Category: Book Review

Anne Frank: The Ultimate Optimist

This isn’t that much of a summary than my thoughts on The Diary of a Young Girl, a diary written by Anne Frank throughout the years 1942 to 1944, but I respect this girl and here are my thoughts as a tribute to the girl who could have been so much more than just a Jewish girl who died during the Holocaust, were she given a chance.

I’m going to be more focused on emotions than facts but just in case you don’t know who she is, let me properly introduce her to you(these are all facts, mind you). Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank was a German-born Jewish girl born to Edith and Otto Frank on 12th June 1929. She lived in or near Amsterdam until 1942, when persecutions of Jews reached a sky-limit. (If you’ve studied history then you probably know about the Holocaust. If not, I suggest you check it out whenever possible) Then, she and family had to go into hiding in her father’s former workplace where some loyal friends kept them a secret. She recorded her daily life in a journal until the day they were caught (from 12 June 1942 to 1st August 1944) She was then transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camps along with her sister, where, they were rumored to died of typhus a few months later. It was tragic. Tragic but factual. Now that we have all the formal introductions aside, let me tell you what a jem of a person she truly was and what she had endured just because a certain person wanted a significant part of the population to be destroyed, for whatever deranged reason.

I read this novel in 10th grade as it was necessary for us to. Until then I wasn’t properly introduced to reading and writing. All we knew were textbooks and that was that. But then Anne Franks’s diary came into my hands and has always had a special place since then and will continue to do so always. I was in my beginning teen years myself when I first read it, and I related to it so much that I felt myself reflected through those words. Anne Frank was a popular girl in the school, always smiling and having a lot of admirers. However, she always felt that she never had a true friend. Maybe it was her own fault but she could never tell. So she received this diary on her 13th birthday and started writing her feelings right away. Throughout the whole time span of this diary we see how she transforms from a loud, ‘rebellious’ teenager to a person with depth and compassion, all the while never losing her spirit. She was the epitome of optimism and was a kind soul, always encouraging others to stay positive. The evidence of her development as a person can be shown from the following passages in the novel.

“Everyone thinks I’m showing off when I talk, ridiculous when I’m silent, insolent when I answer, cunning when I have a good idea, lazy when I’m tired, selfish when I eat one bite more than I should.”- Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Here, Anne tells us how the adults usually operate. Being a teenager myself, I quite agree to this, though this unjustness is not just limited to the family but to the whole society and their ‘norms’. A person loses all sense of self in trying to fit in with everyone. Another passage says,

“I’ve reached the point where I hardly care whether I live or die. The world will keep on turning without me; I can’t do anything to change events anyway.”― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

This was the truth she kept hidden from everyone; how worthless and insignificant she felt. Even though on the surface, she was always smiling, she couldn’t help feeling down because deep down, she knew their ugly reality. The innocent, playful girl was lost in the midst of all this and was replaced by a mature, understanding girl who knew the value of life. She kept struggling with her inner self, forcing herself not to lose hope and just keep going. She didn’t have a particularly good relationship with her mother but she grew respectful after knowing the hardships endured by her parents. She wanted everyone to just quit fighting and live peacefully, with just love amongst them. She never really wrote about political issues, until one day that she wrote two letters expressing exactly how she felt about the political situation in Germany. She fell in love with Peter (another Jew occupant living with the Franks), improvised her relationship with her sister and overall understood the power of self love and appreciation. Anne was a great judge of her own character and always kept a critic’s eye upon herself. It always breaks my heart that this wonderful person died just a few months before they all were freed. She could been such a great person Following are a few excerpts which show that she was a girl who could appreciate little things while remaining head-strong.

“As long as this exists, this sunshine and this cloudless sky, and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?”

“People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but that doesn’t stop you from having your own opinion.”

“I’ve found that there is always some beauty left — in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.”― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

At last I’d just like to say that Anne Frank taught me a lot of things. Compassion, holding on to your thoughts, self-love, loving others, appreciating small things, to name a few. No matter how hard the situation is, no matter how bad you feel, always stay positive, find something to be happy about and live life to the fullest. If a Jewish girl, during the Holocaust, which meant eventual death for her, can stay positive and appreciate everything, so can you.

