Book review: Love is a Vodka

Author – Amit Shankar

Publisher – Vitasta

Pages -203

Price – Rs. 195 (you can also grab it from Flipkart.com)

That's my copy

Sneak preview from the cover -

Being a love child, Moon is anything but a conventional teen. With a leading TV news anchor as her mother, an aspiring entrepreneur as her boyfriend, the word LOVE baffles her. The whole idea of having one partner and love being eternal intrigues her. Life turns upside down when she falls for her mother’s boyfriend. Destiny further complicates things by blessing her with a mega modelling assignment and turning her famous overnight. A war between her head and heart exposes her to various hues of love. Will she decipher the true meaning of love?

My review –

When Blogadda sent me this book as part of their review programme, I was kind of doubtful whether I would be able to finish the book on time, since we had a hectic schedule planned for the weekend. But a rainy Sunday afternoon with hot Cappucino ensured I finished the book in flat 4 hours! Somewhere inside, we galz like the mushy fiction and this book does full justice to that – perfect for the “me” time on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

After flipping through the few pages, the surprised me was forced a detour back to the cover. I wanted to ensure if the author’s name I had read on the book was indeed a male one. Coz with every flipped page, I felt in conversation with a 19 year old gal. I am still amazed how he managed to do it, but a big hand to him for such a perfect portrayal of the girlie emotions - Right from that first attention seeking glance to the fun of being approached, the irritation of being approached too much to the fun of being pampered like a princess. You can almost visualize frame by frame as you read on.

Moon, the protagonist is a true epitome of teenage – where impulse comes faster than presence of mind and the heart manipulates mind to serve its own selfish interests. While on one hand one can’t help but admire the protagonist for her bindaas and bold nature, a lot of sympathy flows too, for the loneliness amidst the camera flashes, the insecurity amidst a comfortable life, dilemma between true love or the lack of it. The girl who is bold enough to make the daring moves in her relationships is also a total softie inside who keeps pushing herself to keep the relationship going until there is no pulse left. She doesn’t hesitate on getting her hands on her mom’s boyfriend, but at the same time values commitment and her own set of rules in love. She knows how to fall, get up, wipe off that pain and move on, something she has inherited from her super successful single mother. There are moments of Dilemma, between the ethical and unethical and every time self induced logic comes to her rescue, albeit with time, the heart casts a spell on logic and its role reduced to merely justifying the impulsive ways of the heart. But that’s adolescence and we all have turned things around to suit ourself sometime in life, haven’t we?

However, while the taking you through the roller coaster of adrenaline, oestrogen and lot of emotional and impulsive moments, the author doesn’t get swayed in the fancies and remembers well in time to convey the right message to readers. The mood swings of Moon along with the apt narration (with sufficient dozes of the “F” word) keep the reader well connected with his/her own teenage years and that’s where the author scores brownie points. Although predictable at some points, it is a fun read, just like “one time watch” movies. Short and sweet.

The author –With writing that’s thought provoking, the author Amit Shankar already has two books to his credit – Flight of the Hilsa and Chapter 11.  Recently discovered that he also blogs here.

This review is a part of the biggest <a href="http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank"> Book Review Program </a> for <a href="http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Indian Bloggers.</a> Participate now to get free books!