Two people in love. Living away from each other. Though difficult for the relationship, they try to give it a shot. Skype video calling, BBM, lists of do’s and don’ts. Fidelity checks. Promises. Does this work out?
Long Distance Relationships (LDR).
In today’s world, love usually comes with a ‘t&c apply’ tag. Usually, for people in love, love itself loses value and other things gain more importance. Career, ambition, practicality. In today’s world, we usually think about all these and then decide to fall in love. Not fall in love – coz love can never be restrained or stopped – but to commit oneself to someone. This usually ends up forcing the couple to live apart – connected through Facebook and all other kinds of technology – they plan it all out. But can love be planned? Can love actually exist in a LDR? This, is basically the concept of this book.
This is Sumrit Shahi’s second book, his first being “Just Friends”. His previous book dealt with the concept of best friends – belonging to the opposite sex – and whether two such best friends can remain “just friends”. Whereas that book dealt with love shared by two friends, this book is about how love is often influenced by career and education. And how in that process, the actual love is usually lost.
PLOT SUMMARY:
Shadab and Arnika. In love and in a committed relationship. They meet during 12th std. and immediately are attracted to each other. They smile, talk, have coffee, add each other on Facebook and soon become a ‘couple’. During this time together, their love becomes very strong and the author has written a whole chapter on this. Board exams come and go. And now comes the time for decision-making. Arnika wants to go to New York and Shadab plans to go to Delhi to continue his studies. This leads them to decide to continue their relationship and change it into a LDR. From here, starts the actual story.
Arnika goes to NY and Shadab to Delhi. She changes. He changes. The first few months pass by blissfully through BBM and Facebook during the day and Skype during the night……ahem (pun intended). But soon…something happens. Fights. Misunderstandings. Arguments. Suspicion. Doubts. The need to “have a break” from the relationship. And thus their so-called happy relationship soon changes into them ignoring each other even for a week…….!!
But in the end…..they are in love after all. Or rather…… (As the girl puts it in the end) they are in something which is A Lot Like Love. So, does love conquer? Does this settlement work out? Does love get a chance? Or does this end in the same way thousands of couples break up? Can Skype, BBM and social-networking sites, however technological and useful they are to us, create love? Or rather……help to sustain love?? Read A Lot Like Love…a li’l like chocolate to find out.
WHY SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK ??
The style of writing is quite commendable and the author writes with sense of humor which is really enjoyable to read. Short, sweet sentences are used and there aren’t long, boring descriptions added to the story. Witty, funny sentences are used and everything is written straight to the point.
Relatable to today’s generation. All the concepts and incidents in the book are very relatable to today’s youth. Even some of the words, phrases and situations are practical and happens in day to day life.
Short story, fast-paced. Its a really short read - 186 pages - and very fast-paced. You need to read each and every sentence because the story advances very fast. We are not left lingering on any part for long and a lot happens in the 186 pg. story.
Story. I know the concept doesn’t seem very new but I still enjoyed reading the book. The way they meet, their first date, their talks, when the girl leaves and in the end, the story takes a turn. Everything was enjoyable and it was great to read the book.
Feelings and emotions expressed in the book were very practical. In this point, I don’t mean that their feeling of love and sorrow are expresses in a beautiful way - in fact, it’s just opposite - but I what I’m trying to say is that whatever the characters feel or say in the book is really practical. I know this seems like a repetition of the second point. But, for instance, in LDRs, especially at an age such as 18, people tend to get distracted to other people. This is what happens in the story - the guy finds himself attracted to another girl and eventually makes out with her. And this is what is expected to happen.
I’m glad the author didn’t try to fake things and keep everything gooey and mushy when practically speaking, at the age of 18 - when you’re most likely to be distracted by to other guys and girls - it is quite difficult to keep up a LDR.
WHY SHOULD YOU NOT READ THIS BOOK??
The characters. Not exactly loveable and neither had anything special about themselves. I mean, they’re not exactly bad but overall there’s no reason to love them especially.
Lack of emotions. For those who are expecting this to be a full-on romantic tale, with loads of cheesy lines and romance, don’t get your hopes up. This is not that type of romantic book and even I felt that it lacked a little in emotions.
Won’t appeal to the anyone other than the youth. The book portrays lots of hot discussions among the couple which may make a few grown up people frown. Won’t exactly appeal to the age group of 30 onwards.
MY TAKE ON THE BOOK:
An enjoyable read, definitely. I loved the book as a whole and most I loved about the book is the style of writing and the practicality, the realness of the book. It was humorous too and at the same time the ending will make you sad. Yet, I won’t recommend this to everyone cause this will appeal only to the teens and the youngsters. Others - you can read but I doubt that you’ll like.
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE SAME AUTHOR:
Just Friends
Thanks for reading,
AH