Nov 18, 2011 07:58 PM
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(Updated Nov 18, 2011 07:59 PM)
A National Best Seller, Of Course I Love You..! TILL I FIND SOMEONE BETTER... Durjoy Datta & Maanvi Ahuja.
The title of the book took the attention first, the National Bestseller tag raised hope of a good book and a very good cover, a reasonably well written blurb along with a reasonable price, Rs100/- made the book land in my hand in the first reach of it in the book stand where I visit.
After reading the book, I am deep in thought, not thinking about lose of money or time, but is this what take to make a national bestseller? If so, is it going to help the image of the nation any better? Is it going to help the youngsters in any way?
Debashish (Deb) is an intelligent, smart and funny DCE student but he is lazy to the core. 'For the last two months I had been sleeping on the couch because I turned out to be too lazy to clear the newspapers and Dominos' boxes strewn across the bed.' gives an idea about the guy. Also his studies for exam start just a day before it. He does have good academic records but he is poor in attitude and in interviews. Girls are his weakness where he will look for a night out with any one who comes near him and lavishly say I love you. He is not at all serious. ('That was the best conversation I had with Smriti in a while, mostly because I wasn't concentrating on whatever she was trying to put across.'does it say the character?) To his merit, 'kissing' was his strength. A girl whom he kiss will simply die to be with him at any cost....now he has fall in love with Avantika but Avantika takes the advice of Sri Guru and drop him...then?
In the first look, it has everything it takes to write an ordinary love story. Then writing fails the writers and the book. The story not moves an inch in the first hundred pages in a 232 page novel. Any good writer would have told this in the span of 10 pages but the authors took sufficient time to take the sleepy walk at ease. At times we feel like there is no story telling but simply explaining what is happening around or what has happened in somebody's life. It could have been a compliment if the writers manage to establish the characters in the reader's mind well. The narrative was a hindrance in the beginning. The authors tried to write it the Chetan Bhagat way but it was not that affective.
There is no attempt make to create a hero means the protagonist is some kind of anti hero, thanks to the cheating he do around and when suddenly the authors attempts to make the readers think and worry about the new found 'love' of this anti hero, I think this is not done.
I don't know if this is the way they live Delhi campus life. If it is, it is a disgrace. Boys and girls cheating each other and create a vacuum of love, mocking their parents, education institutions and their own self. Dev the protagonist's character is not isolated but universal in OILU. Let it be Smriti, Vernita, Avantika all have this tendency.
To the merit of the writers, there is life they are trying to portray in the novel. There are some characters which get our attention, say, Vernita, Shawar, Amit & Ashta. I sincerely wished Vernita to lead the story instead of a new born Avantika. Also I wish the Amit - Ashta love angle got developed little early. (That tells one fact, the leading characters fails to impress.) The titles of chapters are interesting. Some situations like Avantika protecting Deb from Shawar and Vernita's kissing to Deb are brilliantly told. There is some spice added to feed the teenage fantasies but just at that. The climax, eventhough little filmy was interesting. By the way, the final chapters were well written and interesting. Means, probably the writers are getting improved by time...
Overall, the book fails to impress. If you are a die hard romantic or a person who don't mind two timing and three timing probably you may enjoy it. At the best it is good for light reading to teenagers; otherwise the authors have to work overtime to establish that they really can write.
