Category: bookreview

Book review – More Things In Heaven And Earth

So I am back after a long break from blogging and back with another book review, the book is More Things in Heaven and Earth by Kiran Manral.This book deals with life,death and everything in between.Also with love,hate and everything in between.

Kiran Manral is a seasoned writer who has published books in both fiction and non fiction genres. She published her first novel back in 2011. The experience is seen clearly in her confident language and vocabulary throughout this book.I particularly love the writer’s penchant for describing the surroundings and streets of the cities in great detail. We can almost imagine the picture she tries to create in our mind for every geographical instance.Her simple language yet complex narrative makes the book a very compelling read.

The story is split between the current timeline and a flashback to the protagonist, Kamla’s, childhood. Kamla is a widower trying to get on with her life but her husband, Nihar’s memories almost engulf her life making it impossible to live. He used to call her Lotusface, which adds quite a spooky touch throughout the story. There starts her journey to different cities in the hope of finding closure and peace before finally ending up in Goa where her ailing maternal aunt Kamini decides to leave her a fortune however with a strange conditional clause. However Goa is also the place where Nihar passed away and this place holds many secrets. The story also talks about her chemistry with the handsome Victor who is her aunt’s step son.The story also touches on the innocence of the relationship between her and her sister Roop during her childhood days.

The story is gripping, the climax is good (I bet I never predicted that twist) .I did feel the storyline was slightly dragging in the middle but it gained momentum towards the end. The writer’s description of Goa and the palatial villa which Kamla inherits is beautiful and descriptive.There is a constant hint of the unknown, afterlife and hallucinations throughout the story which all starts to make sense towards the end.The ending is sinister and left to each to decipher.The dash of noir added in the story is good and just enough.

To summarise,this is a good read to someone who is curious of life,death and the grey matter associated to them.

You can purchase this book using the below link- Buy from Amazon

This review is powered by Blogchatter Book Review Program

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Book review- Zoravar:Book One in the Bollywood Saga

This is a book written by first time author Maharsh Shah and its based on the life of fictional bollywood hero Zoravar.This is part 1 of the Bollywood Saga. It follows Zoravar’s adventures right from his adolescence to his middle age. His journey from utter poverty to a rich affluent life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, could not keep this book down for a minute after I started reading.The beauty of it is that although its about a fictional character, the timeline and events mentioned in the book are all real events that have taken place right from Partition era to the Indira Gandhi era. Also the fine subtle details and personality traits of all the Hindi film industry stars are so interesting and intriguing. I totally appreciate the effort put in by the author to research on each real artist mentioned in this book, be it directors, producers, writers or actors.

Bombay,the city of dreams, is the heart and soul of this story. The different studios referenced too in this book are such a crucial part of the storyline.

Coming to the writing, its incredibly simple yet keeps you totally engrossed to the storyline. I did find some miniscule editorial mistakes but thats trivial. I especially love some of the references made to objects and events of those years…be it the different cigarette brands or the Osho community reference. I almost believed till the end that this has to be based on a real person’s life as it was that convincing.The story also addresses the ill effects of the ‘Page3’ life of celebrities like alcoholism, drugs, infidelity, casting couch and competitive rivalry.

I am super excited for the second part and cant wait to see what happens next in the story. Maybe this can be a web series, what say Netflix?!

This is a must read especially for those who love the glitz and glamour of the world of cinema.

Buy from Amazon- Zoravar

This review is powered by Blogchatter Book Review Program

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Book review – The Patriots’ Legacy: Forbidden Treasure

The book ‘The Patriots Legacy: Forbidden Treasure’ is written by first time author Apurva Bhuta.The genre is fantasy fiction and I must admit the book did complete justice to the genre.

It is about these 7 young patriots who come from famous architecture and archaeological background families and who are now given the mission(should they choose to accept 😜) to find the forbidden treasure that was planted in a secret location by the famous kingdoms many many years ago! The only way to find this treasure is by solving the different clues found at different locations. This book travels through various countries infact continents in search of the ultimate treasure one clue at a time. You almost feel like you yourself are closer to the great mystery with each clue.These patriots themselves come from different backgrounds and countries and each have a somewhat unique personality. The research done by the author on each clue and each location (New wonders of the world) is really praiseworthy.

The writing is simple and easy to understand. The last 2-3 chapters personally captivated me the most, as I left very involved in the storyline.The middle portion was a bit too dragging and I feel this book could have been a smaller one (as opposed to 308 pages).Also the book starts off rather abruptly, which confused me in the beginning due to all the 7 different protagonists. But this was a clever trick by the author to intrigue us and the introduction actually comes in the 3rd chapter where things really start to make sense.

Also although I loved some of the characters,I felt there should have been more buildup on the individual characters, their personalities and their family background history.Well this seems like a series so you never know,maybe the future parts could be having more information on each character.

Well I cant wait to read the next part in this series as I really want to know how the story progresses and what their next mission would be!

This book is available on Amazon at below link-

Buy on Amazon-The Patriots Legacy: Forbidden Treasure

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Book review – From An-other Land

The book ‘From An-other Land’ is written by Tanushree Ghosh and was published around Nov 2018.

This book surprised me completely from the different stories in it to the language used in the book. Its a challenging read and one you would love if you are into complex storylines. The collection of stories in this book are literally like a window into immigrant lives- the sacrifices, compromises, adjustments, happiness, depression and all those complex feelings immigrants go through in a foreign land. That feeling of wanting to gel in yet maintain one’s own beliefs and culture is a common point in most of these stories. I liked the storylines especially because all of them are relevant to modern times, whether its associated to BLM movement, LGBT community, illegal citizenship, Asian work life balance, religious tolerance etc etc

Another important aspect are the women characters,who each stood apart, bold and strong.Some women going low due to depression while others fighting their own fears and facing each new day valiantly. You may love some characters and you may grow to hate some others.

Such immigrant stories are very familiar to our own life stories, we get absorbed into each character’s emotions and realise how similar the basic framework of mankind is whether its someone in India or in US.

Coming to the language and writing style,I would call it as difficult and intriguing because sometimes its tedious to understand the parallel time lines,which is why we would need to have our full concentration on the story. I quite enjoyed the style of writing as it was not an easy breezy read…I kept having questions…and enjoyed finding their answers too in the stories. The stories are unique in their own way,each addressing different but very important social issues. These stories are important as these enlighten us on the difficulties immigrants have to go through. We should strive to be better human beings and help one another in times of need or trouble.Unity in diversity! Representation matters!

This book is available on Amazon, so go grab a copy! –

Buy from Amazon-From Another Land

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