FORGET ME NOT STRANGER BOOK REVIEW By Jayshree Sridhar

The Stranger Trilogy released its last book and when I got my hands on it, I assure you I didn't keep it down until I finished it.

Every person doesn't read the same book, I've heard. And I'm here to give my opinion only on the book I've read. Interpretations differ and opinions vary. I know I have a very insignificant amount of readers on my blog but  The Stranger trilogy along with its review will have a message. A message to everyone out  there who find this book reasonable. A message on why the moral of this story was wrong.

The book was written in a very thrilling and exciting way where one cannot wait for the next twist to unfold where things only get even more twisted.  The book had me hooked to the very end but the very end is what I had a problem with. Also coming to think of it, I have my issues with the very beginning as well.

Warning: Spoilers down here…

If the Stranger trilogy was a story about one woman who had a stranger following her, and her life turning and twisting in unimaginable ways since he became a part of her life…I would have been much more supportive of this story right now. Turns out it's not.

Stranger is not a single person intruding a life of someone he specifically targeted. Stranger or after the story you'd know, 'Strangers' are apparently a group of emotional surgeons who operate on emotions of people and help them find the better versions of themselves. Okay first of all, How do you pick these people? Randomly? That makes it ridiculously illegal son. Secondly WHY?? Why would anyone bother what kind of emotional betterment another person needs unless they both are related in some way.

These questions were not meant to be sarcastic, but even J.K Rowling took at least half of the first Harry Potter book to make it convincing that the world of witchcraft exists. She still is trying and succeeding pretty well btw. Not that anyone doesn't know.  Anyways, throwing in an underground committee called 'Emotional surgeons' (Most bizarre thing I heard this year) in the end of the last book in trilogy and that too with an explanation up to only  one page, is not doing any good in convincing the readers on the realism of the story.

The dialogues in the book did not hit the feel enough either. I could not feel the trauma of a person who realized they were the reason behind someone's death. A good thriller works when the characters care. I didn't feel enough care in anyone. Only shocking turn of events.

Who are these Strangers? Whom do they target? Why they target them? Why bother in the first place? What's the backstory? And most importantly, Are you guys getting paid for being stalkers? On no, let me correct that, Emotional surgeons?

The stranger trilogy, especially now that has come to an end has disappointed me majorly because it never touched the one issue staring right at the face. STALKING. EXTREMELY DISTURBING LEVELS OF STALKING. Not only did the books never gave a solution or any depth to this issue but also very successfully romanticized it, which is one of the major problem with storytelling in our country. Romanticizing abuse, romanticizing women's submissiveness, romanticizing stalking and every other bloody trauma that a woman is suffering.

With so much issues that had to be dwelled upon in the content, I really hoped the writer would empower his character, give a solution where she puts an end to the stalking.  Guess people still live in a Bollywood trance and aren't getting out of it for a very long time.

With much disappointment, I rate 'Forget Me Not, Stranger' with 2 stars for the thrilling trip until it reached the climax.

LANDLINE REVIEW BY JAYSHREE SRIDHAR

I know its been so long since I posted. Or wrote for that matter. I had been very excited about reviewing 'Landline by Rainbow Rowell but I never got time to actuall sit down for a review. Finally!! So here it goes...

Landline by Rainbow Rowell isn't a die hard romantic like the other books by her. This is different. The good different. Here's how....
The book brings out the basic aesthetics of a marriage in the most raw and real way possible. It isn't always pink. It's no way black and white. It's gray and how a couple deal with the gray areas is what landline is about.

Landline has a magic landline phone and what Georgie did with it to save her marriage or get to know what she actually didn't do to save it, becomes the plot line.
I really liked how the mind of Georgie worked regarding everything, Seth, her career, and NEAL! Oh Neal! 

I was actually really sorry that I couldn't get to know more and more about the present day neal. I was really desperate to catch phrases where I find what is happening in Omaha at the present. That not happening left me a little...discourged?

But what Georgie felt about her marriage, what she felt about Neal, how their relationship worked was as real as possible and I might fight you say otherwise.

I would not deny that I had my fangirling moments in the end.



