Not a Review: My Experience with A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara | Spoiler Alert

 

My Experience with A Little Life (Spoiler Alert 🔔)

Not a Book Review by Dhiraj Sindhi

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Author: Hanya Yanagihara

ISBN: 978-1447294832

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Length: 720 Pages

Publication Date: 2015

Publisher: Picador Collection (10 March 2017)

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/3NSCqm5

About the author:

Hanya Yanagihara is the author of the internationally bestselling A Little Life. She lives in New York City.

Hanya Yanagihara (The New Yorker)

Instagram: @hanyayanagihara

A Little Life: @alittlelifebook

To Paradise: @toparadisenovel

Disclaimer: This is not a review, it is only intended for initiating discussions. The opinions and views presented in this article are my own and do not reflect anything about the book's author. 

REVIEW

As you start reading, you're happy to know the characters and you appreciate the relationship they share with each other and the friendship, affection, care, and support. Their origins are exposed to you, where they are coming from, some of them simple to understand and the others, complex. You're told of their current struggles, finding a footing in their respective careers, regarding their identity, their altering relationships as they cannot live together anymore and grow apart. Years go by, Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving and they eventually establish prominent positions in their fields.

Meanwhile, there comes a turning point in Jude's life when he is adopted by Harold. Things turn grave from now onwards as these changes and events keep reminding us that life is difficult. Jude suffers a lot because of his leg injury, the reason behind which is yet to be revealed and his traumatic past, only the slightest details of which have been revealed yet. Then comes JB's addiction and how the group literally falls apart. Willem and Malcolm also have their own troubles but now the focus narrows down on Jude's life.

At some points, I felt like I could relate to Jude at many different levels, not to the level or extent Hanya has heightened the stakes and circumstances, but very basic level and I would agree with his perception of the world and the people in his life and his relationship with them and I felt terrified. She has made it so raw and real that you cannot imagine these things outside of your own reality. The episodes I could relate with, which is not a problem anymore thankfully. And whenever there was the 'cutting' scene, after I'd stopped reading, I'll watch my own hands and wrists as if it would have been replaced with Jude's and I'll cover them and wrap arms around myself. And the next bathroom trip wouldn't be easy as you can't brush off these memories that would linger for some time before you distracted yourself. But then you get accustomed to it. I got accustomed to it and accepted Jude's life as it is. 

I loved how Yanagihara announced most of the shocking, horrifying, traumatic events way before they'd take place in the novel. You'll read a line, a sort of advanced notice or forewarning and you'll know how this is going to end. One example is 'He knows Caleb hates his walk' or 'The First time Caleb hit him.' She always lets you choose whether you'd want to continue or not. Once you're past this chapter, there's no going back, things have changed and it only gets worse even if she promises a little relief in 'The Happy Years'. By the end of 'The Axiom of Equality', I imagined tearing apart the book and its pages and drowning it in the water tank and flinging it from the terrace to some unknown terrain that it wouldn't return to me. But I knew, as much as I hated it, I loved reading it too, in fact, more. 

I wanted to know what 'the home' was and who this Dr. Traylor was. And this explanation wasn't too far from where I stood. In the meanwhile, the relationships changed, and everyone was around again. Yanagihara portrayed so well, the situation of Jude, how he felt about everything, how a person thinks after going through what he'd gone through and enduring so much of it. For me, it couldn't get more real than this. Still, now, because of his relationship with Willem, and for Harold, Jude tries even harder to not just survive but do his best at living, the extreme he could touch like he reaches the highest sound frequency, at which it becomes the constant silence. And then comes Harold's point of view, how he discovers gradually what Jude meant when he said he'd be disgusted to learn who he was, rather what he is. That he really thought he deserved this all that he still believed those people, his tormentors, after all. In this particular Harold's narrative, you go through this pain all over again.

