~Someone Like you Book Review~
College life are the one where we experience transformations in our life. We get many friends in our life who come to us as strangers but they leave a huge mark in our life to live in our heart for upcoming times. Success, failures and Struggling keeps happening while fame and criticism are inseparable part. While some of our mistakes may keep hunting us in time to time; there will be glorious moments to stay memorable for rest of the time.
After their huge success of first Co-authored Book, If its not forever; Nikita Singh and Durjoy Datta have published ’Someone like you’, this time with the Penguin India. They have kept story tagline of book as ’Friendship, Love and Betrayal’. Unlike their earlier book ’If its not forever’, , the first person in this book is a girl which makes ’Someone Like you’ a readable story of ’Niharika’ and her friends.
Story plot
Niharika is a an average looking girl of Jaipur who has to join engineering college in few days time. Her Sister Simran, Studying in New Delhi wants her to visit before college starts. Few days in Delhi transforms Niharika from a specs girl to beautiful and above average girl. Looking at the way Viraat (Simran’s boy friend) cares them, she has an urge to get someone like him. Just few days before joining her new college, she mets Akshat, a handsome and rich guy in Jaipur. In short time, she likes him and she feel he really cares about her.
As she reaches her new College, She find her days along with Tanmay a kid looking shy guy and Pia as her roommate cum class friend. Karthik, her college seniors helps these 3 guys, especially Tanmay in getting to College Football team. As Tanmay starts getting success in football, some incident occurs to shake their life and story goes ahead.
My view
When a girl writes the fiction; she has her own sets of protocol to follow. No doubt the content of book will be girlish, still the book has something to tell for her readers, especially girls of their generation rather than just entertainment found in book of some male writer. Someone Like you is the similar story written from Girl Perception where Nikita Singh along with Durjoy Datta write about the average looking girl Niharika and her college time, her dilemma regarding Akshat and karthik, her friendship with Tanmay and Pia and also about other relationships they exists within us. Most part of the story is clean and neatly written unless in some clashing incidents where story is written as like of real life.
If you have read their earlier books, you can distinguish which parts are writtnen by Nikita and which are written by Durjoy Datta. So within the book , we can find two different way of writing. The most of the part is written by Nikita herself though. There are some other stage where She has focused trying to convey hidden messages for her reader, especially from the relationship between Niharika and Akshat and between Pia and Vishal.
Initially story looks like it is long by 50 pages, but as it goes ahead, the incident falling at proper time well justifies length of book though I felt It could have been shorten by 10-20 pages. story starts with Niharika as average looking girl with very few boys around but things are not the same once she returns from Delhi and attends the college in Nagpur. Nikita attempt to show Relation between sisters, Friendship and Revenge for Betrayal are different then her earlier stories which she has penned. She has wisely undisclosed about whom Niharika will fall for, till almost end part of Book
Some incident which Niharika is unknown about are included in quoted form as if Narrator is explaining the plot. So two quoted chapters in fiction adds a value to the climax. Story might not be suspense in many way and predictable in many instances, yet it is worthy to read if you have been reading their books. If you are the one who feel Durjoy Datta and Nikita Singh are not the writer you read, then you may skip this one. Overall the language are simple and understood in one easy go.
One of the best part of their last Book, "If its not forever" was that it was good from the literature part also, which writers are writing it in simple way and hardly any creativity are poured from the literature aspects. The description of any person, their look or their quality are just simple. Few poems or some good lines could have been used to make a book better, So this is where the book is lacking and at times you feel bore while going through 248 pages. In other way, it is just one time read where you hardly want to re-read once you are finished with it.
Conclusion:-
Though writing about Love and Relationship in college life is ongoing trend; incident happened in plots are different than of earlier fiction. It is not of the level of If its not forever as that one was really interesting, still it is good enough. The 248 pages long Book is a good piece of creation and reflects understanding of readers by both of the writers. It would have been better if good literature, some good poems were included
If someday any bollywood director approaches to make it a movie, it will be powerful one.
My rating
3 out of 5 (As it could have been more powerful with extra added thrilling plot within the same number of pages)
Regards
Suraj