me of the short films made by TVF. It shows the same simplicity of life and humorous coincidences.

If I had to find the flaws in the book, since this is a review, then for me, it would be that the length of the book is too short. A few more stories might have satisfied the bookworm in me.

I have always believed that our routine, mundane lives have stories hidden in them. Asfiya Rehman has succeeded in bringing out these stories on paper. These stories are simple, slice-of-life stories. They do not ruffle any feathers or raise any issues plaguing our society. Nor do they pontificate or show the moral double grounds of society. Rather, “Life With A Pinch Of Salt” shows the vagaries of life and the beauty in the mundane.

To paraphrase the authors, “Life isn’t meant to be perfect, it is meant to be lived“.

“Life With A Pinch Of Salt” has been released as part of BlogchatterEBook Carnival and can be downloaded by clicking here.

My Ebook, “A Potpourri of Drabble” has also been released as part of Blogchatter’s Ebook Carnival. It can be downloaded for free for a limited time from here.

Psst. My book “Xanadu: Three Souls Searching For Their Paradise” is now available on Amazon, do check it out!