Sunday 29 May 2016

Book Review: Dare To Defy The Destiny



Book: Dare To Defy The Destiny
Author: Roma Gupta Sinha
Genre: Short Stories [Non Fiction]
Format: Kindle Edition
Price: 200 INR
Pages: 75

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: 

"Dare To Defy The Destiny" is a collection of 26 short real life stories of Indian women, trapped in unavoidable, difficult circumstances. In some stories, the protagonist dare to defy the destiny and emerge as a winner despite her brutal surroundings compelling her to accept her fate. In some stories, the protagonist is clueless about how to escape the acerbic circumstances and chose to bear everything silently.

The author, Roma urges the readers to be the "Face of Change" and not to tolerate any situation or circumstance that threatens to take away her happiness and self-respect. In the stories where the woman is unable to defy the destiny, the author voices her helplessness and enlightens the reader to not suffer in silence.

Out of the 26 stories, I would like to mention some of my favorites that left a long lasting impact on me:

End of roads sometimes masks a new beginning: This is the story of a school teacher married to a psychopath who hurts and torments her every now and then. It is how she starts a new life and says no to the everyday torture.

Dare to defy the destiny: This is a very inspiring story of a speech therapist who dares to defy the destiny.

Failed Marriages: Should they be given a second chance? Though this is an open ended story where the author asks the reader what she should have done in a similar situation, this story deeply pained me. The narration was so heart touching that you can feel the suffering of the wife who discovers about her husband's extramarital affair and her husband keeps on denying it.

Justified? You're not a woman if you can't bear a child: This is another painful story of a woman who feels like a reproductive machine. Just because she cannot bear a child, she is subjected to every inhumane treatment.

Only if everyone loved everyone else, the world would be such a beautiful place: This is a very touching and heart warming story about a mother in law who loves her daughter in law like her own daughter after her son's demise.

Role Reversals: Behind every successful woman, there is a man too: This is my most favorite story of the collection because it made me feel so good. It is the story of a supportive husband who plays the role of both mom and dad for his daughters so that his wife can fulfill her dream.

Salary Saga: What if a wife earns more than her husband: This story is about a woman whose husband starts creating conflicts in their lives and ultimately gives her a divorce letter, when she is promoted to a higher designation.

The author has poured her heart and soul in narrating these 26 stories. Most of the stories contain poetic lines at the beginning of it. Overall, it is a wonderful collection of real life stories of Indian women that should be read by everyone.

I would have given the book a 5 out 5 because of the author's sheer honesty in voicing these stories and portraying the emotions of the women, but the only thing the book lacked is editing. Since there are some editing mistakes, I am rating it 4 out of 5 and wishing Roma all the best in her future endeavors.

Buy the book here:

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Thursday 12 May 2016

Book Review: Just For You

Book: Just for You
Author: Rahul Saini
Publisher: Penguin Books India
Pages: 245
Price: 175 INR


Blurb: When you love someone, what's there to prove? Everything! 
It looks like life is teaching Rohit a lesson. His publishing deals, his relationships, even his job - nothing seems to be working out. To make matters worse, Karun is still trying his best to ruin him as a writer. But when Nisha leaves him, it's the ultimate blow. 
To win her back Rohit must prove he loves her enough to do things that matter to her: like helping Tara find a publisher. As Rohit takes control of his life, he begins to find things slowly changing for the better for him too. 
But will Nisha be happy with that? Will she come back to him? Just for You is an adorable, bittersweet story about love and its responsibilities.


My Rating: 3/5

My Review: 

"Just for you" is the continuation of Rahul Saini's earlier book "Paperback Dreams" which is a fictional account of publishing in India revolving around the life of 3 authors.

Although the book "Just for you" looks like a totally romance novel from the cover, it is not so. This book also revolves around the life of 3 authors: Rohit, Jeet and Karun. However, the love life of Rohit is also given importance in this book.

Among these 3 authors, only Rohit seems to be the genuine one who is passionate towards writing. Writing matters more to him than fame or money. He gets furious when his publisher cheats him of his royalties and switches to a better, reliable publisher.

Karun is a young bestselling author of one book, who feels that there is nothing wrong in buying applause. He pays a journalist to write good review of his books and at the same time, to write something bad about his contemporaries. He tries every possible way to ruin the career of Rohit and Jeet so that he can be at the top. 

Jeet is another bestselling author who co-authors his books with Neeti. Although Neeti does most of the writing, Jeet gets all the fame and attention. He has hired an expensive PR to cover all his events so that he can always be the talk of the town.

Rohit's life goes stagnant as he faces a writer's block and his job as a teacher doesn't go great. His relationship with Nisha is also under troubled waters. However, when Nisha leaves him after a fight, Rohit feels that his life is ruined.

After Nisha leaves him, he also gets the ugliest shock of his life when he finds that his manuscript has been stolen and is published under someone else's name. Despite the heartbreak, he helps Tara, an acquaintance of Nisha to get a publisher for her book because Nisha wanted Rohit to help Tara, who had lost her true love unfortunately.

The good thing about the book is that it is fast-paced. You can read it in a go. The characters of the authors and the publishers have been vaguely inspired from real life authors and publishers.

However, the story of "Just for you" is not something that will stay with you after you complete reading the book. I wish at least the character of the protagonist, Rohit had more depth. Another thing that I did not like about the book is the climax. It felt it was extremely hurried and ended all of a sudden.

Anyways, it is a light hearted weekend read! 

You can buy the book here:





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