Then there are some events you could have never expected to arrive without warning, they hit you suddenly on the face like a slap and you're left dumbstruck. This happens at the end of 'The Happy Hours', still you can't swallow it. I had read the previous 60 pages in one sitting and I tried to continue. I started reading 'Dear Comrade' still unable to accept what had happened. Then this line— 'he goes first to Willem's side of the closet, which he still has not emptied.' and I just couldn't continue reading further. I put aside the book and tried to let the fact sink in and as the night was approaching, I made up my mind that I'll be finishing the remaining 90 pages that night only no matter what. I got over the fact that Willem was gone, nothing can be done, but what about Jude after him? It was painful but a few pages after that I learned none of them survived, not Malcolm, not Sophie. And the dams burst open at the mention of it. I could've kept crying but I needed to get this done with and I wiped away my tears and took a swig from a water bottle and continued.

My face, my cheeks and my head were hurting as I tried to control my emotions, to keep myself from crying because I wouldn't be able to read then. It became a slippery hill from then on, at regular intervals there would come stumbling stones and I will be knocked down. I would fall, I would cry and then get up again and resume descending towards the end we had all anticipated. There are more such stumbling blocks in the last 'Lispenard Street' and because narration has returned to Harold, who is conversing with his son's partner—Willem, it is obvious that it's done. On every page, you expect this to happen like this is the moment and then finally! I gathered myself quickly and resumed. And I read, 'I didn't know Andy would be dead three years later of a heart attack' and I lose it. This destruction is beyond repair. There could be nothing worse than that and you see Harold and Julia left alone, only JB to their company, them reading eight long pages of Jude's confession of what had happened to him.

Do I recommend this book? Most definitely. Not to everyone though. There are enough trigger warnings you can find on Goodreads. And as I said earlier, you will know what to anticipate and you will be forewarned. So it will be completely in your hands whether to continue or not. But yes, mere curiosity and 'want' to cry wouldn't suffice, it'll demand much more effort.

Am I going to re-read it? Yes, of course. I have kept the book very clean for the type of book it is. It can be studied with different readings because it has a lot of content on many subjects. I'll use pencils to underline text, I'll use sticky notes to annotate, I'll use highlighters, etc. That will be my second reading.

Thanks a ton to the person who recommended this book to me: Raul Jeremiah Rai. Wishing him success in his UPSC CSE journey.

Happy Reading!

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Book Review: The Part I Left with You by Rahul Saini | Contemporary Fiction

    

Book Review

The Part I Left with You by Rahul Saini

The Part I Left with You by Rahul Saini

Author: Rahul Saini

ISBN: 978-9353451585

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Length: 236 Pages

Publication Date: 30^th March 2021

Publisher: Juggernaut Books (Sales and Distribution - HarperCollins India)

Cover Design: Amit Malhotra 

Cover Designer: Website: https://www.amit-malhotra.com/ | Instagram: @gul_e_abbasis

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/3yhCQug

About the author:

Rahul Saini has a master’s degree in English literature. He is the bestselling author of many novels, including Those Small Lil Things: In Life and Love and Paperback Dreams.

Rahul Saini

Instagram: @writingrahul

Facebook: @rahul.saini.1213

Twitter: @writingrahul

YouTube: Writing Rahul

REVIEW

“Love feels like a great misfortune, a monstrous parasite, a permanent state of emergency that ruins all small pleasures.” – Slavoj Žižek

The Part I Left with You by Rahul Saini is a light-hearted, chucklesome and unputdownable contemporary fiction novel that dives deep into the waters of love; while exploring varied opinions on and experiences of love, relationships, break-ups and moving on, it strives to close in on the realities of this ‘ugly and cruel world’. The book narrates the stories of three main characters – one mostly witty, another melancholic, esoteric and the third who is turning over the page she was stuck on for long in order to start afresh.

The narration of this book involves all these three characters’ POVs. It is a fine and balanced mixture of different kind of narrative techniques, including first-person, third-person (limited omniscient) and epistolary style, which in my opinion, completes any piece of literary work because using these literary devices in the non-linear narrative writing keep us readers hooked and emphasizes on little themes of the story and it is what makes a truly gripping novel such as this. Rahul Saini has handily achieved this. On top of everything, the cozy contemporary writing style worked like a charm on me.

