Title: The One You Cannot Have
Author: Preeti Shenoy
About the story: Aman Mathur is
a young, good-looking man, successful in his career and after a brief stint in
UK for 2 years, he’s all set to return to India. But an accidental relapse into
his old memories sends him tumbling back to his past, to the wonderful 4 years
of his life that he spent with Shruti. Shruti is the girl he cannot have, with
whom he spent some wonderful moments. Without her, Aman had never envisaged his
future.
But it was Shruti who had
walked out of his life, leaving him shattered and heart-broken and just when he
thought that he had moved on, the ghosts of his past return to haunt him.
Shruti, now married to Rishabh,
is content and settled in her role of a married woman. But a day doesn’t pass
in her life without the memories of her perfect relationship with Aman prowling
her banal and mundane day-to-day life.
Anjali is an exuberant and vivacious
girl, working as a columnist in women’s magazine and she’s charmed by Aman’s
kind and intelligent demeanor. But she is also confused by his conflicting attitude
when he doesn’t return her messages after their few wonderful dates. Aman on
the other hand is guilty, because he enjoys Anjali’s company but he is not sure
if he’s ready to plunge into a relationship when his heart still pines for ‘the
one he cannot have’.
Will Aman finally get back with
Shruti or will he rest the ghosts of his past relationship and move ahead by accepting
Anjali’s love and warmth in his life. Read this touching and heartwarming tale
of love, relationships, pain, healing and moving-on in life
My Review: In this fifth book of Preeti Shenoy’s,
she narrates a heartening tale of how past relationships, when broken without a
proper closure, can come back to haunt the present. Her strength, as always, is
in portraying real, believable characters and events that can happen in anyone’s
life. The characters in the book are as real as it gets. For example, when Aman
engages in a one-night stand, just to exorcise the ghosts of his past
relationship with Shruti, it is believable, because it is what most guys would
do.
The narration changes every chapter and is
told by the three (Aman, Shruti and Anjali) main characters, but it does not
confuse the readers, as usually this type of narration does. The author does not
deviate much from the plot. The narration is crisp and manages to hold onto the
reader’s interest till the climax of the book.
But what I find a little disappointing is, Preeti
Shenoy’s previous few books weave around a similar thread of plot. The current
book and ‘The Secret Wish List’ (‘Life is What You Make It’ to some extent too)
were based on past, failed relationships haunting the main protagonist’s
present life. I hope that in her next novel she abandons her comfortable zone
and delivers another amazing and bestselling novel.
Verdict: A touching and impressive fast-read that
manages to keep the readers engrossed from the start to the last page of the
book.
Rating: 3.5/5
You can read my reviews of Preeti Shenoy’s
previous novels here-
I read the book too..Nice review. I loved the way she told the story. Only one thing disturbed me... She used the word 'darn' too many times. It was kind of irritating. May be she will edit it out in the next reprint.
ReplyDeleteYour review is nice - but in my view there is nothing new in this plot. In today's world, this is a very common scenario - no variety for readers, as I see it.
ReplyDeleteHaven't read any of her book yet. Could you post an excerpt for us to get a taste of her style?
ReplyDeleteI second with the above comment
ReplyDeleteI like the style of her writing.it is too impressive.we know what is going to come next.still her writing holds us.this is the power she has.
ReplyDelete