In Course Of True Love Review: Strictly For Teenagers Who Do Not Stress Over Grammar
I had been so high on Japanese thrillers lately that I decided to take a break and pick a desi love story for a change. In Course Of True Love is the kind of book I used to read back in my college days. Back then, I used to enjoy reading short love stories. This book reminded me of my teenage years when like Aarush, I too used to be nervous while talking to the opposite sex. This book is an account of writer Sanjeev Ranjan’s real-life incidences and his first love experience. This book is an easy and quick read that I finished in one sitting on a Sunday evening.
In Course Of True Love by Sanjeev Ranjan (Published by Srishti Publisher and Distributors)
A boy meets a girl and they fall in love eventually. But is that where the story ends? What about the journey they make together, the feelings they share and the moments they live?
Aarush is an emotional boy who has dreams of making it to a premier engineering college. Staying away from home and working hard towards his dreams, he falls in love under strange circumstances. That too, truly, madly, deeply.
Can love happen at sixteen or is it just a passing infatuation?
A true yet unusual emotional love saga, In Course of True Love explores the reality of puppy love and plumbs its depth, its warmth and its true meaning.
(Synopsis as on the back cover)
Points I Liked About In Course Of True Love
Story: The book is about first love and first heartbreak. It is based on the author’s life which explains the relatable scenarios in the story. Every teenager reading this book will understand what Aarush goes through when he feels his heart beat out of his chest for the first time he looks at the gorgeous Ashima. The initial nervousness, the hand quiver, the fumbling, the late night calls, the restlessness while waiting for a reply, the happiness on seeing a special name flash on your cell phone screen and the hunt for cheap mobile phone plans is something we all go through at that age. The story is simple and realistic. There are no plot twists or any serious complications. It is just a young boy’s unadulterated version of his first love.
Points I Did Not Like About In Course Of True Love
Writing: I had a major problem with the way the book is written. While reading the book it felt like most parts of it was translated from Hindi. For instance, Ashima tells Aarush, “What does he mean by saying ‘I’m not here to enjoy?’ Am I here to enjoy?”. This is a very common Hindi line where a person generally asks, “Main kya majje lene aayi hoon?” It is not something we say while speaking in English. I understand that the writer must be speaking in Hindi and while writing he must have aimed at sticking to incidents the exact way they happened but I personally think he could have altered the dialogues to make it more comprehensible.
The writing was choppy and abrupt with random lines added from nowhere. For instance, Aarush explains, ‘That day, I had my mathematics class. I reached in time along with Manav. The sun weaved the ephemeral shades of pink and orange through the sky. There was a gentle breeze through the air, creating a romantic atmosphere’. This paragraph made no sense to me.
A thing that disturbed me the most was the way an intimate scene was described in the book. Sorry to say but it was the most horrendous love scene I have ever read in my entire life.
I think the writer should hire an editor to at least proofread his writing as there were a lot of grammatical errors throughout the book. I could see that his efforts were sincere but he was unable to express himself eloquently for which I wish he takes help of an editor the next time.
Final View: This book is meant for teenagers who will relate to this story the most. If you are not particular about grammar and punctuation, then you might enjoy reading this as the writer has poured his heart out on every page of this book.
This book is a review copy but the opinion in this post is unbiased and 108% my own.
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