“Artists’ lives are just endless struggles and that struggle ends only with their last breaths.” – Rahul Saini

Talking about the content, each of the 34 chapters seemed to me like a separate short story discussing a distinct subject, idea or viewpoints, or narrating a subplot, backstory or (my favorites from this book) completely different short tales – story within a story – fascinating and magnificent. What I mean to say is that these chapters have something very unique to offer from craziness to drama to dreams to arguments to philosophy to romance to thrill to sorrow…you name it. These all short stories are linked together by these three characters and what they are seeking out.

Having said that, let me briefly introduce you to the characters. Ratna is in love with her favorite author, Ronit Sukhdev. The book opens with this amazing poem titled ‘Not Gibran, On Love’ written by Ratna (honestly, I recorded this poem several times day after day, but like most of you, I hated my recordings, so it only made to one of my best friends), for she is a literature and journalism student and for this fact and a little lie, she gets an opportunity to stay with the love of her life for a few days. While ecstatic Ratna wants Ronit to be a little cheerful if not as much as her, Ronit‘s life has come to a standstill as he hasn’t yet gotten over his break-up with Nitasha. He has completely isolated himself from the world and does not wish to publish his work anymore. It has been a year since the break-up and Nitasha is finally coming to terms with her choice of letting go of her relationship with Ronit and she’s carving the way out with newfound hope.

“To learn an art is an act of meditation. You can’t keep jumping around, running all the time, trying a hundred things, understanding nothing and pretend that you are learning everything.” – Rahul Saini

The best thing about this book is that it has books everywhere. In every alternate chapter, you can find book titles, quotes, bookstores or other bookish stuff. The author has expounded a lot of powerful arguments, opinions and statements on love, life and the world that are worth knowing by heart. I would like to quote a few such lines here. However, it doesn’t make the book downright ‘serious’. Nope. Rahul Saini has totally wrung out the essence of comfort and amiability from the writing style. Ratna’s character is a witty character, for she can turn anything into humour, be it because of her lack of wisdom or her childlike behavior. She’s a humorous character indeed, but not a caricature at all! I loved everything she did and how she behaved around her crush, for whatever reason, because I can’t imagine staying with my crush and not messing up. She made me laugh and some lines made me emotional too.

The primary theme of the book is what the title suggests. While it’s not appropriate to reduce any work to a sentence, it represents an idea that ‘when two people spend a lot of time together, they lose themselves and gain each other’. This is what is happening in the book. Now, I won’t go in-depth regarding this. There are plenty of other subjects discussed and tackled in those individual short stories I talked about, forming minor themes and elements that hold the potential to make a real difference. There are also things that you would want to ignore, which are just characters being themselves.

“If creative people were happy with the world around them, they would never feel the urge to create anything new.” – Rahul Saini

Anyway, my favorite take-away from this book are those unforgettable, significant stories/chapters that provide you the food for thought. Some of these are – one on Slavoj Žižek (yeah, I copy-pasted that), another on the mirror phase, and the third titled, ‘The Shark in the Pool’. Apart from that, I liked Ratna’s relationship with her father and the depiction of how differently books are important to the lives of authors and readers. Not eulogizing, but I can’t express my admiration enough for the illustrious writing style that really got me high; I relished it, of course except for a few parts.

Lastly, ‘The Part I Left with You’ is a charming, cozy contemporary book and an absolute page-turner that you would want to read around this time to feel lighter; it has way more tales and joy in store for you than what its synopsis promises. 

“When two people spend a lot of time together, they lose themselves and gain each other.” – Rahul Saini

Happy Reading!

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Disclaimer: This review is only intended for initiating discussions. The opinions and views presented in this article are my own and do not reflect anything about the book's author.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe for more content. Thank you so much for reading!

Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

Book Review: The Genius of Indraprastha by Harshwardhan

  

Book Review

The Genius of Indraprastha by Harshwardhan (Gondwana Chronicles Book #1)

The Genius of Indraprastha by Harshwardhan

Author: Harshwardhan Padole

ISBN: 978-9389004427

Genre: Historical Science Fiction 

Length: 373 Pages

Publisher: Om SaiTech Books Publishers & Distributors (25^th December 2020)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟🌠

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2MbIT0x

About the author:

Harshwardhan Padole, born in 1986, is a graduate from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur. He later studied Business Management from prestigious MDI, Gurgaon. After testing his skills in Indian IT Industry for a brief time, he is currently working in the Indian Defence Aerospace Industry for last one decade.

