“Not everyone in this world has the fate to cherish the fullest form of love. Some are born just to experience the abbreviation of it.”
‘I Too Had a Love Story’ is an autobiographical tale of love written by Ravinder Singh, a software engineer turned author, who rose to fame with this book becoming a national bestseller.
Ravin and Khushi’s love story is the central theme of this book, and it stands out brightly. The honesty with which Ravin recounts the story is refreshing, and his feelings and emotions reflect clearly in the narration.
Considering this is a real life story, I feel sympathetic towards the author. I appreciate the intent and emotions behind Ravin’s story, and the amount of personal courage that it must have taken to put his innermost feelings on display for public consumption.
Having said that, I find it difficult to overlook the amateurish writing. I do understand that the author wanted to narrate the story ‘as is’, but I believe tighter editing would have made this a far more satisfying read.
Also, there is one particular incident in this book, which is just plain weird. It makes me doubt the ‘great love’ this book is based on. There was a crisis (for the lack of a better word to keep this review spoiler free) on Khushi’s end and Ravin was flying out to see her. During the airplane ride, when the love of his life is supposedly in severe danger, he checks out the air-hostess. Yes, you read that correctly. He checks out the air-hostess. Need I say more?
To sum it up, if you are looking for a literary piece with a meticulously crafted plot and expert narration, this book is not for you. If all you want is a light read that takes you through the bittersweet experiences of first love, go for it.
My Favorite Quotes/Lines from the Book:
These lines before the book started..
Days pass by somehow
But nights now are a wagon of pain
Injuries may heal with time
But marks will always remain
Restless on my comfortable bed
I toss and turn and try to sleep
But thoughts are bulking my head
And have formed a huge heap
The past is flashing
its scorching light-beams
Tearing me apart,
breaking me at the seams
The darkness of my life,
is more visible in the dark
And now I am trying to give it a voice,
trying to speak my heart.
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This book has been an odd pick for me. I normally love my ‘happily-ever-afters’, and a real-life tragedy is even more heartbreaking. However, apart from this book being a national best seller, what caught my attention was the foreword on the cover page written by Mr. Narayan Murthy.
A love story reviewed by Mr. Murthy was the thing that made me curious enough to pick this book up. Does this happen to you guys too? How much weightage does a famous person’s review hold while deciding about reading/passing a book?
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manak bajaj
Some times words are ore effective then any action. This is one of that case.
Shanaya Tales
I am not entirely sure what you mean. Please do elaborate.
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Tarang
I have this book…still unread. I think it’s slightly overrated. But, you write nice reviews. Good to connect. Best wishes, Tarang.
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Shanaya Tales
Yeah, it is over-rated, but I guess most Indian best-sellers are. Thank you for stopping by. Glad to connect with you. 🙂
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Lata Sunil
The foreword does cheat me at times. I just hope, it doesn’t always. To each his own. I liked the structure of the review.
Shanaya Tales
Thank you so much Lata. 🙂
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Salvwi Prasad
Knowing the fact that the story is a real life experience of the author brings in a certain bias while reading. At least I felt it that way. I had already given a benefit of doubt on narration and literary score even before reading it. I liked the core essence of the story. I will agree with you that there is definitely room for improvement on various aspects. But I think the author’s target audience was not essentially people with literary inclination only but majorly the mass. And if what I think is correct then the book achieved its goal.
I will just add a 0.5 due to my bias, to your rating on this book. 🙂
Good to find book reviews in your blog.
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Shanaya Tales
I agree. Every book has its audience. I wasn’t the intended audience for this. I can see this working really well with teens. 🙂
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Vishal Bheeroo
A honest review. Checking the air hostess part was a bit out of place and yeah, editing could have been tight. But, enjoyed the book and tears welled on my cheeks. I like his portrayal of Khushi, though:)
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Shanaya Tales
Thank you. 🙂 Yes, Khushi was a sweet one. Incredibly sad for her family and Ravin.
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Rachna
Oops. Appreciate the candid review. I will skip this one.
Shanaya Tales
Yes, please do. You won’t be missing out on anything. 🙂
Shanaya Tales recently posted…Changes and Priorities
Alok singhal
This book is right in front of me and your review is perfect…though it is based on real-life but the narration is very poor.