July 19, 2017
Book Review: NOTHING LASTS FOREVER

NOTHING LASTS FOREVER

By Sidney Sheldon

384 pages, William Marrow and Company

Nothing Lasts Forever is a quasi-medical romance novel by mega-author Sidney Sheldon. It is a story of three young doctors, their dreams, their hopes, and their unexpected desires. It lays bare the fears and ambition of lovers and betrayers, killers and healers.

The story revolves around the lives of three doctors, Dr. Paige Taylor, Dr. Kat Hunter and Dr. Betty Lou Taft (Honey) of a major hospital. As the novel begins, Dr. Paige Taylor is on murder trial, she is accused for the mercy killing of a patient who have transferred one million dollars in her account. Her situation is pretty bad as one after another every witness is against her. A witness’s statement that an eminent surgeon told that Dr. Paige Taylor is incompetent, takes Paige five years back. She meets Kat and Honey at Embarcadero County Hospital. Since they were the only female residents at the hospital, they bonded pretty well and started sharing an apartment. Paige Taylor, the dedicated one was still holding the light for her long lost love. Kat Hunter, an African American who has lofty ambitions has sworn off men after her abusive stepdad got her pregnant. Honey Taft, the dull, plain southern belle in a family of brilliant overachievers compensated her lacking by learning diligent techniques from Kama Sutra. Her techniques always gets her professional niche but everything becomes mess when she seduces a doctor and his wife commits suicide, Honey then comes to San Francisco to start anew. These three were caught in the middle of male dominant medical world where they are trying to prove their worth. As the story proceeds, heart-broken Paige falls in love with an architect, Jason. Tough Kat Hunter falls for a colleague, Mallory who is only with her for a bet. Honey finds true love in an Irish man. Their lives turns upside down when Kat gets killed mysteriously, Honey gets almost exposed for misdiagnosing, and Paige gets accused for mercy killing of a patient.

The plot of the story is mysterious. The story is set in California in the era of 1980s to 1999. Sheldon has explained the rigors of the medical intern’s lives in a very detailed glory: grueling hours, sleep deprivation, sexual harassment, petty professional backbiting, and incompetent doctors. Like his every other novel, every character in this novel has got a story of their own. All of them are connected by a thin thread. The tone of the story is suspenseful. Through this novel, Sheldon has shown that rosy dreams and harsh reality is separated by a fragile thread of destiny. These are some of my favorite quotes from the novel

“You have two choices. You can keep running and hiding and blaming the world for your problems, or you can stand up for yourself and decide to be somebody important.”

“You know, it’s not fair. Women are judged inferior until we prove ourselves, and men are judged superior until they prove what assholes they are.”

“There are three classes of human beings: men, women, and women physicians. —SIR WILLIAM OSLER”
“Nothing lasts forever. Nothing. How could everything have gone so wrong…so wrong…so wrong…”
Aficionados of stereotypes and clichés in every page makes it an extraordinary read. Nothing Lasts Forever is definitely page turner will collaboration of interesting twists and turns. Read the novel, you will enjoy it.

July 5, 2017
Book Review: A Thousand Dreams Within Me Softly Burn

“I feel most romantic relationships end, not because two people can’t make it work anymore, but most of the time we keep pinning over the initial thrill and excitement that falling in love provides…”
Siddharth, one of the characters from Sood’s debut novel, quotes the lines above, in one of his letters to Gautam. Although there are innumerable lines spread across the pages of the book which have stolen a piece of my heart, as I read the last few pages of the novel, these were the lines which really hit me. There is a painful truth breathing in the above lines; a truth about why some relationships annihilate.
Sahil Sood conjures an unconventional love story. The novel moves back and forth in time. Through this entangled movement of the plot, Sood presents to us a romantic relationship between two men which begins with immense intensity and through the course, begins to fizzle out. Saaransh who is head over heels in love with Akshay, towards the end of the novel the reader witnesses the wounds caused by the withering away of their relationship, consuming Saaransh wholly. During this period of suffering, Saaransh spends the night with a stranger. This encounter with the stranger ignites a part of his past. The manner in which the narrator describes the deteriorating state of Saaransh, personally, it reminded me of a scene from the 2012 movie The Perks of being a wallflower. But what I admire about Saaransh is that, he did not choose to continue suffering in a relationship which had begun to wilt away, but chose to bring himself out of the suffering.
But their love story isn’t the central part of the novel. The novel speaks about how the written word can bring solace in the lives of some people. It can bring meaning to their lives and give them a reason to exist.
The writing for me, is one of the reasons which made me want to read Sood’s debut novel. It made the novel a worthwhile read. The manner in which he writes about the classics through his characters, speaks volumes about the abundance of knowledge living within the writer. The name of each of the chapters, gives a hint of what the chapter is all about. This is a book everyone must indulge in.