He is a passionate reader of fiction works and biographies and considers J. K. Rowling, Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer and Amish Tripathi as his writing mentors. The Genius of Indraprastha is his debut book inspired from his understanding of India’s cultural history and Indian epics.

Harshwardhan Padole

Author Website: https://harshwardhanpadole.com/

Facebook: @HarshwardhanAuthor

Instagram: @padoleharshwardhan

REVIEW

Review Summary

The Genius of Indraprastha by Harshwardhan is the first book in the Gondwana Chronicles, a historical science fiction novel set in Gondwana, a fictitious and exceptional world built by the author, a simplified version of ancient and medieval India, integrating the prominent aspects of two periods – the Vedic age, and the period that followed after the earliest Arab naval expeditions and their conquests in the Indian subcontinent; constituting the elements like science, Vedic practices, invasion, and warfare the book draws attention to the potentiality of the knowledge that if it can save you from the enemy, the enemy can use the same knowledge to annihilate you; revolving around the central conflict between Khidmatgars (invaders) and the native tribes of Gondwana, the narration introduces you to two formidable characters, each serving their own purpose in the best way possible; this fast-paced thriller story of innovations, conscientiousness, and conquests will find you absorbed throughout the journeys of both protagonist as well as the antagonist.

Review

Let me start with the world building and setting aspects of the book. The world or the land of Gondwana is fascinating in its own way. The author has tried to convey the demographics and geographical traits of the land effortlessly via this fictional land, where the native tribes – Aryans (who of course came from the north), Vaishyas, Garudas, Waanars, and Asuras – are united against the invaders, Khidmatgars. Apart from this broader picture, the setting makes justice to the Vedic age of ancient India through science and inventions. The one particular detail that stands out is the well-organised political geography of Gondwana and there is also a map of contemporary India with reference to the world of Gondwana, which is the best thing you could ask for in such historical fiction novels.

Moving to the background of these tribes and emerging characters from them. The author has depicted the background, history, and significance of these tribes very conveniently. The sequences are interwoven in the non-linear narration in such a way that it gradually introduces to you the principal kingdoms of Gondwana including Khidmatgar territories, how they function, and their frontliners in the divisions of education, military, and politics. Bakht Khan is the Commander of the Khidmatgar army and Prince Martand of Indraprastha is that genius the title is indicating. After successfully conquering a few of the Gondwana kingdoms belonging to all tribes except for Aryans, the Commander is set to defeat the Aryan kingdom, Indraprastha. On the other hand, Prince Martand is fully aware of what is to come and he knows that an appropriate retaliation is a must to save his tribe. The portrayal of these characters along with Rishi Sambhuvahana and his disciples makes the book even more interesting.

There are two main themes that occur in the novel – invasion leading to battles and a war which provides the central conflict for the novel, science and invention. The author has profoundly dealt with the conflict and warfare aspects. The ideation of Saptasindhu Mandal, inclusion of ancient texts like Manusmriti plays a great role in the storyline. The book also gives space to the powers our ancestors possessed in the eras of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna, in the form of scientific inventions. Other than that, the author comically takes on feminism in the patriarchal period. The plot has a thrilling effect to it. It ensures that the reader doesn’t lose interest. The writing style and language is basic, which makes it an easy read.

While I revered the plot, world building, and the characters, I detested a few things about the book. The book surely makes you feel the presence of important female characters, but I think there’s not enough women representation. Secondly, the phrase which is repeated often in the book – ‘knowledge is invaluable’ – is only associated with the knowledge of weapons, making its very idea vague and uncertain, after all, it is not the only kind of knowledge the story involves. Besides, the protagonist has a very short role to play in the storyline compared to the antagonist. Apart from these flaws, I found The Genius of Indraprastha an interesting and unique tale where the legends of ancient India are accredited with providing invaluable scriptures, not literally, but symbolically.

Happy Reading!

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Disclaimer: This article is intended for review purposes only. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe for more content. Thank you so much for reading!

Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

Book Review: Terror in Islamabad by Amar Bhushan | Spy Fiction

 

Book Review

Terror in Islamabad by Amar Bhushan

Terror in Islamabad by Amar Bhushan

Author: Amar Bhushan

ISBN: 978-9390327669

Genre: Crime, Thriller & Spy Fiction

Length: 170 Pages

Publisher: HarperCollins India (20^th November 2020)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2LkBP0s

About the author:

Amar Bhushan joined the Indian Police Service in 1967 and was assigned to Madhya Pradesh. For seven years, he dealt with crime and law and order problems but remained a reluctant policeman. When the opportunity for working in intelligence organizations came, he grabbed it and never looked back till he retired as the chief of India’s foremost technical intelligence agency. He began the second innings of his career by briefly serving in the BSF intelligence, State Special Branch, and Intelligence Bureau and ended up working in the Research and Analysis Wing for the next twenty-four years.

His last published work, Escape to Nowhere, remained on bestseller lists for eleven weeks. He lives with his wife and daughter in Bangalore but seldom misses an opportunity to visit his granddaughters in the US and his mother in Jasidih, a village in Jharkhand.

Amar Bhushan

Author Page: https://harpercollins.co.in/author-details/amar-bhushan/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmarBhushan9

REVIEW

Review Summary

Terror in Islamabad by Amar Bhushan is a short spy fiction book inspired by true events relating to you the story of an Indian intelligence operative on a diplomatic assignment in the capital city of Pakistan where he is subjected to the savagery by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), although he has committed no indiscretion during his complete course of stay and mission under the constant surveillance of the counter-intelligence team (simply put, without any evidence); an evocative tale offering you a portion of the agonies and terror inflicted upon a courageous agent due to strained Indo-Pak relations makes you aware of the darker shades of their profession that the spies who endure so much pain, live with an unknown danger lurking around all the time, all for the country and still find themselves ignored and unrecognized by the very people who recruited them; this staggering account of the protagonist’s perilous journey will find you in his shoes, anxiously running across pages, negotiating with situations until the very end.

Review

The book is set in Islamabad in the year 1994. The story starts with the last working day of Veer Singh at the Indian embassy as a cultural attaché, which is his cover job while actually working as an agent for India’s External Intelligence Agency under an assumed name – Amit Munshi. Veer Singh stands apart from all of his predecessors and maybe his successors. Mr. Singh as an agent has got really unique and out of ordinary hobbies, and a rather basic modus operandi. He is a practicing tantric, a discipline he learned during his adolescence. He has got skills for face-reading and analyzing horoscopes, which helps him in maintaining a good rapport with the high commissioner and his other colleagues.

The last working day turns out to be his worst nightmare come true.  The formidable enemy – an intelligence agency that is accused of being involved in 1993 Mumbai blasts, and other terrorist activities has caught ‘Amit Munshi’ for unwarranted reasons.

The theme mainly focuses on the vicious interrogation of ‘Amit Munshi’ by ISI goons, but the author also explains the situation of the Indian diplomats and spies – to start with, how the protagonist ended up landing a job of a spy in Pakistan. How does he live surrounded by the counter-intelligence people in disguise, round the clock; police tailing him around wherever he goes? The book also provides a basic understanding of the covert operations the agents are expected to do despite the given circumstances. So it’s obvious, to give you a context, that an agent’s life is not as happening as we’re shown in the general category of spy movies or series. This may be fiction but what I loved about this book is that there is no exaggeration, neither in narration nor in the plot.

The book is considerably short but you will have all your questions answered between two cover pages, whether it’s related to the setting or the storyline. My most favorite part of the book is the vivid portrayal of Mr. Singh’s confrontation with the ISI, which made me realize how fatal this job could be. Not only could I see the world through the protagonist’s eyes, but also my body felt numb as I sat stunned, reading the book without a single pause.

Happy Reading!

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Disclaimer: This article is intended for review purposes only. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe for more content. Thank you so much for reading!

Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

Book Review: Apophis by Raj Anand | Science-Fiction

 

Book Review

Apophis: Into the Folds of Darkness by Raj Anand

Apophis by Raj Anand

Author: Raj Anand

ISBN: 978-1648508981

Genre: Science Fiction

Length: 456 Pages

Publisher: Notion Press (24^th September 2020)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/36KfD8p

About the author:

Savinder Raj Anand is a writer, architect, professor, father, and a long-distance runner with a wanderlust to explore and write stories that traverse across diverse cultures.

