My Take - Shamsuddin's Grave The story of a homeless by Paromita Goswami

The 5 star rating is on the following criteria:

Story/Concept/Plot               * 

Characterisation                   *

Language/Expression           *

Entertainment/Message        *

Publishing (job done or not)  *

Shamsuddin's Grave is a narration, the story of a man who wishes to live with his family and lives a life to fulfill just that dream. His background, his homeland, the place where he lives, his place in social ladder are the hurdles in his quest. The story moves from Shamsuddin to Latika who brings in diverse issues in the picture, her career, her love, her past, her ambition, her drive to help, these, takes the story in a journey of many twists and sub-lanes.  

The opening chapter had me intrigued, so did the chapters where the characters interacted and had conversation. When the story turned into a narrative, it dragged.   

There are several interesting sub-plots but I felt they were only superficially explored. Latika's past, or when she is itching to help out the girl in the slum, would have made a very interesting read, had they been dealt with the flare that the author showed in the opening scenes, or the flood scene. But they have been reported to the reader rendering good ideas lacklustre and making them fizzle out.

At some places the author does manage to strum the right chords in the reader, hence the loss of various opportunities in the many sub-plots disappoints. 

However, I look forward to reading more from the author, because what I liked of the book, I would definitely want to read more.    

There were several editing negligence and proofreading errors.

On the above mentioned criteria, I rate it **

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My Take - Yama by Kevin Missal

The 5 star rating is on the following criteria:

  Story/Concept/Plot             * 

Characterisation                   *

Language/Expression           *

Entertainment/Message        *

Publishing (job done or not)  *

If you grew up on regular dosage of Sherlock Holmes and Byomkesh Bakshi, you will instantly identify with Iravan and his geeky and resourceful assistant Vardhaan. But that's where the resemblance ends.

The novel explores the big question;  evil with an intention of good, can it be called evil?

That is what has been told in story of Iravan Rajpoot.

His past and present has led to this interesting story, woven along are the various atrocities prevalent in society. 

An ex-commander of Indian Army, he has been chosen as the protagonist, for a reason. His ticking mind, is thrown challenges one after another to save lives - of chosen civilians, and Vardhaan tries to help him do so. 
The civilians, representatives of the society, and Iravan a man in conflicts because he wants to see a change, in himself, in his surroundings. 

Does Iravan succeed in beating the evil villain?

The story interweaves, today's society and its concerns, crimes, with mythology and has sufficient sprinkling of spicy thrills.

Yama is a page-turner, written in a way to keep the reader hooked. I was happy to see, despite various plots and sub-plots, the author never slackened his hold on his characters and their actions.

Each chapter begins and ends with lines that push you to the edge, making keeping down the book difficult. It definitely makes an interesting read. A journey you would not regret, if you choose to undertake.

In not too many words, but many chapters a complex story has been woven.

In some places, narration does seem rushed. Too much pruning, has somehow stunted the growth. The author could have taken some time to add on to the thrills of action, and could have played with a little more emotion and dilemma of the protagonist, given his family background that has been created. A little unbelievable was Yama's agile action, given the end. (Don't want spoilers.)  

I had expected the end to be a little more adrenaline rushing, but it turned out weak.  It could be because of the persistent confusion that we all have; is fighting evil with evil, right?

There were minor proofreading/printing glitches in few places, that can be easily rectified in the next editions.



On the above mentioned criteria I rate it ***1/2.


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My Take- We’re Forever by Paridhi Newatia

The 5 star rating is on the following criteria:

  Story/Concept/Plot             * 

Characterisation                   *

Language/Expression           *

Entertainment/Message        *

Publishing (job done or not)  *

We’re Forever, is a fresh and unapologetic (language-wise) tale of new age lovers without too many romantic moments. The freshness is in the fast pace at which the episodes are portrayed. 

The story brings to us fantasy of every youngster in small Indian towns, highly influenced as they are by Hollywood and Bollywood.