Would not suggest anybody to read this. Sorry.
Shanaya Tales
Thank you so much, Alok. I find it extremely upsetting when I see negligence in editing. This book could have been so much better with tighter editing.
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G Angela
I have not read any of the authors book, I like the way you have written review..,. thanks for sharing
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Shanaya Tales
This was my very first one by the author. I might give him a pass in the future, unless he comes up with an extremely compelling story. Never say never. 😀 Thank you for stopping by, Angela. 🙂
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Shilpa Garg
I remember reading one of his books, and after that I have become a bit (no, a lot, actually) wary of the books that have ‘national bestseller’ printed on the cover page!!
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Shanaya Tales
Yeah, this one has made me wary of ‘National Bestsellers’. I am certainly going to tread carefully in the future. Thanks for stopping by, Shilpa. 🙂
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nidhi
I admire and respect Mr. Narayan Murthy so much that I would have definitely purchased this book if not for your review. Amateurish writing is a total no-no for me. Love you straight and to-the-point review.
Shanaya Tales
Thank you so much, Nidhi. Glad you found the review helpful. 🙂
Shanaya Tales recently posted…I Too Had a Love Story by Ravinder Singh | Book Review
Inderpreet Kaur
I too had a problem with the editing and language of the book, I felt as if it was a badly written diary. But that is just my opinion and so I have not written a review for this book .
Also have no plans to pick any other book of his. Nice review, very balanced.
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Shanaya Tales
I agree. There are far too many other good books, for me to give him another chance. I am done. 🙂
Shanaya Tales recently posted…I Too Had a Love Story by Ravinder Singh | Book Review
Beat About the Book
Bad writing is SUCH a complete put off isn’t it? I think I’ve read this one half way through. As for famous personalities endorsing a book, I have come to realise that many times they don;t even read it and the recommendation are smartly phrased to imply that they did. So not done.
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Shanaya Tales
Exactly. It is smartly worded. ‘Simple, Honest and Touching’ he says. Simple- Yes, Honest- Yes, Touching- Yes. But what about the loose, careless writing and even worse editing? 🙁
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Francene Stanley
Sometimes I sigh at the way bad writing reaches a best-seller status. I appreciate your frank and honest review. But bad writing turns me off reading. I always check the first chapter so I can judge before I invest in the novel.
My author group condemned’ Fifty Shades…’ when it was first released, but it’s gone from strength to strength. Maybe the public don’t care.
Shanaya Tales
I agree. It is so annoying and misleading when that happens.
And yes, I do believe that the people don’t care much, but it would be nice if the authors and publishers did care more in terms of putting their best work forward.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…I Too Had a Love Story by Ravinder Singh | Book Review
Shailaja
Such an honest and balanced review that I am going to definitely check out your book reviews in the future! I agree that although a famous personality’s words may draw me to a book, I will still check out impartial reviews online before actually buying the book. This non-attention to language, editing and overall tightness in Indian writing bugs me more than I can say. And this is unfortunately true across blogs as well. Although I try to overlook a rare typo here and a syntax error there, I cannot understand how, for the life of me, some people can get away with badly-written copy or blog posts. And the editing! I mean, do the publishers have a competent editiorial team or not? It’s appalling! Definitely not going to pick this one up, Shantala. Thanks for the review 🙂
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Shanaya Tales
Thank you so much, Shailaja. 🙂 Your words never fail to make my day. 🙂
As far as language and editing in Indian writing goes, I feel it is a case of laziness, negligence and an overall ‘chalta-hai’ attitude, because I refuse to believe that it is a lack of talent. Hopefully this changes soon.
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Vishal Bheeroo
In fact, I love the book and tears rolled down the cheeks. Khushi is one character that I feel I knew for ages.
Shanaya Tales
I understand what you are saying, Vishal. Like I said, I do feel sympathetic towards the author for what he went through. However, my issue is with the loose writing and bad editing. 🙂
Shanaya Tales recently posted…I Too Had a Love Story by Ravinder Singh | Book Review
Omkar Mirajgave
Even if this book is simple but i enjoyed it…
Shanaya Tales
I am glad you did. 🙂
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