Raj Anand

Instagram:@rajanandbooks

Facebook: @rajanandbooks

Website: https://www.rajanandbooks.com/index.php

REVIEW

Apophis by Raj Anand is a Science-Fiction book that brings several disciplines together including, science, philosophy, history, astrophysics, and shamanism to fight off the apocalyptic danger posed by this asteroid with 2.45 kilometers diameter and weight more than 360,000 metric tons, moving straight towards the earth. The book is highly educative in terms of facts and information regarding great philosophers and historical events from across various civilizations; very conveniently embedded in the plot.

The most interesting aspect of the book is the central conflict that is between two organizations – the Crypteia, and the lineage of Lazarok (who are committed to protecting the Kleos) and the Kleos – five sentient beings (9-year-old reincarnations of ancient philosophers). The first half of the book depicts how Lazarok shields the Kleos ever since their birth and brings them together on their ninth birthday. The second half portrays how the Kleos, collectively set out on a journey to the mission they are destined to accomplish. They prepare themselves for the intergalactic war which is imminent.

The very conception and the elements the author has involved in the book make it stand out from other books in the Sci-Fi genre. The book combines a lot of contemporary and historical facts to form a large network that justifies scores of unusual events of the past, which makes it seem realistic. There are some vivid, action-packed scenes and other mind-blowing theories to give you an unforgettable experience. The author has incorporated representation from different countries, their culture, myths, legends, and philosophies.

The book starts and ends with the same situation, that is the threat is closing in on the earth and there is a single ray of hope – the Kleos with their shamanic powers and great wisdom. The end is fairly satisfactory as the Kleos achieve what seems to be a fully-powered weapon. The timeline is not linear owing to the fact that international travel and time-travel are the major aspects involved, although it is easily comprehensible and the structure complements the mysterious storyline. Set in December 2021, there is a lot going on in past, present, and future with regard to ancient history & philosophy, the international & Crypteia conflict, and the intergalactic conflict respectively. Some characters like Lazarok, Claire, and Neerja are outstanding. The setting and location the author has chosen are justly compatible with the mysterious and warlike storyline.

 

What I disliked about Apophis?

The thing I most disliked about the book was that it is charged with plenty of nouns and numbers, which is not the exact problem but they were used for unnecessary detailing. The aggregation of Greek, Chinese, Japanese, and Egyptian philosophy and setting didn’t help much in this matter. The nouns were difficult to read, let alone the pronunciation.

The writing style seems to follow the ‘tell, don’t show’ tactic which suspended the illustrious and creative aspect of the novel. For instance, the author has mentioned names of highways and buildings, adding extra emphasis on nouns and overlooking the actual details of the surroundings. The book seems to focus only on two parties, ignoring the common people. It would have been really fulfilling to read the perspective of a commoner.

I adored the first half of the book where each reincarnation (9-year-old sentient beings) of great philosophers is introduced separately with their lineage, special abilities, etc. But when they come together, I couldn’t differentiate between them. As I mentioned earlier, the book is very informative; largely this knowledge is shared via dialogues overstressing the characters. While I enjoyed the plot and conception, I couldn’t keep up with the character arcs and what I said about surroundings.

 

Conclusion

Well, this doesn’t change the fact that Apophis has a lot to offer from science to philosophy to action to humor. This book won’t let you down on that front. Pick this up if you want to know how these nine-year-olds fight against the Crypteia and aliens.

Happy Reading!

========================

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe for more content. Thank you so much for reading!

Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

Book Review: Sunset by the River by Sameer Saxena | Contemporary Romantic Thriller (2020)

 

Book Review

Sunset by the River by Sameer Saxena

Sunset by the River by Sameer Saxena (cover design: @roughworkk)

Author: Sameer Saxena

ASIN: B08H18J8D5

Genre: Contemporary Romantic Thriller

Length: 174 Pages

Publisher: Flipping Pages (29^th August 2020)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌠

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2FJMBLB

About the author:

Hailing from Jhumka city – Bareilly, Sameer Saxena is currently working as an Assistant Manager in UCO bank, posted in the hilly area of Uttrakhand. He has completed his graduation in Mechanical Engineering in 2013 after which he worked as a teaching associate for two years, before joining the bank.

