Book Review: Adhuri Prem Kahaniya by Santosh Avvannavar

 

Book: Adhuri Prem Kahaniya

Author: Santosh Avvannavar

No. of Pages: 95

Genre: Short Love stories

Publisher: Power Publishers

The author wrote to me with a book review request and when I saw that it was a collection of short stories about love … I thought, why not. The author sent me a signed copy which is always a nice touch.

After reading 2 short story collections in horror genre, I was thinking why not romance and love? I had thought … this should be a good change. Boy, was I wrong?

The book blurb reads "Adhuri Prem Kahaniya has evolved over years of 12 people. The book covers light moments of these people in these 25 short stories. This book may prove to be a good travel read or ice breaker".

Well… I can't seem to agree. This ain't no ice breaker. 

The language of the book is not just simple but not really book-worthy (unless intentional keeping in mind the first-person profile and setting of the story). It is written as if writing a personal diary or a blog. You can forget grammar or basics of sentence construction and flow.

There isn't really a story at times … just life experiences of different individuals. There are no real noteworthy insights either. The stories almost degrade the powerful concept of love into something very frivolous. At times, you might even identify with some of things happening in the stories. Unfortunately, the book does not entertain. Even the author's attempt to induct a lot of Bollywood references did not help.

Frankly, there aren't 25 short stories. They are but events from different people's lives; and that too life events of the ordinary kinds. They did not entertain nor interest me beyond some point.

The grammar throughout the book was so bad that it made me stumble across words and sentences. Somewhere the book got published without going through the editorial process.

The author should have done a much better job at writing … and I wish the Publishers had done their job of rejecting this 'draft' and asking the author to come back with a much tighter version or put in their own resources for making it so. The output then would have probably been much better. Also, some guidance by some seasoned writers on structuring the book might also have helped.

The cover design might have been interesting if it had at least aligned itself to the title. Two hearts with a bridge between them … and the title is "Adhuri Prem Kahaniyan". So what is incomplete here???

If you are a casual reader, you might pick this one up although I won't recommend.

If you are a serious reader, this is a strict No. Don't even think about it !!

 

One thing noteworthy are the author's intentions and objective behind getting the book published. He is doing it as a means of support for underprivileged children – the income of the book is likely to be used for some noble causes.

Wish the author had done a better job at the book ... I would have given it a better rating and maybe someone would have picked it up after that and helped some child.

 

Ratings on Book Review Parameters:

Cover Design: 1.0 / 5

Writing Style: 0.5 / 5

Characters:     0.5 / 5

Story / Plot:     0.5 / 5

Climax:            NA

Overall:           0.5 / 5  

 

FYI - Considering the noble cause behind the book, I am tempted to bump up the rating to 1/5