June 22, 2017
Book Review – Master of the Game

It is a tale of four generation of a family, James McGregor, Kate Blackwell, Tony Blackwell, Eve and Alexandra.

MASTER OF THE GAME

By Sidney Sheldon

489 pages, Harper Collins Publisher

‘Master of the Game’ is among the best and most popular creation of Sidney Sheldon. It is definitely all time favorite fiction for many people. It is a tale of four generation of a family, James McGregor, Kate Blackwell, Tony Blackwell, Eve and Alexandra.

The story starts Kate Blackwell, one of the most powerful and richest woman in the world, celebrating her ninetieth birthday. She sees all her absent friends and enemies as ghosts of past. When the Supreme Court Judge raises a toast on the occasion of her birthday, he praises her a lot. However, Kate doesn’t agree with him as she knows that there are lot of things that he doesn’t know. She is indomitable like James McGregor, her father. The journey of James McGregor from Scotland to South Africa is full of struggle, adventures, betrayal and revenge. He was the founder of Kruger Brent Limited, he started the company to get revenge from Kate’s maternal grandfather, Van Der Merwe. He marries his daughter, Margaret out of convenience for the sake of their son. He never acknowledge her except one drunken night, he assumes her as his mistress and sleeps with her. Kate was the product of that night.

Everything goes smoothly in Jamie’s life until his son dies, he gets a stroke when he hears the news. Margaret gets a chance to get close to him this time. But he soon dies, Margaret takes over Kruger Brent Limited and runs it with her manager, David Blackwell. When Kate was still young, she dies because of cancer. Kate becomes the new owner of the company. Eventually, she falls in love with David Blackwell but the feelings were not mutual. That’s when Kate unveils her other face, she ruins David’s engagement and manipulates him for marriage. David Blackwell, unaware of this all facts, loves her unconditionally till his death. After that Kate never gives it a rest, she loves, plots and manipulates every member of the family to ensure that her family business remains in family. She takes the business to a new international zenith. Tony, Eve, Alexandra and many others were the pawns of her game. She dominates every character of the novel. Even at the end, she plots for her great-grandson, Robert to take the reins of the Kruger Brent Limited. These are some quotes, I loved from the novel;

“I’m a woman. I have a right to change my mind.”

“Business is a game, played for fantastic stakes, and you’re in competition with experts. If you want to win, you have to learn to be a master of the game.

“If. A two-letter word for futility.”

“Jamie enjoyed solitude, but loneliness was a constant ache.”
“The future was clay, to be moulded day by day, but the past was bedrock, immutable.”

Sidney Sheldon has a boundless imagination. Hats off to his unique and most interesting way of storytelling. He has amazing power of character weaving. You can never decides whether you love the character for their strengths or hate them for their wrongdoing or mistakes. In the novel, Jamie McGregor is a very determinant, hardworking, and passionate person. He struggles a lot to achieve his dreams and gets betrayed. But he does many bad things to get his revenge. Sheldon throws the ball in reader’s court, they can paint the character in either in good or bad light. It’s up to them. Kate is one of the strongest character throughout the novel. She is a survivor. But she also single mindedly dominates everyone for selfish reasons. She never ceases to amaze. Sheldon tells about her desires and intentions. He brings out her character so vividly that you develop a prejudice. Almost all the characters are open to criticism like David wanting his wife to quit her job and become a home-maker, Tony’s passiveness, Eve’s evilness etc.

This is very intriguing and interesting novel. It is a perfectly written. Every page of the novel has a different twist and turn. It always keeps you guessing, but no matter how hard you guess, your prediction is never right. You can’t get enough of the story till the end. It is an impulsive page-turner with a universal appeal. The tale is the perfect mixture of intrigue, suspense and passion. You must read it. I bet it will be one of your best read.