Landline helps you realize there aren't always sunny days in a relationship. There's monsoon and there's heavy winter sometimes (if you know what i'm talking about).The book shows you what a marriage looks like from 5 years to 15 years later, how changes affect the marriage in the most intriguing way It's not bubbling with romance but it need not be dry and dead either.

Now how do I NOT mention the little trick my queen played in this book. So Cath and Levi do a guest appearance and hey you know it's Cath and Levi only if you have read Fangirl and if you want to believe it's them. There's no name mention though. I hate it when Raibow doesn't give us that 100% satisfaction to fangirl over something. And yes, oh THEY'RE  ENGAGED!!! *internal screaming louder by second*

The book sure didn't top my favorite works of her but it has a great story and I think everyone should give it a read. Married people, I'm looking at you guys mostly...



I give this book a 4 out of 5 for lack of Neal's side of the story.

ELEANOR & PARK BOOK REVIEW BY JAYSHREE SRIDHAR

Once after finishing Fangirl, I couldn't stop myself from reading her books so I picked Eleanor and Park and Oh GOD!!

Let's just begin with a standing ovation to the wonderful Rainbow Rowell for giving us this book. MAJORLY Because she doesn't want to kill off characters for the sake of adding pain or 'Value' to the story. Yet...She does something to you that makes you go like...

Eleanor and Park are so vivid, so unique, so much together and so much more apart. That is what hits you really hard in this book, you just can't take it when they are apart. The book brilliantly explains the insecurities that almost every girl goes through, every change a boy goes through at a certain stage of their life.

The book makes you feel what it is like to be loved, what it's like when you have that one person with you and all problems don't matter anymore. 

The story is set in 1980's, with music, comics and sneaky phone calls you can actually feel yourself standing there watching it all happen. The high school love unfolds itself in the most beautiful way. To be honest, the relationship between Park and Eleanor, or even their relationship with other members of the family, seems almost unrealistic for today, but the point is you hope it's true.

You hope people like Eleanor exist, You hope people like Park exist. You hope People like Park would do anything for people like Eleanor. You realize falling in love was never cliche. You realize how good it feels to have someone who's the Sun for you. 

I also liked Park's parents who made it work everytime with each other no matter how ugly the situation is. And thats why like Park, I was curious too to know how his parents met. 

So read the book. Just read it. Feel it, Cry, Smile, Love, and thank the author once you do. She brought back all the good feelings inside back to life. She made you feel young and happy again.

You know what I do when I'm overwhelmed with happiness...

STAR SHOWERS!!!

I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE THREE WORDS. DO NOT ASK ME. IT'S A HAPPY ENDING. MAKE PEACE WITH IT AND GO BACK TO CRYING.

Tell me what you think about the book in the comments below.

Loads of Love

Jayshree Sridhar

FANGIRL - BOOK REVIEW BY JAYSHREE SRIDHAR

Life was going on with just another lame regular day when a friend of mine handed over these 500 pages of emotional roller coaster to me.  I just finished reading the book 'Fangirl', written by Rainbow Rowell and trust me my beloved children. This book is a bigger rainbow than the writer herself. And I mean that in a positive way. Shh, There may be spoilers down here!

The genre is teen drama (I hate generalizing this book to such a broad category but then it gives you the idea) and very beautifully mirrors the feelings of an introvert, when she has to face college and new people on her own without any support.

Rainbow Rowell is an excellent story teller especially when it comes to writing romantic scenes. She is definitely not cheesy, she is hard core realistic and she explains romance the way the way I have never imagined it could be and the way I always wanted it to be. I would say she is a goddess at explaining body language and trust me, that is one of the main reasons you'll be lost in the world of Fangirl.

Character definition is brilliant. I AM HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE WITH LEVI and I cannot love him anymore.  Another best character was Reagan, she was just too perfect and too real. She is that bitch-ass best friend you'd want to keep for life. And of course, CATH! There were countless instances I could relate to Cath. Being an introvert fangirl myself, there were so many times I screamed at the book saying, 'Yo Soul Sister! Where have you been?'

The portrayal of the relationship between the twins, their differences, their ideas about social life being so different, everything is beautifully brought into words. I adored the father character, there was sufficient depth given to single parenthood and teenage daughters’ drama. On the whole, the bonding between Wren, Cath and their father is very real and moving.

