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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Twice Upon A Time by Anjali Bhatia : A Review




BOOK TITLE: Twice upon a Time
ISBN: 9788172345099
AUTHOR: Anjali Bhatia
GENRE: Fiction
NUMBER OF PAGES: 300
FORMAT: Paperback
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
REVIEW BY: Dhivya Balaji
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: We thank Fingerprint publishers for this review copy!
SUMMARY:
          Is a man’s past set in stone, or can it be changed? Rewritten and reshaped?
          Is time a reality, or a construct of the imagination? Fleeting and fragmented?
          One man is about to find out . . .
          Meet Arpit, a bitter young man who embarks upon an incredible and seemingly impossible journey to right the seven wrongs that have shadowed his life, all in a quest to be together with Mannat, the love of his life.
          When Arpit meets Nishimaya, a modern-day mystic, little does he know that his life is about to change. In entirety. But change comes with effort. And Arpit has to lose himself in order to resurrect his past and set things right. With every past mistake he corrects, he finds a corresponding change in his present life . . . but not all changes are easy to make. And as Arpit travels further back into his own life, he’s forced to dig into frightening depths and fight against his own self to dredge up the truth from the sediments of folly that litter his world.
          Unknown to him, however, Mannat is supporting his struggle from halfway across the world even as she tries to gather her own life together. And Nishimaya, as she takes Arpit through the swirls of time, has to confront ghosts of her own as well.
          As their lives get caught in the web of karma, dreams, memories, and destinies, Arpit, Mannat, and Nishi must stumble and fall if they are to reach the end. But Time still holds a revelation none of them had expected . . .
REVIEW:
          The moment this book landed at my doorstep, thanks to Fingerprint Publishers, I noticed two things.
1)   The beautiful, soothing cover image
2)   The unique title.
          We have all at one point of the time, definitely, heard stories that started with ‘once upon a time… long, long ago…’ and such. But Twice Upon A Time? What did that mean? Kudos to the author for choosing this catchy phrase. It does give us inkling as to what the book is all about. My misgivings about this book being a preachy ‘past life regression’ gimmick were quickly quelled.
          What happens when you travel down the memory lane, literally, using your own memories and dreams? What if you past could be changed? Before I read the book, I did have a list of a few things that I would like to change in my past so far. Surely everyone who reads this book would identify such events in their life. Arpit, the protagonist, is no different. Suffering from the loss of love, he seeks answers to troubling questions and doesn’t find them that easily.
          Enter mystic Nishimaya, aka Nishi, the woman who helps him travel to his past in his dreams and find out the seven major mistakes he made. The way he chose education over his childhood love and the loss of his‘roots’ are portrayed in elegant words. Whether or not Arpit corrects his past forms the rest of the story.
          It is doubly hard to include a socially conscious message in a book about love. In today’s world, many people prefer breezy love stories and would rather read a true bred ‘environment based’ story rather than mingle both. To carry off such a story successfully, the author must connect with the core of the reader. Thankfully, most people who have relocated to the city from a village will sympathise with the struggles Arpit is facing.
          There are some points to ponder and certain points to contradict in the story. But overall, the soothing language, albeit a bit descriptive, is a major plus for the book. The way Arpit remembers his past and wonders how he managed to be away from his hometown for so long strikes a chord with many readers. The emotional tugs of the childhood memories are also touchingly written.
          The way the story moves in two types, as Arpit’s memories and a series of events tend to become a tad too random at times. The coincidences seem slightly planned and planted. But the story does have memorable lines that are quotable. Lines like ‘memories are dreams of what once was and dreams are but memories of what is to be’ stand out.
          The book, after what is promised in the beginning, ends a bit vaguely. There are certain questions that the readers feel could be answered better. On the whole, a good debut novel that explores a unique concept and manages to convey the importance of an environmental issue. A good read overall.
WHAT I LIKED:
          The descriptive dreams, unique concept.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:
          The unanswered vague questions, left hanging
VERDICT:
          A different book, as the title suggests. Read it if you like your love stories peppered with some underlying message!
RATING: 3.7/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Anjali Bhatia was born in Siliguri, West Bengal and grew up in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, where she lives with her family. Holding a Doctorate in Psychology, she believes that her academic grounding helps her to visualise her characters better. Her articles and short stories have been published in various literary magazines and newspapers. Twice Upon a Time is her first full-fledged novel. She is passionate about nature and individual freedom. Metaphors and symbolism fascinate her and she would love to continue writing about other-worldly realities. In a perfect world, she would remain a college student all her life.
EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Paperback and Kindle
PRICE: Rs.251 for paperback
BOOK LINKS:

http://www.amazon.in/gp/search/ref=x_gr_w_bb?keywords=9788172345099&index=books&linkCode=qs&tag=goodreads_in-20

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