Book Review #62: Two for the hearts By Ekta R. Garg

Title: Two for the Heart (Stories in pairs: set one)

Author: Ekta R. Garg

Publisher: Prairie Sky Publishing

ISBN: 978-0-9909360-1-5

Genre: General Fiction/Short Stories

Pages: 55 (EPUB Edition)

Source: Review Copy

This book consists of 2 short stories that were written pretty well. I enjoyed reading it. Ekta R.Garg has written these 2 tales that is full of emotions, love and care. That’s the theme carried away in this novel. A short book of relatively 50 odd pages, gives us an amazing experience. Stories that is blended with pure emotions and lots of love, makes this book as a unique and a must read.

The first story from the book is “The Proposal”. A young lawyer Akshay and a doctor by profession Pooja was not ready to bother about their individual relationships. However, they both get cornered into a marriage by their elders. But, they both cleverly plan for something else. They decide to get their divorce papers ready right after their wedding. They eventually gets their divorce papers applied and it is one steps behind to get it officially termed as divorced. Some unusual circumstances make them acts otherwise. Akshay finds Pooja the more caring when she took care of his ailing mother who is on the last stages of cancer. Whereas, Pooja finds Akshay the most understanding person, when Akshay agrees to participate in a ceremonial dinner planned by Pooja’s parents where they both have to act as man and wife. These things and other favorable moments made them realize what true love is and they just no longer cared about their divorce.

The above story seems very simple as it looks. But, the intense emotions that each character displays are just more than enough. Author has not wasted time and space to shovel extra description of events, or characters or places in the novel. Author has more concentrated on the human emotions which is very apt to the above story.

The second story in the novel is “The Remembrance”. Helen wakes up in the hospital and she has no idea how she even got there. Everyone in the hospital dodges her question. And, then her sister Rose with whom she has not spoken for 11 long years comes to aid her. Without realizing Rose’s situation or what she has been through just a few days ago, Helen acts in the most unusual way and tries to avoid Rose. Rose visited Helen right after conducting their father Mr. Green’s funeral. She was advised by doctors to stay for some more time. Helen, of course, was not aware of her father’s death or her husband’s death, seems to have lost memory. She almost forgot what happened recently. So, as the story further progresses, Helen gets discharged from hospital and she was gaining her memory back. Soon she realized what she has lost. She started sobbing uncontrollably. Helen realized her loss and Rose’s love for her.

The 2^nd story also seems to be very simple. But, it gives readers a chance to ponder over few little things in life that can actually help to clear the misunderstanding.

I liked the first story more than the 2^nd one!!

There is a slight twist in both the stories. Author is very clever in linking both the stories that gives us a new perspective altogether. There are also surprises in the stories, not so shocking or breathtaking, but author holds back and keeps the secrets for the readers to reveal themselves. The overlapping of both the stories while not interrupting the each individual story adds another layer. A main character in the first story is actually a background character in the 2^nd story!!

These 2 short stories can be elaborated to make them as a novel altogether if tried. But, here it worked so well to keep it short and to the point. The focus was given more to the main characters than the props while not losing out on the quality or content. I recommend this book to the readers.

Note: This book was sent by the author in exchange for an honest review.

You can buy the book from here:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

My Rating:

4.5/5

Book Review #34: And The Mountains Echoed By Khaled Hosseini

There are few authors who can be termed as true storytellers and there are few like chetan bhagat. Khaled Hosseini is a master when it comes to storytelling. He gave us, the readers, what can be called as an emotionally charged novel. Without a second thought, this is one of the finest books I've read in recent times.

And The Mountains Echoed a third novel from Hosseini, captures a typical Afghanistan family of the 1950′s followed by the Soviet’s attack in late 60′s to 70′s and the invasion of Taliban, etc..

The story beings by a fairy tale that a father (Saboor) is narrating to his kids (Abdullah and Pari) in a remote village called Shadbagh in Afghanistan. This was an everyday scene in Saboor’s family. To make the ends meet and to win daily bread and also to support his new pregnant wife (yes, the 2nd one), Saboor takes an unexpected step through selling his younger daughter Pari, to a wealthy couple in Kabul who are childless. Pari was barely 3 years old when she was sold by her father. Pari was not aware of such consequence, but her brother Abdullah who was 7 years old, was devastated by this cruel act of his father.

Everyday Abdullah gets reminded of her little sister every now and then, all those happy moment playing with her, all those little gifts that he had bought for his sister, etc.. Pari loved the birds feather like it was a diamond in possession. Abdullah carefully collected all these feathers over the years to gift her and see the joy in her little sisters face. Now, all those moments have been crushed to sands and now he is all alone in the house. Later events makes him to run to Pakistan and he starts working in a restaurant and few years later he travels to USA along with his wife and daughter Pari (Yes, he named his daughter as Pari) and starts his own Kebab restaurant.

The entire story is captured from 1950 till 2010 that spans over more than 50 years. Pari’s new parents, Nila wahdati, a poet by passion and Suleiman Wahdati an artist. Even here, there is a tragedy, Nila divorces her husband and takes Pari to France forever. Then the novel takes another turn, describing Pari’s life in France, her bonding with her new mom, her college life, etc.. But, Pari often gets a jolt sometimes that, she is missing something, like she is not born to Nila and she constantly gets reminded of a little village where she was born somewhere buried deep in her memory.

The novel has many characters and many stories that was probably unnecessary to the novel. There is one character called Nabi, the driver of Suleiman Wahdati and also maternal uncle of Pari and Abdullah, who actually sets the stage for Wahdati couple to buy his sister’s daughter Pari. Later in the novel, Nabi writes a long letter to Mr. Markos, a plastic surgeon, working in Afghanistan for over 10 years. He describes what all the things he has done, and he also mentions about Pari.

All those hardships and fights and long waits to reconcile is described in the last 2 chapters, which is a must read from the book. After all, will Pari and Abdullah meet in the end ??. Will old Abdullah be able recognize her sister old Pari ? You must read that in the book. I stop it at this point, so readers can actually go and read this novel. For sure, its an emotional roller coaster ride for both Pari and Abdullah. Hosseini has captured this very essence brilliantly and carried it throughout the novel. I assure you, you will be restless to witness the climax.

My Rating:

4/5