Author: Sameer Acharya

Sameer Acharya Genre: Romance

Romance Paperback: 296 pages

296 pages Publisher: HarperCollins India (26 May 2018)

HarperCollins India (26 May 2018) Language: English

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In this retelling of Govardhanram Tripathi’s sprawling magnum opus, Saraswatichandra, Sameer Acharya makes accessible and brings to life for a modern readership one of Indian literature’s great classics. Set in late nineteenth-century India, this is the story of an educated and spiritual young man whose life is at a crossroads. Betrothed to and in love with Kumud, he nevertheless breaks off their engagement due to escalating familial tensions and leaves Bombay to learn about his country and seek enlightenment. A series of events leads both Kumud, now married and Saraswatichandra to an ashram, where they must decide how to go on with their lives … At its heart, this is a novel about an India where tradition and modernity are locked in battle.

Love is a light emotion with no logic but the limitations of society and its conventions make it complex and heavy.

Saraswatichandra is regarded as one of the epic classics of Indian literature. The series has been originally compiled by Govardhanram Tripathi which has been retold by Sameer Acharya in the book under consideration here.

While I picked up the book, I honestly had high expectations of it because I have been listening to the story of Kumud and Saras for a long time. Their love always mesmerized me and caught me gaping wide mouthed at its story. Saras is an ideal man who abandons all the worldly pleasures for he thinks that his family would never regard Kumud in high respects. Kumud is married off to someone else but the twist and turn of the destiny bring them to a point that marks the biggest stroke of change of their fate.

The pure love of Saras and Kumud is beautiful. It gives you pangs of pain and bliss of happiness. It gives you relief and it gives you despair. You devastate with them, you revel in love with them, you cry with them, and you fall apart with them. The story has an immense potential to captivate its readers but the book fails to hook them. The plain narrative had no lyricism that was expecting of the saga depicted in the book. The writing style lacks the ability to intrigue the readers. What started as the love story dwindled amidst the politics and conspiracies. And it fell short of its flavor by the end, completely. The cover is very attractive but its charm couldn’t last long. Perhaps, I had expected a lot from this book which didn’t seem to interest me at all.

For the rookies, it could be counted as a good one-time read!

MY RATING: 3/ 5

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