24 March, 2015

#BookReview :: Just You, Me and a Secret by Ganga Bharani Vasudevan


Pitch dark. Extreme Silence. Felt like vacuum. I opened my eyes and found nothing familiar. Where am I? First of all, who am I? Ashruth says I was head over heels in love with him. He says our wedding was fixed. But there is no trace of love for him in me. I don t remember anything. Why would I have loved this pumpkin? San was drunk but I got intoxicated. I had fallen for him gradually. I can t imagine marrying anyone else. But how do I stop my wedding now? Don t say I am dead. I am all alive, standing right in front of you. I am not dead. Trust me. And the secret comes to light. Just you, me and a secret -A battle between past, present and the nothing called future.

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Meera Prabhu wakes up after a terrible accident with absolutely no memory of herself. She sees a stranger in the mirror and seems to be living with another stranger, Ashruth. Ashruth, a doctor by profession and a clown by appearance, claims that he is her fiancé. They were engaged to be married and would have been married already if not for the accident. He keeps on emphasizing on how much she loved him and yet, he keeps her apart from her family for her ‘mental state’. Armed with what seems to be her personal diary, Meera tries to grasp her identity and her reality. But no matter how hard she tries, she just seems to be unable to connect. Will Meera break through the hurdles in front of her and be able to connect to her friends and family again? Most importantly, will she ever regain her identity again?

Meera Prabhu is a gem of a protagonist. I connected with her early on and could relate to her questions and really felt for her. Even though she did come across as shallow at times, it was easy to overlook that in her condition. She has been brought up in a protective cocoon of love yet in the end she emerges as this strong and intelligent individual. The character of Santosh is also dealt with some amount of details, mostly through Meera’s diary. We get a feeling early on that Santosh is a good person who is easily likeable. However, I feel that Ashruth’c character could have done with some more development as would have Meera’s parents.

The plot of the book seems simple at the beginning, a girl who has lost her memory in an accident, slowly gluing together her life. But the author has some surprises for us along the way making it easy to get lost in the story. The author’s narration style is simple and engaging. While the dialogue delivery could do with some work, it did not take away much from the narration. I also like the small personal touches that the author brought into the story – like Clara – aname for Meer’s personal journal.

I had a few problems with the book and its formatting. It is one of my bookish quirks, but I love when a book is presented in a beautiful format. This book lacked that and it felt like I was reading a draft of the book in word document instead of having an actual book in my hands. The layout and the chapter headings could do with some work on them. I did like the cover though.

If you are not as quirky as me, this book should deliver a couple of hours of entertainment for you.


Review Copy received from the Author

4 comments:

  1. Somehow seems very interesting.. Thank you for the review..

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  2. This sounds interesting. I like a quick read.

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  3. I enjoy amnesia stories, thanks for your review!

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  4. Thanks for reviewing my book. I m glad that you liked it 😄

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