May 25, 2017
Book Review – Sensual Attractions by A.J. Karan

“…my attention was drawn to a facet of our lives which we tend to protect, shield, guard and feel uneasy to discuss, though it is an integral part of our lives” says, writer A.J. Karan in a post titled Author’s Perspective on Sensual Attractions by A.J. Karan. His debut book, which is a collection of short stories, lays bare a subject which has led a veiled existence in our society. A day and age when we consider ourselves to be “advanced in so many fields”, as A.J. Karan puts it, people shy away from talking about sex. It is a topic which is more often than not, spoken about in whispers.

Sensual Attractions is a collection of about ten short stories. Two of these short stories which include, The Hotel and Friendship Pact, have been divided into two parts. Each of these short stories are distinct from each other and they revolve around families, marriages, friendships. Politics, as well, occupies a significant place within these plots. It is politics, which not only affects the personal relationships between characters, but makes an appearance at the workplace of these characters, as well. A.J. Karan’s characters are interesting. They share deeply twisted relationships amongst themselves. For example, Tara and Sonali, from Friendship Pact, have remained in each other’s lives for countless number of years and have been sharing everything with each other. This sharing extends itself to their marriage as well, when they decide to share their husbands. There are some male characters who are presented as villainous; however, what I wasn’t quite pleased was how most of the female characters are presented as conniving.

As the title suggests, “sex” becomes a character of its own in this short story collection. It is what the writer uses to break the relationship between characters in the various short stories. Sexual encounters between the characters are spoken about explicitly and in a much nuanced fashion. . While reading Sensual Attractions, what came to my mind was that, the explicit tone in which A.J. Karan speaks to his readers about sex, reminded me a lot of Khushwant Singh’s The Company of Women. The manner in which the parts of the bodies of women and men are described by the both of these writers, are similar in nature. They do not show even the slightest of inhibitions when speaking about sex, through their stories and characters. They become naked to their readers, when speaking about sex.

The Hotel was my favorite read. Having formerly worked in the hotel industry, A.J. Karan very skillfully amalgamates office politics, sex, friendships and crime and presents to the readers, in this particular short story which is divided into two parts. The crime aspect of this, two part short story, was what kept me going and did not allow me to put down the book, even for one second.

Sensual Attractions is a compilation of gripping stories, set in a not so fabricated world consisting of real characters. Its unique storylines makes your reading experience truly worth it!

Storieo Rating: ★★★★☆

May 24, 2017
Book Review: A Bend In The Road

This is another heart-touching novel from Nicholas Sparks. It tells the life story of Miles Ryans, a deputy sheriff, who has lost his wife in a tragic accident two years ago. Missy was his first love, and maybe will be his last. Even after her death he never stopped loving her. But he was not the only one who was affected by this turn of events, this had a great impact on their son Jonah. But Miles’s thirst for vengeance makes him blind. It might wreck his life.

A BEND IN THE ROAD

By Nicholas Sparks

341 pages, Grand Central Publishing

This is another heart-touching novel from Nicholas Sparks. It tells the life story of Miles Ryans, a deputy sheriff, who has lost his wife in a tragic accident two years ago. Missy was his first love, and maybe will be his last. Even after her death he never stopped loving her. But he was not the only one who was affected by this turn of events, this had a great impact on their son Jonah. But Miles’s thirst for vengeance makes him blind. It might wreck his life.

Their whole household was a mess after Missy died. Both Miles and Jonah were miserable. Miles found no purpose in living without Missy but he wanted to punish the person who was responsible for her death. He started researching her accident. In the meantime, Sarah Andrews has come to New Bern from Baltimore after a difficult divorce. She became the second grade teacher of Jonah. She got emotionally drained when she the pain Jonah’s eyes, it reminded her of her own hurt. What surprised her more was seeing the same pain in his father’s eyes. She has an urge to wipe away their pain. So, she decided to reach for them. After a very long time, they laughed.

