Love Lasts Forever... - #Book Review

Vikrant Khanna, a contemporary author pens his third novel based on marriage and mistakes. I received "Love Lasts Forever" from Blogadda as part of their Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers.

Title: Love Lasts Forever (only if you don't marry your love)

Author: Vikrant Khanna

Genre: Romance and fiction

Publishers: Srishti Publishers

ISBN #: 9789382665175

The Blurb: Eighteen-year-old Ronit falls madly in love with Aisha the moment he meets her at his graduation day from a naval college. He believes he has found his perfect soul mate, and come what may, his love for her will last forever. Seven years later, he gets married to her. Big mistake! A week later, he completely hates her and believes she has turned into a devil.
But his perception about love and life change when he hears the poignant love story of Shekhar, his Captain, on a ship that later gets hijacked by the pirates of Somalia. As they are left fighting for their lives; they confront if love truly can last forever…? Or does it get too late?

Summary: The book begins with Ronit (the main protagonist) sailing on a ship for work purpose and his continuous rants about his wife. His ship goes on to get hijacked by pirates exactly when he is immersed in listening to the story of the Captain of the ship, who was divorced for over 3 decades. Ronit on the other hand, who was in love with his wife for 7 years and married for a few months, wants a divorce. Do the perspectives change? Does Ronit get his divorce? Or Does the Captain's story rekindle the lost love in his life?

The Turn on's:

1. The book teaches you that love is not the only ingredient required to make a marriage successful. Marriage needs a lot of hardwork, patience and perseverance. Ronit's story could happen to any of us. Every married person can relate to it. 

2. The plot would get you attracted at the very first place and make you want to pick this book for a comfortable read.

3. The story of the Captain nudges you at your heart. You will find tears rolling at the end of the Captain's story. Vikrant's does a fantastic job at this. 

4. The tortures by the  Somalian pirates make your heart reach out to the people who put their lives at risk at the ship.

The Turn Off's:

1. The story could have been narrated from Aisha's(Ronit's wife) point of view as well. I felt it was just one-sided and at times you would find yourself hating Aisha for the way she was.

2. The story that is written from a male point of view sometimes fails to relate to you and you find it to be very fast paced. 

Apart from these two negative aspects of the book, I found it to be a book that you can flip through and pick up points to make your relationship better.

My Verdict: 3/5

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for BlogAdda Indian Bloggers Participate now to get free books!

Inspiring quotes from "The Alchemist"

Reading "The Alchemist" was on my cards for quite sometime. However, I had been postponing it till I found it in the cupboard in my Mom's house. I had heard a lot of positive reviews about the book. This was not the first work of "Paulo Coelho" that I was about to read. I was introduced to Paulo Coelho with the book titled, "Veronica Decides to die". I had loved the book would be an understatement. After that I had tried reading, "The eleven minutes" and "The Zahir", but I landed up putting down the book after reading a few chapters. That does not mean the book was bad. It's just that I couldn't relate to these books.

 

This is not the case with "The Alchemist". This book can relate to anyone, young or old. Age is never a question when it comes to doing what you really want and making your dreams come true.

I was initially thinking of writing a book reveiw but then I dropped the plan thinking that, no book review can make you decide if you want to read the book or not. The Alchemist in itself is enough to convince you to read it.

Instead of a review, I decided to share some quotes from the book that I had noted down while reading it. Here they are:

• "The closer one gets to realizing his destiny, the more that destiny becomes his true reason for being"
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• "The boy was beginning to understand that intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it's all written there."
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• "People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want."
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• "I learned that these things are all so simple that they could be written on the surface of an emerald"
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• "It's not what enters men's mouths that's evil," said the alchemist. "It's what comes out of their mouths that is."
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• "When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them,
• seldom are you believed."
• "It said that the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn"
• "Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?" the boy asked the alchemist.
• "Because that's what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don't like to suffer."
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• "Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure"
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• "Your eyes show the strength of your soul"
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• "There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure"
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• "Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time."
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Book Review: The one you cannot have by Preeti Shenoy

“There will always be the one you cannot have”, This statement has been very well captured and articulated in the latest novel by Preeti Shenoy called, “The one you cannot have”(TOUCH).

Have a look at what the blurb of the book has to say:         


                               

How long does it take to heal a broken heart? Can you ever forget that one perfect relationship you had?Anjali knows who she wants, she wants Aman. Aman too knows who he wants, he wants Shruti. Shruti and Aman were once inseparable. Theirs was a love that would last forever and more. Then, out of the blue, Shruti left Aman. A devastated Aman moved abroad in the hope of forgetting Shruti and to heal. Shruti married Rishabh. Now Aman is back in India and looking for a fresh start. But he is still haunted by memories of his love. Can he ever break free from it? His head tells him to move on, to find love with Anjali, but his heart wont listen. No matter what he does, Shrutis shadow looms large. Can there be a happily-ever-after for any of them? A straight-from-the-heart modern-day romance of unrequited love, of complicated relationships and about moving on when you realise that there will always be the one you cannot have.