Sameer wrote short plays for college cultural fests which were played in various colleges. He was the mentor of his college club and actively participated in various college activities like anchoring, paper presentations, and short plays. He was often called by his faculties to write the speeches for them and from there he has taken a step further to write his first novel, “Sunset by the River”, five years back.

Sameer is an active social media enthusiast and writes articles, blogs on a wide range of topics.

Sameer Saxena

Instagram: @authorsameer

Facebook: @sam.saxena13

Twitter: @Author_Sameer

REVIEW

Summary

Sunset by the River by Sameer Saxena – a contemporary romantic thriller, can be seen as an eye-opener for the society we currently live in, where people don’t recognize mental health as essential as physical health, be it for stigma or lack of awareness and resources; at the same time the book –  with its simple, ordinary yet unique and special characters – is a paragon of Indian coming of age romance where the author sets out to tackle some very serious issues such as unethical faith healing, exorcism, challenges for psychiatry in India and so on; incorporating elements of love, laughter, agony, friendship, suspense, and contemporary romance, this book will keep you glued to flipping pages until no page is left unturned as it emanates immense pleasure and a sense of responsibility towards society.

Narration

Sunset by the River is narrated in third-person POV and for once it shifts to first-person POV when it is needed. The writing style is simple and consistent throughout the book, although the tone is exciting at times. The language is again comprehensible and could be read by anyone including beginners. Additionally, Sameer Saxena has succeeded in keeping the suspense.

Location, Setting, and Characters

The story is set in Delhi, Rajasthan and Japan of the years 2018-19. The story starts off in Japan, where Ayaan, the protagonist is working on his dream project. The story hooks the reader as soon as it starts when Ayaan receives several calls from India. Ayaan immediately returns to India and relates the past events of his life to his friend Hiteish before leaving. And so the story unfolds gradually. Ayaan, Monisha – Ayaan’s best friend and colleague, and Tripti – Monisha’s friend form a trio. The location and setting have an implicit effect on the characters, their behavior and it reflects in their lifestyle. Japan – where this ‘sunset’ from the title belongs to – has got one of the beautiful expositions to its account. Besides, there is one more place, which is of crucial importance to the plotline, has been described with extreme care, keeping it as realistic and neutral as possible, leaving it on readers to form an opinion. 

Theme

Contemporary or coming of age romance could be considered as the central theme of this novel. The early career life and college life are portrayed simply, being careful not to exaggerate. The relationships between characters seem natural and quite relatable. Although the author tried not to overplay these ordinary characters there are instances with the cinematic touch, in a good way. There is another theme – mental health care in India – that holds great significance in this novel. It makes you aware of the current condition of psychiatry in India. The book also confronts exorcism and brings it into question for its ethicality, which, in some cases of healing practices doesn’t conform to. They are potentially dangerous and are not in line with ethical principles – autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. Moreover, the theme goes on to convey a powerful message that is beneficial in all aspects.

Plot

The first half of the book narrates how the trio gets together as close friends, while the second half is a thriller that conveys the darker truths of society’s wretched perception towards mental illnesses and our mental healthcare system.

“Not a single person would tell their boss if they were having a panic attack, or they were feeling depressed, or they were experiencing any sort of anxiety. Because in our society, these symptoms are not considered as diseases; rather they are used slangs to bully."

My Views

When I started reading this book, I didn’t expect so many surprises and shocks. It was a pleasure reading the kind of romance this book captures. The best part about the book is that it’s not at all what you would assume it to be. It is really nice to see debut novelist breaking through numerous cliché romance tropes, which many popular Indian authors fail to do. Also, I commend the choice of subject the author has made to be addressed.

While the main characters were well developed, I felt that there could have been extensive roles to be played by the families involved, particularly Monisha’s character. Again, the length of the book felt short as I expect to see more of these characters and this fascinating story.

Happy Reading!

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