She came in their life as a fresh gush of wind, and without realizing Miles fell I love with her. Jonah got a mother he ever wanted. Sarah whose politician husband had abandoned her due to her failed ovary got a chance at motherhood. Unknowingly, they became an inseparable trio. What they don’t know is that they are bound by a more formidable secret. What if the secret is out? Will they be able to surpass the inevitable? Will there will be a happy ending?

At the starting their love story goes very softly like marshmallow fluff but a lurking shadow of secrets was always there. Sparks has written this novel in third person’s point of view. This tale is sweet, uplifting, accessible, and predictable. What makes it more special is the author’s unique style of character-weaving. Even the small character who doesn’t have a role in central plot of the novel like Brenda’s (Sarah’s friend and Miles’s old friend) character has a huge impact on us. She is a sweet loving soul. Throughout the novel, you will find yourself overwhelmed by the emotions. Nicholas Sparks’s use of expression and plotting sure helps to make this novel, a good mystery. These are my favorite quote from the novel;

“Where does a story truly begin? In life, there are seldom clear cut beginning, those moments when we can, looking back, say that everything has started. Yet there are moments when fate intersects with our daily lives, setting in motion a sequence of events, whose outcome we could never have foreseen. ”

“There is something terrible in the moments after waking up, when the subconscious
knows that something terrible has happened but before all the memories flash back in
their entirety”

If you want to read a sweet love story with a pinch of suspense and secrets, you should definitely read this novel.

May 20, 2017
Book Review: Bloodline

It is an intriguing tale of sabotage and danger, greed and betrayal, and the decisions that can cost lives. Roffe and Sons is a family business, having greedy and desperate family members.

BLOODLINE

By Sidney Sheldon

409 pages, Doubleday Books

It is an intriguing tale of sabotage and danger, greed and betrayal, and the decisions that can cost lives. Roffe and Sons is a family business, having greedy and desperate family members.

It is an international pharmaceutical firm whose head, Sam Roffe is one of the richest man in the world. At the beginning of the story, he dies in a tragic and a very suspicious accident. He was a very good businessman but the worst father to his only daughter, Elizabeth who lost her mother in early age. He was never around due to his business that made Elizabeth hate her family business more. She always worked really hard to gain her father’s love and approval, which she never got. Suddenly her father’s right hand and her teenage crush, Rhys Williams brings the news of Sam’s death to her. She also learns that her father has made her the sole successor of Roffe and Sons. She is a young, beautiful and intelligent woman who gets overwhelmed by the turns of events in her life. When she attends the board meeting which consists of mostly her family members, she comes to know the financial condition of the firm. The board member urge her to make the company public (which means they can sell their shares). Meanwhile, Sheldon tells the story of every board members and their spouses. He also reveals the dark past of Rhys Williams. However, Elizabeth who is unaware of the story of all these money hungry people finds the situation at the company fishy when she comes to know that he father wanted the shares to remain in family. Therefore, she decides to keep the company and also starts researching his father’s death. She keeps this to herself but that only endangers her life. Someone is trying to kill her, maybe that’s the same person who is behind her father’s death. Read the story to find out who is behind all these?

These are some of my favorite quotes from the novel;

“To find riches is a beggar’s dream, but to find love is the dream of kings.”

“Never let a friendly fox into your hen-house. One day he’s going to get hungry.”

“Because there was a hunger in me to see everything and do everything. I wanted to be everyone I saw. I wasn’t enough for me. Can you understand that?”

“Every man is a prisoner, and the greatest irony of all is to be the prisoner of another man.”

To find riches is a beggar’s dream, but to find love is the dream of kings

“Every man is a prisoner, and the greatest irony of all is to be the prisoner of another man.”

Sidney Sheldon is one of my favorite author. He never fails to amaze me. This mystery cum thriller novel hooks up the reader from the beginning and urges them to keep on turning the pages till the end. The way he shows the dark sides of each character creates an appropriate plot for the suspense. Everyone in the story have same goal, they want Roffe and Sons to go public, and they are ready to go to any extent to make this happen. Only Sidney Sheldon can make you like and yet despise a character at the same time. He weaves the story of each character in such a way that fills you with hatred for the things they did, yet you pity the circumstances which has forced them to do so. In his novel, you have “expect the unexpected”. His ending are polar opposite to the ending we expected.

