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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