Vidisha and Varun, meet during a small town college fest. 

Vidisha is a vibrant, young, hardworking, college going, entrepreneur. Varun is the quintessential charmer. 

They fall in love, brought together in beautifully described setups. 

They share sporadic, momentary, romantic times. We don't get to see the love blossoming between them, rather told. 

As they graduate out of college and move on with their careers, and future, hackneyed circumstances drive them apart. Vidisha refuses to believe, her prince charming cannot love her any more. With time he comes to his senses and they get together, Forever. 

As a romance novel, the actual romance, meetings of lovers fails to find place in the fast paced story.

The story focuses more on the high life Vidisha lives with her friends. Those episodes will definitely get teenagers all excited about living-it like Vidisha.

The character description, paints a picture in one’s head, but I found the traits antagonistic, so a little unbelievable.

Like the mother who gives Vidisha absolute ‘space’ in her personal life but the first proposal at the door, and she turns gooey eyed, visualizing her just-graduated daughter in bridal finery, and then, because the daughter wants, sees her off happily to America to pursue her dreams.

The tiff between the lovers seemed unnatural. Varun’s premise for breakup, might not be totally impossible, but considering the characters belong to Young India, confident, outgoing, all achieving; reason behind backing out of the relationship seemed weak. Also it’s a love story, show some love, fight for it!

Vidisha’s character, stumbles in and out of being heartbroken and deciding which fashionable cloth to wear.

The language is gripping but I couldn’t help but cringe at the excessive use of slangs. Granted its youth ‘lingo’, but could have easily been spared, especially as it is a written work.

The last 60 pages of the book seem hurried, impatient, at places confused.

There were some proofreading errors, and some confusion in portrayal of couple of incidents.

Teenagers and young adults, wishing to recapture their fantasies can browse through the book, as a story- it’s been there, done that. 

On the above criteria I rate **1/2

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My Take- Love Forever @ Rajpath Approved….As Proposed by Kalpana Mishra

The 5 star rating is on the following criteria:

  Story/Concept/Plot             * 

Characterisation                   *

Language/Expression           *

Entertainment/Message        *

Publishing (job done or not)  *

Love Forever @ Rajpath is story of, holier than thou Shalini, and Kartik. The narration tells, how a woman would go to any length, sometimes giving up on their own happiness for family and love, forgive the biggest mistakes, even put her own life on line. Shalini is one such strong woman. Kartik is a cultured man with principles who wishes to play a part to bring about change, but is bound by family values.

The problems they encounter  because of the people they are, and how they overcome their hurdles  is brought to us in this narrative. 

Shalini and Kartik meet on the first day of their appointment in a Government office and struggle to fall in love. 

The proposal and the acceptance takes a long while, mainly because the protagonist, Shalini sees marriage as end of life, certain that an arranged match would be retrogressive. Shalini finds it hard to fall in love, because of her insecurities, need to be proper at all times and inability to trust.

Kartik has been treated as untrustworthy, spineless and sort of untouchable, his crime being, he was a ‘Bihari’. Hailing from, Deoghar (Jharkhand) labelled as Bihari, makes it impossible for Shalini to believe he could be like any other man.

The main and supporting characters are loaded with prejudices, and these prejudices play major role in the story rather than the characters.

As a love story it really doesn’t do much, the incident I found kind of romantic was when the characters write a formal letter proposing their love, and the proposal gets accepted in the same tone. 

As a sneak-peek into a Government office, the novel gives a fair idea.

Two important issues have been approached in the book, lack of public facilities, and culture of Zabran Shaadi, prevalent in Bihar, UP and other rigid northern states of India. 

But the presentation is lacklustre. The incident of “ladies’ toilet” I found rude, rather than funny. The way the protagonist behaved couldn’t possibly set right example.  

