Pramita Pal

The author has picked up some beautiful and sensitive themes- books, a love triangle, food, culture - and then let the readers down in the most magnificent way by dealing crudely with all of them. To put it objectively - 1. The language in unappealing to readers who appreciate compact, impactful writing. It could be attributed to the translation but I doubt it. 2. The characters lack credibility, their behavior seems unreal, full of glaring contradictions. There are couple of men who love the same woman- one is her husband, the other is her lover. Not only are the men comfortable with the knowledge that their woman is also sleeping with another man, they seem to be rather proud of her ability of loving two men at the same time, which they happily describe as her desire to 'get more from life' 3. Most of the events are deliberate exaggerations - like an important character jumping off a cliff on a stormy night for fun, instigating others to put their lives at risk to save her. These weaken the plot so much that one can't help feel frustrated. 4. Most importantly- there seems to be gross mismatch in the treatment of characters based on gender. Men are heavily criticized for falling out of love with their wives/ lovers and moving on, while the most eccentric, selfish acts of women are glorified. 5. Reading- is treated in a juvenile way. Any serious reader will be uncomfortable with the way books and 'reading' are presented. I could go on and on but I told myself I should stop after five points. This book does not merit a lengthy review. It is simply bad.