The chemistry between Levi and Cath (let me inhale some oxygen here, I'm dying) is something I have never seen in any movie or book. It is completely raw and honest and it sets relationship goals and that’s why I hate Rainbow Rowell a little now. For a woman who claims she doesn't know blushing, I blushed the blood out of my cheeks in this book.  (Now that explanation was kinda gross. I blushed a lot. They were just awesome. Period.)

I have only one complaint in the book. The ending of the story was abrupt and it didn’t have a proper climax where the reader could actually bid goodbye to the story, it kind of lingers around you for a very long time and suddenly you are craving for more and can't take it anymore. And that probably is the plan of the writer. Well, you fucked me up pretty well, thanks Rowell.

A part of the book contains excerpts of the books that Cath fan girls over and excerpts of the fan fiction that she writes herself of her favorite characters (understatement) which if you are not very keen on fantasy and magical world won't read.

On the whole Fangirl is a package that you want to read again and again. Because you just can't get enough of this book in one time.

Good news, Fangirl leaves a lot of hope for a sequel of the book which may or may not happen. What the future holds for Levi and Cath, what happened to Lauren, a little more detail on Wren and Jandro, man! These details would could create a book of its own and I'd read the shit out of that book too. The writer though does not confirm on that. 

So on the whole the point is...Fangirling over Fangirl right now and gonna shower it with stars. There you go!

She (Ekla chalo re) book review by Jayshree Sridhar.

First of all I would like to appreciate the writers and the publishing house who are doing great with the promotion of this book and thank them for asking me to review this book. A few days ago I received a mail from Amrita foundation asking me to review this book, it truly was an honor since this is the first time I was requested for a review.

Now coming to the book, She (Ekla chalo re) is a beautiful short story that describes from gender stereotypes to fitting in a society pressure in the most basic and beautiful way.

The book (more like a booklet) comprises of around 50 pages and explains biggest of issues in our country in shortest of words. The writing is beautiful and though the subject is controversial the narration is not filled with angst and sorrow. It is a very light read but gives a very strong message. I personally loved the ending. Santhosh Avvannavar (the writer) is brilliant in storytelling and I hope to read more works by him in the future. I again appreciate the publishing house for releasing this book and hope to see this story flourish and reach a larger audience.

If any Tumblrian can see this post, I'd ask each and every one of them to read this book because all the lgbt community supporters and gender equality supporters in tumblr would be so happy to find out a success story in the issue.

If I had to explain my reaction to

this book in one gif, it would be this.

WOW!

I'd like to give this book a five star rating, hands down. Great going guys. Keep up the work!

NOT A VIRGIN…

“So, you are a…um…virgin, right?” he asked. The question hung on air for quite a while. This was not his first question. Pleasantries were exchanged of course. Compliment on clothes to discussion on what to order, everything did happen before the real conversation started. Also, he did take a long pause before placing the question.

It didn’t come as a shock though. I did expect the question. It’s the question asked to almost every woman these days, if not by the suitor, then the boyfriend, or a distant aunt, or a neighbor. Why would I be an exception?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…I just…” he started to fumble in fear because the silence lasted too long.

“No, that’s okay. It’s fine to get your queries cleared. Well…I was raped. If that makes me a non-virgin or whatever they call it, then yes. I’m not a virgin.” There was no pause in my answer, neither was a speck of hesitation.

He choked on his drink at the mention of ‘rape’ but somehow, I expected that too. “I’m sorry, did you say that you were raped?” he asked.

“You heard it right, I was raped. A few hundred times.” I was quite calm but his eyes didn’t stopped bloating big.

“A few hundred times?! Are you kidding me? You would have been dead by now.” he said horrified.

I studied his face for a second. “So, you’re telling me you were never raped…not even once? No sexual abuse?” It was my turn to be surprised.

“NO! No, I was never raped, not once. No Sexual Abuse! But you said a few hundred… what on earth did you mean?”