Summary:

Welcome to the world of Aman, Anjali, Shruti and Rishab !! Four individuals in their late twenties. That's what I assumed while I read through. All of them were people you would meet in your day to day life, perfect girl-next door and boy-next door traits. I wouldn't ponder around telling you the details of the story as it is for you to find out by reading the book. The story starts from Norwich were our main protagonist Aman is packing his bags to come back to India after two long years during which he is not able to forget his past and not willing to look forward to his future. There is only one silver lining in the cloud for him and that is Anjali a soft, intelligent, attractive and talented writer-journalist. Shruti on the other hand is  married and happily living with her husband, Rishab in Mumbai. Everything breaks loose when an certain incident changes their life and their marriage is almost on the verge of a divorce. 

Does Aman accept Anjali's love and does Shruti save her marriage from breaking is what you have to find out?

The Pros:

- Preeti Shenoy hits the note where she has written the book from the perspective of three different people Aman, Shruti and Anjali. Trying to keep the plot in mind and writing from the view of three different people with different ideologies is extremely difficult. She maintains the balance extremely well and this was something very new to me. 

- Her style of writing the entire story in the present tense(Which she has followed in the other books too) steals the show and keeps you hooked. There wasn't even a single point where I had got bored and felt like keeping the book down. 

- The script is extremely captivating as the storyline is something that each of us would have undergone in our life. We can relate to every character and that's what's important. he story touches the heart. It's simple, beautiful and subtle. It's something that will melt you, especially the scenes where Aman's state of mind(while he struggles with his past) and Shruti's emotions are to be displayed, the author leaves no stone unturned. 

- Complete justice is done to the title of the story and there is not place where she goes off the hook. 

- I loved the character of Anjali. Her attitude and her maturity was something I would love to gain. There was nothing unreal about Shruti's character too. 

The Cons:

-The ending was something that could have been scripted in a better manner. I felt it ended abruptly. 

-  More emphasis was laid in writing about the past of Aman and Shruti which could have been cut down. But again, it did add spice to the script. 

Lessons Learnt:

I would say what I learnt was the power of AcceptanceI would say what I learnt was the power of Acceptance is well-portrayed. The story teaches you to accept the present and live life to the fullest. There is no way grieving over the past and spoiling your future that could be so beautiful. Relationships are not sugar coated and everyone has to work hard and give in his hundred percent to make it work. 

Verdict:

I would rate the book 4.5/5 and it is worth a read. I enjoyed reading it. I actually didn't want to to keep the book down even when I was travelling to office while my husband was driving(Which did drive him mad :P) 

My experience with Roald Dahl

I was introduced to Roald Dahl for the very first time by a very close friend of mine, Arjun. He had spoken about how Dahl had captivated him right from the first story he had begun with. Being very impressed I about this author I tried to take a pick at it and landed up getting a copy of his collection of short stories called “The wonderful story of Henry Sugar and Six More”.

Having read notable authors liked Sidney Sheldon, Fredrick Forsyth, Dan Brown etc, it was different coming across an author like Dahl. He is of a different league all together. 

First look:   On reading the first chapter, I realized that Dahl used simple English. He made the reader feel exactly what he wished to convey. He keeps you hooked to the story and you keep guessing as to what is going to happen next. In this particular story what held me through was the depth in which he had narrated the entire story.

Characterization: The characters were well portrayed and you would feel you must have met people with such characteristics atleast somewhere in your day to day life. For example when I read about Henry Sugar, I pictured him as a wealthy millionaire who spent his days gambling, someone very similar to what they show in movies. The way the story takes you from the beautiful European terrain to the streets of Bombay (Mumbai) is marvellous.

Imhrat Khan: Imhrat Khan is another character in the story that you would love. He reminded me of the circus artists, some of whom we must have come across as kids. The lesson that Henry learns by just reading an article on Imhrat Khan is worth a read.  Be prepared to be loomed by the Yogis in India and the powers that they possess. It kind of held me on as an Indian. I felt drawn to the story all the more. (You feel a sense of pridewhen you read something written about your country).The story of the Yogis in India was something new to me, something that reminded me of the character of Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid.

The Pre-Climax: I was impressed with the way Dahl writes about his plan to run to the climax of the story. He talks about a few possibilities that he could have chosen to end this work of fiction. He lists them out in bullet points and every point seems to be something that every reader would presume to have happened to Henry. But Raold ends his story with the truth. That was when I realized that this story was not a work of Fiction but it was a true story. Dahl plays around the reader’s mind by bringing him or her to a stage where he or she could define the end which as you think is not the climax to the story.

Lesson Learnt: The story of Henry Sugar teaches everyone one single lesson which is nothing but “Achievement of Inner Peace”. Henry Sugar achieved the mysterious powers to read through playing cards and win at gambling but the true peace that he achieved was when he through the money that he had earned  to the by standers outside his building.

Hold on this is not the end to it. What Henry Sugar then does is what you must read to find out.

I would surely rate this story as one of my favourite reads. I am sure you would want to try your hands on Roald Dahl’s other books and stories as well. 

Happy reading !!

 ***********************************************************************************************This post is written as a part of Write Tribe Pro Blogger. 

Well it's true that creativity takes a lot of courage.