Although some parts of the story seems irrelevant to storyline like Elizabeth’s homosexual fling with her boarding school teacher, still Sheldon has managed to make it a very intriguing story. If you are into suspense novels, you should definitely check this out.

May 19, 2017
DIGITAL FORTRESS-A Peek Into The Arcane…

For most fans of the thriller-mystery-history genre, Dan Brown is a name synonymous with this category itself. A master story-teller with an uncanny knack for seamlessly merging apparently different aspects into one cohesive theory. On this front ,the book doesn’t disappoint especially it being his first standalone novel,which would set the course for his successive books,his trademark style of a male/female protagonist, an awe-inspiring , well-read personality paired with an equally stunning partner of the opposite sex, their quest for the the truth, riveting back to history,just reaching in time and averting a major catastrophe.Huff! For readers unaccustomed with his works, Digital Fortress serves as the best starter to embark on a journey of Europe,the splendour of Spain,the medieval-era churches with David Becker , professor and a foreign language specialist sent on a covert recce to find a treasure that would save the US its face and protect the world from annihilation : an encryption code pass-key from a dead-man. Running parallely is a diabolical plot which threatens to finish off the very purpose of NSA’s existence, the premier intelligence agency of the United States, When it’s multi-billion dollar technological mammoth, TRANSLTR, the knowledge of it’s existence remaining within the walls of NSA, encounters an unbreakable,the head cryptographer Susan Fletcher, a gorgeous yet exceptional programmer is called in. What Susan discovers in the course of breaking the code is something she hadn’t believed even in her wildest dreams : Digital Fortress,a bait to which the world’s most powerful intelligence agency was held hostage to. It was just a matter of time before NSA’s whole database would be accessible to every person with a router-modem .Gradually ,she realises the stakes of the game , a game in which she had voluntarily participated,and uncovers betrayal,treachery,lies..above all deception.,layered under honour,trust and national security. Will she make it on time to save herself as well as her life’s love? The plot is wicked and with each turning page it unravels…..And just when you had thought that “Aha, I know what the next scenario would be!” , Brown drops a bombshell. You cannot but applaud his sense of timing and the mind-boggling amount of research that has been put in to the creation of this riveting,thought-provoking masterpiece.

Dan does the fine work of balancing the views on public privacy V/s and government authorised mass surveillance snooping ,ironically to protect national interests and their security, a issue which is hotly debated topic. Seemingly difficult topics of programming,encryption,computer-coding are effortlessly blended with incredible characters,cutting edge technological wizardry and the dark corridors of intelligence networks and their attitude: Nation above all. The real-time threat emanating from cyber theft,digital extortion, terrorism are duly addressed in a lucid yet engaging manner which will linger in the minds of the readers for a long time. Seasoned with real-life human emotions and topped with oodles of thrill, Digital Fortress is bound to enrapture the reader and give him an adrenaline rush. A must read for ANY book-worm wanting to know more about the secret-world.The reader would definitely return,craving for more to quench his thirst.

P.S. : For all Dan Brown lovers who are reading this,do look out for a copy of ORIGIN, his latest Robert Langdon venture to be released on 10-03-2017. Save the date!! If you liked this review( and of course the book),please do comment your suggestions,criticisms…..just any kind of feedback!! Buh-Byee!!

May 6, 2017
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight” is the latest novel of Jennifer E. Smith. It is the tale of broken relationships, first love and second chances.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

By Jennifer E. Smith

311 pages, Little, Brown, and Company

“The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight” is the latest novel of Jennifer E. Smith. It is the tale of broken relationships, first love and second chances. Have you ever found an instant bonding with a person you just met? Have you ever felt butterflies in your stomach when you met someone? Have you ever wished to stay in a place forever so that you can have quality time with someone? Ever heard that few minutes changed someone’s life, well these mere four minutes has changed Hadley’s life. It doesn’t matter how hard you have tried to find true love, finding love is elusive, it mostly depends on timing. She don’t know what would have happened if she was not four minutes late to the airport, but she knows for sure that she never would have met Oliver if she was not four minutes late. The guy with cute British accent and witty banter who makes her feel at ease, and makes her lose track of time. He has given her a new perspective and unknowingly gave her a push to mend her relationship with her father.