I paused for a while. “Funny. I thought nobody could escape it. I couldn’t. Not once. I was raped every time I travelled in bus at night, I was abused every time I waited for a bus to arrive, I was raped by my colleagues a few times, my boss a few times, that goon at the end of the street, that unknown number who’d call me without fail at least once in a day, that neighbor’s husband, nobody failed to rip my clothes off me. And I could do nothing about it. I tried I promise but it all went vain.” He probably still could not understand what I conveyed, but he listened, in horror though.

“I couldn’t tell anyone, because there was no proof. I didn’t have any proof on by body to show that I was raped because it didn’t happen physically. They did rip my clothes off, not physically. They did touch my naked body, not physically. They did pin me to the floor and raped me until I bled out, not PHYSICALLY but it doesn’t mean it did-not-hurt physically. It did hurt. It hurt me mentally so much that the knife in my hand felt like it could lead me to a permanent peace, it felt like falling off a cliff would be so relaxing, invisibility felt like a bliss and my own skin like a curse. Only, I couldn’t tell anyone because there was no proof, no evidence.” I stared blankly into nowhere, recapturing every tear I shed for those abuses on me. It almost felt like my tear ducts gave up a long time ago. His horror did fade, but attention didn’t.

I took a deep breath, and shooting a broad smile, I said, “Nobody was ever able to touch me physically, when you run a virginity test on me, I will be a virgin, physically. But sorry, I can’t say the same thing about my mind, because my purity is destroyed there. And that my friend is the answer to your question.”

It was all silence again, I didn’t expect him to speak. He slowly got up and started to leave when I said, “You want to marry a virgin right? I’m sorry but there aren’t any left. Not a young woman, not a young man, not a girl, not a boy, a kid, an old woman, Nobody is a virgin anymore, if not in their own mind, definitely in that rapist’s mind. They’re NOT a virgin anymore. All you can do is just try to protect your wife from being raped again. And stay by her side, if she is abused again. THAT is why she is marrying you. That is all a woman expects of you.” I took my bag and walked out of that restaurant not looking back once. Somehow an unusual happiness flowed through me which said, ‘Now they know…’

This story that I wrote was published long ago in The Daily Mint.com once, But I thought I could share it with my readers, Please let me know what you think of it. I'll be post more soon...I guess!

ALL YOURS STRANGER Book Review

ALL YOURS STRANGER got me like…ALL YOURS WRITER!! JUST GIVE ME THE GODDAMN NEXT BOOK.

Has it ever occurred to you while reading a series of bad books you wondered if you lost interest in the idea of reading? Or maybe, Books now are just genuinely bad...? Well quite recently I have been going through that phase, and quite frankly I was very much on the verge of giving up on the upcoming Indian  fiction writers.

While my  craving for Indian fiction just turned out to be pure starvation because of all the poorly written novels, comes around the Stranger trilogy by Novoneel Chakraborthy. And hopes restored. Having read, one of his previous book, 'A thing beyond forever' I was sure to read something unexpected but boy oh boy was this a treat!

Mistake on my behalf I happened to pick the second book of trilogy first although even if I haven't read the book, there is no confusion or lack of incomplete feeling with the reading. The writer clearly made sure, the readers understood everything, most importantly without being repetitive.

All yours stranger is one epic romance thriller novel that will keep you hooked until the very end and once it ends, the wait for the next book is sure to turn you into a lunatic. There wasn't one tad bit of cliché, not one ounce of melodrama but just to the point story that keeps shooting mysteries at your face and you keep going like…

The turn of events, the way the mysteries in the life of Rivannah unfolds, the way stranger interacts with her, the unveiling of parts of the mystery and the more mysteries arising from it just makes you even more desperate to know the reality behind all the shadows. Unlike my other reviews I genuinely do not want to give any brief on the storyline as that is exactly what readers would call major spoilers and I don't want to do that.

Excellent screenplay, compelling storyline and subtle darkness in the current relationship scenario in India  all put together, All Yours Stranger is a must read and a great treat for the readers, of course after you finish reading the first book.

Now I'm off to undo my mistake by getting back to the first of trilogy while you better start with the first book, to enjoy this mystery ride authentically.

Needless to say the book truly deserves a five star rating and a special place in your bookshelf.

THE SECRET WISH LIST Book Review

THE SECRET WISH LIST now includes death due to boredom and time travel to the time when facebook didn't exist. Guess what? It did happen when I read this book.

