If you were to be stranded on an island with only three people – a woman and two men, one of whom is lost in his own world to find his way back and pays no attention to you and you are not interested in the woman since you are straight, the other man gives required attention, who would you fall for?
Isn’t the answer obvious….Naina – fell for Aarav in This Love that Feels Right…
Ravinder Singh in This Love that Feels Right tries to bring in a dreamy relationship and half heartedly tries to justify why Naina’s crush feels right.
What I liked about the book.
1. The plot – the subject is interesting
2. The language – is easy to follow and understand
3. The flow of the story – is pleasant and peppy
4. It is crisp and short – a quick read
What I did not like about the novel or I beg to differ
1. What is the novel about?
It is not adultery as adultery is defined as voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse.
It is not infidelity as Naina had no on going affair with Aarav neither did she or he confess love or have even a paragraph which remotely relates to the feeling of love.
For me it is infatuation and I will tell you why. Most of the novel Naina talks about her feelings for Aarav and how she wants him to react or do things that will please him.
I thought the later part of the story is very rushed.
2. Only Naina’s life is well portrayed, very little is spoken of Malvika’s (Nain’s friend) life and nothing is spoken of Aarav. I wanted to know more about him, his appearance, his life, his past and more so his feelings. Most part of the novel he plays the just character of “its natural…and its ok”
3. I had a major problem with Naina’s thinking. We are talking of a young woman (who apparently
shies to let the readers know her age and weight) from our capital DELHI which is a metropolitan
and a modern city. I was aghast at reading sentences like “I have never been with a man in a room
alone” or all through she questions herself on things which are so normal in today’s world like an instructor taking measurements at a gym. I was basically in complete conflict of thought process with Naina.
4. It is portrayed as a love story….but where is the love story? There are very few scenes of Aarav
and Naina together and when we feel now they will talk of love, either of them backs out.
5. There are pages and pages of conversation, either a monologue of Naina’s thought process or
she talks of moral policing Malvika’s life – it became boring to just read through their endless debate.
6. The END – so you know you are in love with someone and you know that you don’t love the
person who you are married to – you make a choice! She chooses to stick to her marriage – fair
enough – but what is the reasoning? The novel still goes on saying Naina tried to reason with her
husband but he didn’t change his ways. So I was unable to understand why she was stuck to him, I
was fine with the choice but not the reasoning at all.
7. Malvika has an open marriage – ok so? Why is it made such a hype? Understand it is not that
common in India but she is portrayed as a very modern woman still the novel feels open marriage
is like a wrong thing to do.
Should you read it?
I suggest everyone to read it to understand my review. I have read a love story of a woman who falls in love outside marriage it is a classic “ the Bridges of Maddison County – Robert James Waller published in 1992” Read that too on my recommendation and then you will precisely know what I am referring to in this review.
Good reads: 3.6/5
Sunshineandzephyr review: 2.0/5
Blurb: Life would have been easier had it been possible for us to plan falling in love more importantly avoid falling in love . . . Love is not for you she told herself. Inside just like any girl she desired to be loved. She had accepted her life the way it was till one day love showed up unannounced uninvited That s the thing with love. It doesn’t take permission. It s in its very nature to gatecrash into our lives. Standing face-to-face with love she finds herself asking Is this love right? The answer is not simple. It never was . . . This intense love story will shake every belief you have ever had about love. About the Author Ravinder Singh is the bestselling author of I Too Had a Love Story Can Love Happen Twice? Like It Happened Yesterday and Your Dreams Are Mine Now.
Good review Shweta. Long since I picked up a book.
This inspires me to pick one now.
you shouldn’t, its not a great read Indrani!
Pretty interesting plot and I am sure this would have been a quick read. Thanks for sharing an honest review.
you are welcome Parul 🙂
Shweta, you have put the book under your fine, dispassionate lens. Either the author needs to sharpen his tools for a more convincing portrayal of the story or he has a particular audience in his mind and in which case there is no fault to be found with his art!
Thank you for your perspective. Agree it could be a different audience or a way of looking differently, but the author contradicted himself in the novel by saying Malvika was modern and so she had an open marriage! It is this thought that women are fighting the battle of freedom and rightful feminism.
Very well reviewed dear. I think I would give this a miss.
Thank you so much Purba. Yes not worth it!