Scrabble Babble Rabble - A tale of hope and empathy amidst the gloom of prison

📗BOOK: Scrabble Babble Rabble

📗AUTHOR: Bruno Beaches

📗GENRE: Contemporary Literary Fiction

📗THEME: Prison Stories

📖RATING: 

 ⚡ Storyline- 4/5

 ⚡ Literature- 3.9/5

📝PLOT:

When we hear the word 'prison', we imagine a place housing criminals within a restricted world; the criminals who do not deserve the societal empathy; the criminals who don't have the right to be given access to a better life.

However, Mr Blanchflower, a noble soul and a committed teacher, wants to bring out the best out of the prison inmates and hence mentors them on the topic of communication and English Language. He has devised a game of scrabble wherein the participants have to create a word and narrate any incident that comes to their mind related to that word.

What started as a game of scrabble, turned into a cathartic experience for the prison inmates who recounted their ordeals, emotions and backstories.

✒VERDICT 

🥇Pro:

1) I have recently read some of the works of Bruno Beaches and I was bowled over by his depth of storyline and quality of narration. Scrabble, Babble, Rabble is no different. It was a refreshing experience for me to read about the lives of prison inmates and the subtly humane side in them.

2) The characters have been so well-developed, putting everyone's journey in unique perspective. Mr Blanchflower's emphasis on education and importance of books in a place which has no hope of future has been a heartwarming read for me. 

3) I liked the fact that the author was able to bring out the journey of each individual, be it Denis, Liam or Kevin with whom we associated and empathized throughout the plotline. The author didn't rush through the story to make it half baked or racy.

👎Cons:

The story could have been edited in a better manner to make it more sharp and concrete. Some places have too much backstory which lengthened the storyline and made it a seemingly long read.

📗All in all, I enjoyed the latest offering of Bruno Beaches which offered me a fresh perspective towards life at large.