Title: The Fifth Dimension: A Story of Courage Through Faith
Author: Ramma Kher
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-5434-2542-0
Pages: 476
Genre: Fiction / Religion / Spirituality
Reviewed by: Christa Hill
Pacific Book Review
Stylistically Ramma Kher has created a book, The Fifth Dimension: A Story of Courage Through Faith which follows a very clean format. The galley text makes the story slide off the page and last in the mind of its readers. The wording has an almost poetic rhythm that arrests the senses and makes this tale unique. The world is built with clever imagery and some amusing attention to detail. The stories exploration of Begali culture gives the audience a perspective of the rituals, which are common for the people within the world of the novel.The character of Meera is a deep-thinking person with keen observations of what is happening around her. Since she is so introspective the story forces the reader to think about the topics and issues being presented, in a real-world context. The author uses her characters to look at religion and the purpose of gods and idols in Indian society.
With that said, there were times in the middle of the story that held a certain kind of normalcy which left the characters with no way of progressing or taking us on a journey. The family relationships are well defined yet often confusing and difficult to remember from one chapter to the next. The dialogue’s heavy nature in the book does serve to build some distance from the happenings, as it leaves the readers to learn as the characters learn, which does build suspense.
The Fifth Dimension melds both a modern 21st century feel with a more vintage essence. It is a world built without time and space with making it both strange and educational in one neat package. The twists and turns in the story bring up issues, which are somewhat common in families, such as death and infidelity and are artfully handled becoming grippingly embroidered into the story.
As a reader, I did find a few of the characters hard to remember and difficult to trace their connection to our main protagonist. However, the character guide was useful and Kher’s expert formatting made even the quotidian engaging. The book deals with hard hitting topics worth thinking about even if this book isn’t one that naturally calls to its audience. Struggles such as death, suicide, trust, religion and honor are just a few I was able to muse upon during my time with The Fifth Dimension: A Story of Courage Through Faith.