Preeti Shenoy managed to pick one of the most ignored topic in Indian society, the suppression an indian housewife goes through, which although is quite appreciated, is also a story that is already known to everyone.

The draggy narration of how the protagonist's husband uses as housemaid and sex toy as if is not painful enough, it is repeated in every tenth page making sure the readers still continue to hate him.

We get it miss, you are a timid housewife raising a child and your husband is a jackass and?

So the story goes like one day Diksha, the protagonist when goes to meet her cousin Vibha, recently widowed, comes up with a secret wish list of her own due to all the pushing from Vibha. Diksha's wish list includes a lot of things like learning salsa, snorkeling, getting drunk and sex with another guy and stuff like that. Now that an annoying cousin that Vibha is, although is willing to help her tick off everything, keeps reminding her that except for the last wish, she can have everything, ALL THE TIME.

Bad ass that Diksha is, manages to tick off all the things in her wish list with just a gallon of drama from her husband added in between. Yes, even the sex part. And quite the happy ending there was, she manages to get away with her affair guy Ankit, give a long speech to her family about how they ruined her life and salutes her husband with middle finger and takes off with her kid.

Now questions from all the women across the world with jerk husbands, We didn't have high school affair and nobody is taking us anymore, any suggestion for us and our marriage?No? OKAY.

FUNNIEST PART OF THE STORY: Now there is a mention of social networking site where people register about their education and jobs and meet people from the same places if you lost contact with them, now if you think this is Facebook, gotcha buddy, you are wrong!! This site has the lamest name and quite creepy in some sense 'Blast From The Past'. The writer managed to keep even the name draggy enough to bore you to sleep. I really wonder if anybody wants any kind of blast from the past anymore.

Person: HEYYYYYY!!!! Remember we did our 3^rd grade together, I've been searching for you all over. How are you??? Where have you been???

Me: *blocked* You cannot send message to this person anymore.

So the narration is repetitive, dialogues are lame and downright bland, the depth in the storytelling that should make the readers dwell inside the story made us dwell into sleeping.

I would like to give two stars to this book, one for the topic raised and one for the representation of a mother in law, completely opposite to the stereotypical ones.   

Letter from my love

I could start feeling the perspiration in my hand as I dialed his number for the fifth time and disconnected again. Without thinking any more I dialed his number again and just as expected, he picked the call within the second ring. 

“So how did it go?” was his hello.

“Well, if you minus the drama, the yelling and screaming, I would say pretty much okay.”

He didn't say anything to that, and I had nothing to offer either.

“We had expected this would happen.” I say after the silence that seemed to last for eternity.

“Yeah, of course we did. So what do they want?” he asked partially frustrated and partially worried.

“Doesn't matter”

“It does, what is it?”

“There's absolute ridiculousness and black-mailing. Nothing important.”

“Would you just give me the exact words?” he almost shouted.

“They want me to stay, okay? They want me to stay with them, marry someone and they seem pretty sure I will find love again. How about that?”

There was silence again and this time I had no intention of letting it stay any longer.

“Apparently I'm all they have. Well you won't disagree. What say, sweetheart? Shall I stay? Won't that be just absolutely great?” I shot back at him sarcastically, a reaction triggered by the extreme pressure life was putting me under.

“What do you expect me to say then?” he yelled again.

“You have said enough and I did as much I could have. Now, we go by my plan. And I need no argument from you. Is that clear?”

“Yes. Okay.” he said slowly.

“I'll see you at office on Monday, keep your passports ready.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, I love you”

“I love you too”

                                                                    ***

I didn't call him since Saturday night and he didn't try either. We both needed that little time to process what we were going through and for what we were going to do. I picked up the bottle of wine I had saved up for a special occasion and rushed to office. Its been a long time we had a good meal together.  Maybe we'll drive to his favorite dhaba for the meal. 

I hurriedly walked into my cabin and dumped my bag on the chair and was about to leave for his cabin when I saw a wine bottle already on my table. It was holding a green paper beneath it.

