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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Tamanna by Tejeshwar Singh : A Review



BOOK TITLE: Tamanna
ASIN: B00TWOLKHW
AUTHOR: Tejeshwar Singh
GENRE: Fiction / Romance
NUMBER OF PAGES: 248
FORMAT: Paperback
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
REVIEW BY: Dhivya Balaji
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: I thank Sandeep Sharma and Tushti Bhatia of Author Paradise for this review copy.
SUMMARY:
REVIEW:
          Tamanna – forbidden, enticing, redefined love – supposedly.
First Impression:
          The book came with much hype and even during the time period from which I received the book to the time I actually sat down to read it, Tamanna and reviews for this cropped up in many discussions and naturally increased my interest in the same.
          The summary was succinct; the cover had the close up of two eyes and an eye catching font for the title. It conveyed the image of some love that touched the soul instead of the physical manifestation of it. The font was comfortable to read and the typeset was clean enough.
          If there is one catchphrase for this book, it is: A True Story of Forbidden Love. This is the line that made me wonder maybe the author knew just what to say to make a casual reader pick his book up while browsing it as one of many books in a bookstore.
Now the Story:
          Usually, the literary world does not shy away from forbidden love, romances, or sometimes whirlwind affairs that almost always end up in a poignant tale of loss. Even if it seems against the general cultural morals of our country, forbidden romances have at least an equal number of (if not more) books written about them. While this book came highly recommended from fellow bibliophiles, I did have my own apprehensions about starting it.
          My personal comments about the story (the story line and the theme) remain contradictory to my review of the story and the book as is. I did not like how the story progressed, but I loved the way the book was written. My personal opinions about Arjun as a character do not matter to my review here. J
          Arjun is a ‘happily married’ man, with a loving wife and a daughter. While he is a businessman, he is not quite successful in what he does. At a mutual friend’s party, his eyes land on Tamanna. (thankfully, this is not the ‘roving eye, wandering heart’ kind of story). He is immediately ensnared and feels a connection with the woman.
          Their families become friends and slowly, Arjun realises that he is hopelessly in love with Tamanna. What follows is a brutally honest description of a man who is pining away for a woman. A quote I once read in some other book that has stayed with me seemed much more fitting than any words I can use to describe the events in this book.
          “In life you cannot pause to rationalise everything so perfectly. Haven’t you ever done something totally irrational, without thinking about it, even though deep down you know it is going to be a disaster?” This is what would probably be Arjun’s justification for whatever his heart felt. Whether or not Arjun and Tamanna are united forms the rest of the story – or does it?
          For a story about extra marital affairs, it is exceedingly decent. There are no racy scenes or any sort of intimate reactions that the readers normally expect from a book that clearly says it is about this forbidden area. The love is pure, and the author has even accepted that most of it is his story, with some amount of fiction.
          While I do not entirely agree with everything that has been written in this book, I really do love the author’s language, his straightforward confessions and realistic writing. This is a fresh breath of air from the stifling campus romances that focus more on the physical aspects of love. Good work overall. Something you should definitely pick up if you want to concentrate on the emotional turmoil of a man in love.
What I found in the book:
           I found a book that had a good story line. It also had the possibility to become a bestseller if it had been fictionalised a bit more (but no real complaints there). The raw originality of the story is its USP. Go for this one if you are comfortable with reading about stories that are sad, poignant and leave you with (probably) a deep set ache if you get really involved.
WHAT I LIKED:
·        The author’s attempt to write about it.
·        The initial note about how this story became a book.
·        The well defined characters.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:
·        Some parts of the story need polishing. Both as a story element and in the language department.
·        I disagreed with the progression of the story in many areas, starting from the premise. I have always held the following opinion by Johnny Depp. “If you love two people at the same time, choose the second. Because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen for the second.” But I applaud the author for putting this in writing. Commendable effort.
VERDICT: Forbidden romance – of the unexpected kind.
RATING: 3.5/5
EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Paperback, Kindle
PRICE: Rs. 132.34 for Kindle


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