Date: May 17, 2014
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PLOT: 3.5/5
CHARACTERS: 3/5
WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5
CLIMAX: 3/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3/5
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There has been a flurry of “love stories” in the Indian publishing industry, with every debut author writing one. As the saying goes, why try to fix something that isn’t broken? So, if there seems to be a perception that love stories get published more frequently and seemingly have more success with the readers, then why bother trying something new? While that sentiment is not at all wrong, what is a bit sad to see is that almost all of them have the same plot lines repeated over various iterations, and with authors firmly believing that what they had written was genuinely a new story, the kind that no one has read before.
However, once in a while, there comes along a book that genuinely has a different plot, and Arindam Dey’s “Forever in my heart” is one such effort. The story revolves around the long lost love story of Rishav and Saanjh, and how Josephine, Ankit and Richard get involved to bring the couple together. Rishav and Saanjh are childhood sweethearts who wanted to run away and live together. However, on the night of their plan, Rishav gets involved in an accident while he is on his way to pick up Saanjh, and so they get separated. In the meanwhile, thanks to a bet with a fellow student, Josephine tries to get the attention of Rishav, who is now teaching arts in a college. How things pan out and how Saanjh and Ankit become important cogs, in getting Rishav and Saanjh together forms the basis of the story.
The narration of the story is a bit different too, switching from the long past, incidents in the last couple of months, and the present. Usually, when narrating a story in multiple time frames, writers, especially debut authors, can fall into the trap of going too far away from the main plot. But Arindam, thankfully, does not. The story in all 3 time periods goes along smoothly, and it all works up towards the climax.
However, while there is no doubt the author is good at the narration, painting a very good picture about the events that are taking place, the conversations between the characters were quite disappointing. There seemed to be not enough work done on the dialogues that the characters were having with each other felt a bit juvenile. While that may well have been the author’s intention, it kind of kicked in to the otherwise well-written book.
But otherwise, like already mentioned, this book is certainly worth your time, and you will certainly enjoy reading it.
However, once in a while, there comes along a book that genuinely has a different plot, and Arindam Dey’s “Forever in my heart” is one such effort. The story revolves around the long lost love story of Rishav and Saanjh, and how Josephine, Ankit and Richard get involved to bring the couple together. Rishav and Saanjh are childhood sweethearts who wanted to run away and live together. However, on the night of their plan, Rishav gets involved in an accident while he is on his way to pick up Saanjh, and so they get separated. In the meanwhile, thanks to a bet with a fellow student, Josephine tries to get the attention of Rishav, who is now teaching arts in a college. How things pan out and how Saanjh and Ankit become important cogs, in getting Rishav and Saanjh together forms the basis of the story.
The narration of the story is a bit different too, switching from the long past, incidents in the last couple of months, and the present. Usually, when narrating a story in multiple time frames, writers, especially debut authors, can fall into the trap of going too far away from the main plot. But Arindam, thankfully, does not. The story in all 3 time periods goes along smoothly, and it all works up towards the climax.
However, while there is no doubt the author is good at the narration, painting a very good picture about the events that are taking place, the conversations between the characters were quite disappointing. There seemed to be not enough work done on the dialogues that the characters were having with each other felt a bit juvenile. While that may well have been the author’s intention, it kind of kicked in to the otherwise well-written book.
But otherwise, like already mentioned, this book is certainly worth your time, and you will certainly enjoy reading it.
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