For the past five years Aatirah has hidden her troubles from everyone. It's only when she finds Mysha at a social networking site, she confides into her. But now things are getting complicated: Mysha wants Aatirah to solve a complex love triangle between Mysha, Sahir and Tamanna. To top it all off, Aatirah has taken to smoking out of stress.
Would Aatirah be successful at grabbing the freedom of her heart by opening up to a distant person or does the desire of having a friend to confide into have a bigger price to pay?
Aatirah is a young teenager from a small town living with her father, step-mother and step-brother. She has seen more shades of grey in her life than what a young fifteen year old should. To escape her ‘barely-there’ family, she indulges herself in reading, listening to music and internet. She makes some online friends and soon her best friend and her online friends are her only escape. But when Aatirah get dragged into a love triangle, even her only escape points are not enough and she takes up another addiction – smoking. Will this young mind ever find solace? Will she be able to overcome her life’s hurdles or will she get dragged under?
Aatirah is a quite a loveable character in her own quiet way. She is a book lover which only gains kudos for her from bookworms like us. She has had a difficult life ever since her step-mother and step-brother stepped into her life. Her father is a rather shallow and hollow of a shell who is of course of no help to Aatirah. I kind of understand why she fails to connect with her peers and has only one friend in her life. When she succumbs to the charm of internet and makes some online friends to escape from her own harsh reality, the reader can sympathize with her. Well developed and fleshed out, Aatirah is a flawed protagonist, who is just perfect to portray the teenage angst. Besides her, the other characters may seem a bit flaky but even they are well developed to serve the purpose of the plot.
The plot in itself is something very different from what dominates the IWE market these days and I applaud the author for taking a less trodden road of exploring family issues and problems faced by a teenager. The writing style of the author is quite suave. For a debut author the quality of the writing is quite high and I thoroughly enjoyed the style. I also liked the ending that truly compliments the slow build up that the book provides. The only thing that I wished for is a faster pace to make this book a complete hit.
An interesting debut and I would certainly watch out for more from this author.
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