Skip to main content

Between now and Forever - book review

Dear Meera Shiva,

Thank you so much for sharing your book for review. That too a signed copy and with a wonderful greeting.
I loved the slip with special note inside the book. It was a pleasant surprise. I for one, never ever ever ever ever ask for a review of anything of mine, be it my speeches or posts. It takes way too much of a strong will and real guts to submit a work for a third person review, that too to someone who is a total stranger.

I found the book from wrapper to wrapper a pretty impressive production. Be it the cover page, both the wrapper pages and the quality of the print, it was all top notch. Due credit to be given to those in charge for the same. The index was another interesting section with character names being used as titles for chapters. It was something novel of an attempt. First chapter of the book itself was like boarding footboard on a fast moving bus. It goes at break neck speed and what would've been a climax in many  a novel was posted as starting point. Many a hindi movie scripts would've been a full blown story of the first chapter itself. The way in which each character has been introduced and linked into the story line was another pleasing aspect. For a person who finds it difficult to follow stories with multiple characters, it was easy on the mind. At 176 pages long, the book is much shorter a story than many would assume. Another plus for the story is that, you can continue in same pace all throughout the book and never have to slow down for its easy going storyline.

I've never read Mills and Boons. When i was discussing the story to a friend of mine, he commented that, it sounds like a story, right out of MnB publication. What I felt after finishing the book was, for a 176 page book, the romance sections were given way too much weightage than the actual story line itself. But then again, its a romance novel. What else can you expect. I also felt, the villains lack any will and easily submitted to the hero, who for a software guy from SFO, is projected like Sivaji Rajini. It felt out of place and there were hardly any twist or trouble for him to accomplish. Things just "happen" to him. He kisses the heroine on very first meeting and gets away with it.  He takes on a powerful politician and a super rich lady hell bent on wreaking vengeance and gets away with it. He drives his first girlfriend, pregnant with his kid, to death and guess what, gets away with it again. He is easily forgiven by everyone and as always, winner takes it all.

If the intention of the book is to fill up a leisure space with a light at heart storyline, this would be the pick.

Comments

Ramesh said…
Neat post Gilsu. From a movie reviewer to an book reviewer you are spreading your wings. What next ?
gils said…
kannula jalam looking at this comment..thanks thala for diligently commenting :)
Asha said…
@ Gils - appreciate that your book reading interest is sustained comparing with me. I have totally lost interest in reading books and to think that i was a voracious reader once upon a time. Keep the interest going..will read atleast your reviews.

And regarding Ramesh, so true what you said about him in the above comment.
gils said…
@asha:
this book eversion is there it seems..link venuma? amazonla irukam

Popular posts from this blog

Ode to the Nice Guys

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl's every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style. This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they...

Padithathil pidithathu

Few authors thrill us to read more of their creations. At times its sheer luck that we might end up with the worse of their lot and might give up on them only to find many other good ones which we would've ignored based on first impression. James Rollins is one such author. My friend's sister introduced me to "Map of Bones" and told me that its in the same genre of "Davinci Code" and since i am a sucker for adventure series she recommended this one to me, with a warning that, at times this guy goes over the board like Ludlum in describing situations. With that warning in mind i began the book. I took my own sweet time to finish it but the book kept me interested. However many times i kept it down i always went for it again to know what happened next. In the end, i pretty much liked the story, though it was totally unbelievable. The story is about the bones of the Three wise men or Magi who visited Jesus when he was a kid. Their bones held a clue to a vast so...

Hearbeat - season 2 - review

What makes a drama series tick, in OTT, that too in Tamil? The question should've been pretty straight forward and not as difficult as it is for making a successful movie, for drama series are dime a dozen across scores of TV channels and none of them are found wanting for audience. The more the cry the merrier the TRP. In that context, the only challenge that OTT platforms might've had while streaming tamil series must've been to choose the path - either the well trodden and worn out cryathons aligning with Satellite channels or try for something genre specific like how they do across English and other foreign languages. This is where Heartbeat series in Hotstar finds the fine balance between being a soap oppaari (no pun intended) in tv and carving a niche OTT audience.  While the setup might've been familiar one for Hindi audience with so many series happening on hospital based storyline, i guess this is a first for tamil. The first season was more on establishing the...