Book Review: The Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond

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Introduction:

Book Name: The Room on the Roof

Author Name: Ruskin Bond

Language: English

Genre: Fiction

The Room on the Roof is a book written by Ruskin Bond. It was Bond’s initial literary endeavor. Bond jotted down the book when he was seventeen and achieved the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. The book revolves around Rusty, an orphaned seventeen-year-old Anglo-Indian fellow occupancy in Dehradun. Due to his caretaker, Mr. Harrison's stringent ways, he flees away from his residence to stay with his Indian playmates.


About the Author:

Ruskin Bond is an Indian writer of British collapse. His initial book, the room of the roof, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957. He was granted the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for our Trees still accumulate in Dehra, his book in English. Bond has composed hundreds of short stories, dissertations, novellas, and novels for children. He was rewarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014. He resides with his adopted household in Landour, Mussoorie.


About the Book:

Room on the Roof is almost an orphaned fellow called Rusty who has no actual household after his parents’ demise. He is very alone and sad and actually though he resides with his guardian (Mr. John Harrison), he doesn’t believe at residence. Rusty is moving through various emotions: he is stunned, urged, helpless, alone, and awful. 

He is perplexed because he is a youthful boy between the generation of a grown-up and a child and doesn’t realize who to pursue or what his forthcoming clasps are. He is compelled to pursue the decrees and regulations of his guardian and tempts not to disobey him. 

He thinks powerless because he understands that if he disobeys Mr. John, he will give caned. Rusty doesn’t have any actual playmates and he is so very alone in his guardian’s cottage.

Even though Rusty is half-Indian, John doesn’t let Rusty near the market for a reason: John guesses that Indians are very filthy and this tale is composed just after the British had ruled over India, so he must have felt more exceptional! One day, Rusty decides to reap some fresh atmosphere and grabs a saunter while his caretaker was out in Delhi. 

After stepping through the wilderness, he ends in front of the bazaar and his mind is asserting with his impulse. His sense is saying, Don’t leave! You will get into difficulty. But his intuition is telling, Go! You possess your soul and sense. You don’t possess to inhabit under regulations all the moment. Rusty selects to follow his intuition and walks into the market.

He has created a reasonable choice. Up until now, Rusty doesn’t possess any wish or dignity but then he confronts a kind fellow named Some and makes playmates with him. Some and his playmates fulfill Rusty’s confidence and enthusiasm, and Some and Ranbir are good to Rusty. 

When Rusty returns residence, he finds that his caretaker has returned ahead and gives caned for going to the market. The second day, he leaves to play Holi with Ranbir and once also gets caned. Rusty now realizes what he has to accomplish. He begins to live his existence and moves away from his caretaker’s cottage. Rusty learns Some who helps him a lot.

Gradually, from a bewildered boy, Rusty whirls into an optimistic and independent youthful man! He gets a job schooling English to a fellow named Kishen, in return for a small compartment on the ceiling and diet. He learns about a loving and entertaining household, his sovereignty, and even learns his ‘first affection’ in Kishen’s mama Meena. 

The story seizes a turn when he misses all his playmates and his initial affection too. Now Rusty’s final reference of dignity and confidence has gone out and his alone days return. Rusty expends his awful days watching out at the window and once also, schedules to run away. 

He agrees to go back to England but before accomplishing so, he needs to tell the last goodbye to his playmates and discoveries Kishen who persuades him to remake his psyche about returning to the UK. Instead, the two walk away jointly to construct their modern world and existence without bothering about anything else.


My View:

I like this novel because it was composed of a teenager’s viewpoint. The writer was seventeen when he composed this and the tale was motivated by his occasions when he resided in Dehra. 

He composed this tale because he too was thinking of some of the feelings that Rusty was understanding the story. And for that justification, he agreed that he would never make any amendments so anthologies could comprehend how it feels to be seventeen.

It was a tremendous read because it has a lot of various feelings and I like the means Ruskin Bond has written it: an easy tale made into such a satisfying and sad novel.


My rating for this book is 5/5.
Get a copy of this book easily from Amazon: The Room on the Roof

Written By - Muskan Gupta
Edited By - Anamika Malik