Woebegone’s Warehouse of Words by Payal Kapadia (Hachette India) is a whimsical dystopian novel set in the future fantasy world where speakers have to buy words to use them. The story starts rolling when Asha and Zeb, two fifteen-year olds, make the grave mistake of graffitiing a wall. This puts them in the spotlight as the tyrannical Word Bloc pursues them. Their sinister leader Gunther Glib reminds us of a dictators, power hungry politicians and manipulative rulers who would do anything to stay in control.
In the world depicted in the novel, speakers have to pay a price for the words they speak. Flesh and ink words are delivered to the speakers who have paid to use them. Words which have lost their meaning or are out of use are all housed in a warehouse managed by Woebegone. His own story and his own journey where he truly finds himself, is also interwoven into the narrative.
Kapadia creates a beautifully whimsical world where words are more than just words. They have personalities, quirks, and stories of their own, and are characters in themselves. Woebegone’s interactions with the words in the warehouse, playing scrabble with them and the unique bond they foster, are delightful moments in the novel. A dying word urges her friends to escape to the forgotten woods and this starts off a movement of sorts where words find their voice! The puns, the wordplays and movement of words is reason enough to dip into the novel.
The broader theme however encompasses the age old idea of control. Gunther Glib represents the powers that rule the world with their desire to control the narrative. Gunther is all set to destroy words forever, silencing their speakers. He can do anything, inflict any injustice and excuse it all as it is done in the name of “the greater good”.
However, the story bears testimony to the resilience of the human spirit and the fact that no matter how hard one tries to control words, the very soul of humanity lies in language. Woebegone’s Warehouse of Words by Payal Kapadia blends fantasy, magical realism and a deep eternal philosophy in a fun to read exciting book!