Story starts with Hadley who reaches airport four minutes late due to various reasons. She misses her flight for the first time. She actually never wanted to board that plane, in her mind she has imagined different reasons which would lead to the cancellation of this trip. But after missing the flight she feels bad. Her mother wants her to be in London, so she decides to take the next flight. She hates the crowd on the airport especially when she has to wait seven and half hour for the next flight. That’s when she meets Oliver. He gives her company on the airport. He is handsome, charming, and mysterious. Later, he ends up sitting beside her on the plane to London. They both have an instant bonding. While Oliver reveals very less info about his personal life, Hadley finds it easy to omit all her problems to a stranger whom she probably won’t see again. He also helps her to get over her claustrophobia on the plane. Hadley is seventeen. It has been a year since her parents divorced. While her father settled in UK, she lives with her mother in US. She used to love her father a lot but his choices has created a rift between them. The last time she met him was the day she learnt about the other woman in his life, that was a year ago. Now, she is going to attend his wedding because her mother thinks that after some years, Hadley will regret not being a part of father’s important day. She hates the evil stepmother already but when she meets her, she finds out that it is difficult to hate her. I don’t want to be the spoiler, so read the novel to find out the rest of Hadley’s story.

Hadley is basically the heroine of the story, Oliver just acts like a catalyst to her journey. The instant-connection between them is heart-meltingly sweet. Oliver’s bit of story only motivates Hadley to forgive her father and fills the gap between them. Despite the title, Hadley and Oliver never confesses their love to each other. The author shows the beginning of a budding relationship, but she never concludes it.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. I can’t keep smile off my face while reading their conversation on the airport and on the plane, it’s cliché but also very entertaining. Hadley is kind but at the same time very self-centered. In the story, Oliver helps her to get over her bratty attitude. Her stubbornness and Oliver’s quirkiness are the best things in the story. I liked the chaos in the story as it makes the book weirdly entertaining. It is a captivating love story which keeps the reader hooked till the end. Every page of the story made me to swoon and sigh at the same time.

However, Oliver’s character seems superfluous in the story. I’m sure the readers would have enjoyed the book more if Smith has given a bit more attention to Oliver’s story as well. Also, the hurt and sense of abandonment Hadley felt after her father left goes unaddressed in the story. The way she accepts both her father and her stepmother with open arms is too good to be real. After a year of resentment, forgiveness by a stubborn girl like Hadley within a day time is near to impossible. The author’s attempt to make it true in the novel is unbelievable. Also, I wish that author would have added romance as a part of the story not as just a throwaway.

Jennifer E. Smith has managed to fit a 24-hour turn of events into a whole novel very beautifully. She has shown great how fate plays an important role in the story. Almost all the characters of the story are relatable and incredibly likeable. The story has unpredictable twists and turns. A great setting and the sparkly dialogues make this novel irresistible. Smith’s has an interesting writing style. She has used typical third person narration in the novel which takes some time to get used to, also some flashbacks seems awkward because of the narration. The quotes used in the story, especially the ones from Charles Dickens’ book “Our Mutual Friend” are really impressive like “And O there are days in this life, worth life and worth death” and “Is it better to have had a good thing and lost it, or never to have had it?”

If you are really looking for numbers and statistics like the title suggests, sorry to be the informant, you have reached the wrong place. But if you want cute, sweet, and interesting teen fiction, this is the right book for you. This tale is light and fluffy as well as touching and wonderful. I bet you will enjoy it a lot.

March 10, 2017
Life Is What You Make It

It is an awe-inspiring book with a sad yet sweet love story at its core. It is a tale of 21-year Ankita who goes through a lot in her life. A peculiar story of a perfect girl who ends up in a mental asylum, a girl whom destiny throws back but she bounces back.

Life Is What You Make It

By Preeti Shenoy

209 pages, Srishti Publisher

Life Is What You Make It is the second novel of the Indian bestselling author, Preeti Shenoy. It is an awe-inspiring book with a sad yet sweet love story at its core. It is a tale of 21-year Ankita who goes through a lot in her life. A peculiar story of a perfect girl who ends up in a mental asylum, a girl whom destiny throws back but she bounces back.

