Book Review – Love Lasts Forever…

Author – Vikrant Khanna

Publisher –Srishti Publishers

Genre –Fiction

Pages –248

Price – Rs. 150

Does love come with an expiry date? Is there a thing called as “And they happily lived ever after?” This question kept popping in my mind when I was asked to review this book. “Love lasts forever”, is it a mushy mushy story of a couple madly in love who were just perfectly made for each other? (I prayed not, for it would have made for a super boring story)…or was it some expert tips on How to make love last forever? (Although I wouldn’t mind the tips, it would have still been like so many books that fade away from our memory). And so, the day delivery guy handed me the book, I accomplished the mission “Kill the curiosity” in 2 hours flat!

The Cover –

Bright green cover with wedding rings sitting pretty above the title which reads “Love lasts forever”! And then my eyes fell on the words below, “only if you don’t marry your love”. Now I was totally zapped! Had our films and poets believed the same way, we would have been devoid of many masterpieces that revolve around lovebirds finding solace in the company of each other for eternity!

And that was not all, seemed the author had challenged the readers on the back cover “So you think your love can last forever…? Get married!”

My View –

The book instantly becomes a “pick me up” because it takes the story of love forward from where our conventional film makers leave it. We all love to see lovers getting united and getting married in the end. But do we really think about what happens afterwards, when lovers become Man & Wife?

Well, a similar dilemma has gripped Ronit. Aspiring to rule the seas, he is enjoying his life at the pre sea training institute till love finally comes calling. Love was one of the most beautiful feelings he had experienced, except for one thing that soured it – the girl he so madly loved was the sister of the guy (who was actually a girl himself!) he loathed at the academy! Someone who was on the target list of the most chosen pranks for Ronit and his buddy, Joe Singh.

But all is fair in love n war, and fair it seemed to befriend the enemy to reach his lady love. Like a man who has conquered the world, Ronit’s happiness knows no bounds when after great difficulty, he gets married to the girl he loved. But life, as we know it, throws surprises we would never have imagined. Within a week of getting married, Ronit starts doubting his decision. Day by day, the wife he could die for seems like a Devil who would one day suck up all his blood and life!

When problems overpower our capabilities to handle them, we often retort to escapes. Ronit too, rushes to the next possible sailing assignment to escape the domestic tsunami. Little does he know, that destiny was yet to spare the torture. His ships gets caught by pirates in Somalia. Here he was trying to escape the Devil in his wife when real devils are ready to blow his brains in air till they receive their ransom!

With death and misery all around, Ronit finds a relationship coach in his captain, who too had a love story! Whoever said distance strengthens love did have some brains after all. In captivity for months, and listening to the story of Captain, Ronit slowly realizes the trick circumstances played with him, that, life with Aisha wasn’t as bad after all as he had thought it to be.

But it had been more than a year in captivity and there was no hope of survival. Would he be able to meet Aisha one last time? Would life give him another chance – to love and make up for what had gone? Would his love survive with him, or would he too, die the death of many sailors caught by Pirates?

Well, that’s for you to discover…

What I loved about the book –

• I love this style of oscillating between flashback and present. Develops an emotional connect with the readers and gets them hooked on till the last page. An quick read despite the 248 pages.
• The book holds your complete attention for a major portion of the story. In fact, I got somewhat angry with the author to read about his description of his wife’s devilish ways. But then I thought, its not a narration, it’s an account of someone who hates his wife and the author did succeed there in getting into the skin of the character.

What could have been better –

Towards the later half, you wish for brevity in writing. And well, you get overdose of it during the climax.  Perhaps the author could have worded the climax a little more interesting rather than rushing to draw the curtains.

However, apart from few nuances, I would recommend the book if you feel the spark in your relationship has gone missing. Without sounding preachy, the author gets us wondering if we put enough into our relationships before expecting from our partner…

My rating – 2.5/5

About the author-

A sailor by profession and a writer by passion, Vikrant has penned two novels before this. He lives in Delhi with his family. You can get in touch with him at www.vikrantkhanna.com

This review is written for Writers Melon. The views are strictly my own and under no influence.