Hi Ashwin,

I truly don't know how to start but an apology would seem appropriate. I'm really sorry for not listening to you once again and this time I can only hope that you would forgive me some day. Before you read any further, I just want you to remember that I have loved you beyond anything ever and letting go of you is the most painful thing I have done so far in my life.

I took a transfer to Amsterdam. I had been discussing with our CEO about this since a while. I took an early morning flight today. I'm sure you could take the next flight and reach here. Only I don't want you to. They're your parents, Ashwin. They were there everytime we needed them. I don't think you should deny them the one time they need you. I'm not saying this because I lost my family, I just know you won't be able to take it if you had to lose them too. No matter how hard you try, I know you cannot stop caring about them.

So, I'm leaving you here to do that job and do it right. Now don't you think I'm asking you to marry a woman, have kids and spend your life without love. I will always be waiting for you. But just come on the day when your parents understand what you really love and are truly happy to see you with me. Until then, please don't stop fighting and I promise I won't stop waiting. 

Here's me hoping that someday I would wake up beside you in a land where our dear ones accept us just the way we are, here's me hoping a forever with you, here's me hoping for you to come take me back home soon, here's me hoping you'd forgive me sometime.

With love and longing,

Yashwant

                                                                           ***

3 years later...

"Sir, whom should I say is here to see him?" The receptionist asked holding the phone line.

"Ashwin Sagar. He said he would be expecting me." 

AFTER ALL THIS TIME Book Review

So, with that title if you are thinking you'd find a love story very near and dear to that of Severus Snape and Lily, say hello to disappointment. Although you can find a one paragraph reference to it. YAY!

After writing interesting page turner books like, The Promise, If its not forever...it's not love and Someone like you, Nikita Singh brings you a successful drag story of a confused soul suffering from HIV who doesn't decide till the very end of the book what to do about the disease or the rest of the time she has to live. Somehow the title absolutely fits in with the plot, After all this time...would you just decide what you have to do???

Thankfully the answers to all our, “what-happens-in-the-end” questions are answered in the end but trust me you don't need to go through the whole book for that!

Interesting fact, this book is also a love story! But no, don't you get back to the idea of Snape and Lily again! I told you its not them.

Remember that time the guy you friend-zoned creeped you out with his love for you so much so that you ran away to a different country? Well meet Shourya, the hero of the story who cannot get over any of the women he has ever been with and move on with his life. He literally creeps them out very much until all of them give up and come back to him. Now that he has all of them in his pocket he gets to choose and creepy that he is, chooses the first girl, Lavanya the protagonist, even though that woman is an annoyingly crying mess.

The problem with the book is that it is irritably draggy, nose-cringing cliche and bland for the most part of the story, though it is expected to be soul-crushingly emotional. 

After all this time could have made a beautiful short story of 2 pages unfortunately extended to two hundred pages.

I would give this book one star clearly just to show the level of disappointment. 

 

WORLD'S BEST BOYFRIEND Book Review

So after reading around 10 books by Durjoy Datta which give brilliant messages in themselves, 'World's Best Boyfriend' book turns out to be a huge disappointment. 

IN SHORT: The Boyfriend is anything but Best, I assure you that.

The story although has a lot of things, fails to be a page turner. The plot seems cliche, and at a point of time, turns out to be an unreasonable nonsense. Like the previous stories by Durjoy Datta, one can definitely not take inspiration or hope from this book as it fails to give any moral to the story. The writer in attempt to return with the dark humor he used to write in his initial books, goes overboard and spoils it.

More than any other thing, the writer for the first time failed miserably in dialogue delivery which did not bring the right emotions expected from the readers, or can we say the emotions at all. The love story is said to be revengeful in the synopsis but it looks more like immature tiff between high schoolers.

Other than that, the writer also could not do any proper justification to the characters as they seem unrealistic, mechanical and a little too cliche' to be real. The love story although seems to have a happy ending, in the larger picture, the pair don't seem to be fitting for each other. Also there are a lot of subplots in the story that goes unanswered.

I could not give any major spoilers to you in here because like other books of Durjoy Datta, this one doesn't have any major plot twists, like I said, a huge disappointment.

I would rate this book with 2 stars mainly for the witty one liners by Aranya and the characterisation of Sanchit.



Let me know what you think in the comments below.