The novel tells the story of Ankita, a cheerful, sweet, smart, and ambitious girl. The plot of the story is in the 1980s, where the only source of entertainment was Doordarshan, where letters were in trends. Ankita has a very conservative parent. That’s why she has to sneak out to talk to her boyfriend, Vaibhav. They used to exchange letters. At the beginning, the protagonist, Ankita is waiting outside a doctor’s office. The real story begins from her college days, where she was elected as ‘secretary’. Everything goes smoothly until she meets Abhi in an inter-collegiate event. Abhi falls for her and takes it upon himself to woo her. They get pretty close but everything falls apart when Ankita gets admission in one of the premiere college in Mumbai. Abhi doesn’t wants to be apart from her so he suggests her to choose him over her dream college. She refuses it singlehandedly, also she expresses that she is doubtful that they will be touch.

The very next day, she finds out that Abhi has committed suicide. When she goes to his house, his grandfather says to her “Never to belittle love, no matter where it came from and to be a little humbler, nicer and kinder with my words and actions.” His words cuts through her heart but she puts a brave upfront and leaves for her college to study MBA. To distract herself, she immerses herself fully in her studies. She aces in her college. Also she gets close to one of her college friend, Joseph.

After coming to Mumbai, she always seeks perfection but she begins to lose it when one day, her parent find Vaibhav’s letter in her room and burns. It somehow acts as trigger, her past starts to haunt her. She stops going to college. She blames herself for everything Abhi’s death, for cheating Vaibhav and Joseph. She finally tells the truth to both of them. She attempts to kill herself multiple times. She suffers from critical stage of bipolar disorder. At last, she ends up in a mental hospital.

So, what happens there? What happens when your life suddenly starts going downhill? What happens when you are degraded from perfect to nothing by the destiny? Read this novel to find out.

Preeti Shenoy never cease to amaze me. After her first national bestselling novel, “34 Bubblegum and candies”, her second novel “Life Is What You Make It” definitely doesn’t disappoint. She has mesmerizing talent as a story teller. Through this tale, she has made an attempt to clear the taboo about mentally ill people. She has shown the dilemma of mentally ill people, she says, “If I pretended to be “normal” and behaved just like everybody else, if I masked my emotions and smiled a lot, even if I felt disconsolate, nobody would be able to tell”. It makes you to see them in different light. She makes you feel connected to the characters. The way she explained every mental disease in the story, shows her dedication and the effort she has put to do research for the book. However, it would have done more good to the book if the author have saved the enormous details of Ankita’s mental condition as it makes the novel a bit boring. Although, she has managed to pull our heartstrings with the following lines: “This is frightening, this world without words, this world of darkness and void. I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to make it stop…… To be trapped like this in one’s own body is a fate worse than death. With death, at least there is an end. Here, the suffering is endless.”

What I didn’t like was the bond between Vaibhav and Ankita, which is shown very strong as well as the very fragile at the same time. Ankita would never have cheated on him with Abhi if they were truly in love. Also, the reaction of Ankita’s parent after finding Vaibhav’s letter seems superficial. Come to think of it, their daughter is perfect in every aspect of her life, why a parent will react that extremely over a letter which is written way long back. Also, some of the characters of the book are shallow. The plot of the novel is very conflicting as it swings between past and present, it really confuses the readers.

The best thing about the book is that is contains both prologue and epilogue. While the prologue increases the curiosity of the reader, epilogue shows the significance of the title. Preeti Shenoy has shown a different aspect of life, she says, “if you have not made somebody’s day happier, if you’ve not appreciated something good that has happened to you and if you have not felt thankful to be alive, then you have wasted that day of your life on earth!” It tells that even if your life is a mess, you can still do something to make it better. Ankita is reborn in the story like the birth of Phoenix. She finds out that life is worth living from her journey. My favorite quotes from the story is, “The world is indeed a better place when there is love, friendship, acceptance and hope. Powered by these you can indeed overcome anything including destiny.”

It is perfect story for middle-age people who want to relive their college days, riding the motorcycle with your boyfriend, exchanging letters, and sneaking out to talk to each other. It is an impressive novel which has every emotions, love, guilt, and sorrow at its peak. Give it a try, it is worth one-time read.

March 10, 2017