The characterisation and narration is one dimensional, with the characters being happy or sad, agree or don’t agree, too righteous. I couldn’t really connect to the characters because the story is told and not presented with dialogues. Most of the time, I felt like I was reading essays, especially the end of scenes.

On the above mentioned criteria, I rate it **

PS: I need to point out, some geographical aspects of our country, Bihar and Jharkhand are two different states, Bihar was divided in the year 2000. 16 years on, looks like the records remain un-updated.

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My Take- Heart of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha

The 5 star rating is on the following criteria:

  Story/Concept/Plot             * 

Characterisation                   *

Language/Expression           *

Entertainment/Message        *

Publishing (job done or not)  *

Heart of Bullets is a story of two fearless soldiers, who would do anything for Love; Love for their Motherland, for a friend or love for a woman.

The story runs in past and present where the narrator, one of the soldiers, tells the story of his daredevil friend Sameer. Sameer as a friend, as a lover and as a brave soldier. 

As both the boys have indispensable part in each other’s life we get to see narrator’s life as well. 

The lady in the story has pivotal role, as her actions, dreams, innocence, ignorance, foolhardiness, answerability takes the story forward.

The story has many highs and lows, in terms of events, which are overall an interesting sequence, but nothing new. A sense of mystery is tried to be maintained, revealed in the final chapters of the novel, which are also the saving grace of this work and make for interesting reading in an otherwise laborious read. 

You get a hang of the characters but they could have been more refined.

The ‘present’ part of the story when the characters are on a mission at LOC are dealt better than the flashback, their school lives.

We tend to paint our own imaginary pictures of things which we cannot experience first-hand. A tale has been woven of the days and ways; emotions and actions at LOC.

The terrorist/soldiers escapades, emotional upheaval, missions accomplished, exchange of words, appear to be more inspired from the Hindi film industry than reality. The execution could have done with some new thrills.

Not only the war scenes, but some important sequence in the boys’ juvenile phase, one liners, appear too-close-for-comfort to some Bollywood movies. 

In order to pack a punch, the conversation among the teenagers have been dealt with in a round-about-way and as an observer I felt like the third wheel reading them. Being an intruder, I was unable to laugh and cry with the characters.

Poems and philosophical one liners are recurring feature in the book. Some of the poems are well worded and rhymed, but in places they become tad excessive. They and their explanation offered by the writer, using the same words, somewhere undermines the reader also challenges one’s patience.

The novel needs, extensive grammar corrections (Sad to see over 70% sentences in the book were grammatically wrong or absurd/inappropriate words were used.); editing and proofreading is at its worst. There are various technical and factual errors with time period, communication methods, and few other things. (I am not mentioning them here because it will spoil the surprise element in the book.)

The book has potential because the plot is well thought out, but journey in a rickety vehicle and unpleasant terrain can easily be not ventured into.

On the above mentioned criteria I rate it **

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My Take- Adhira Love: Lost & Found by Aditti Gaur

The 5 star rating is on the following criteria:

  Story/Concept/Plot        * 

Characterisation          *

Language/Expression       *

Entertainment/Message     *
Publishing (job done or not)  *

Adhira Love: Lost & Found is a journal entry of a girl Riddhi or the narrator, during a very important episode in her life. The language of the entire novel is in keeping with the simple style of talking to your diary.

The entries though are about her friend Adhira who is at a very difficult juncture, where her life is on the line, her marriage in shambles. She believes it to be her responsibility to make sure, each and every person who came across her ever, has all their problems sorted and she plays important part in doing so.

In accordance with the belief,Good work always pays, Adhira gets rewarded. Romance gets very little space in the book, but one does get a glimpse of soft,wet in the rain romance and tad more.

Story brings back one's teenage fantasies, though the characters remained indiscriminate.

I found several errors in proofreading, grammar and there were incorrect use of words. A mistake that recurs throughout is beginning of sentences with And and But.A little scrutiny while editing would have helped the book a lot. So publishing misses an entire star.

On the above criteria I rate it **

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