Book Review: U & I
Don’t we all love romance? Well, atleast most of us!! Teenage love stories are even more special. Seeing a happily ever after to a teenage love story captivates me, precisely the reason why I picked U & I. The essence of love stories, for me, lies in how pure they are. This strikes a chord with the reader and in turn helps a book to scale to different heights.
U & I is the journey of two souls made for each other. It is a story of a studious boy -Abhishek from Uttar Pradesh and a beautiful girl – Preeti from Lucknow. Abhishek is an ambitious guy who goes to Lucknow for his studies and is infatuated by Preeti the minute he spots her. Infatuation at first sight as the author addresses it. They start off as friends and start spending a lot of time with each other. They eventually fall in love. Abhishek’s goals take him away from Preeti but only geographically. They maintain their long-distance relationship successfully. Everything goes on smoothly till an unfortunate accident takes place. How will this affect Abhishek and Preeti’s paradise – A paradise they have built with a lot of love and understanding. Does their love have the power to withstand this storm? Do they really have a happily ever after? The answers to these questions lie in the 260 pages titled U & I.
The author has tried to write in the form of a flashback. So the dates written at the start of the chapters become essential. Flashback is a form most authors want to attempt as it is extremely catchy and keeps the reader at the edge of the seat. But for most it just gets limited to want. Not many are successful in this. Though, Abhishek Singh wasn’t too bad with it, but initially with the prologue and all, it gets a tad bit confusing. When one reads the prologue, you get a very clear picture of how the story will progress. This in turn leaves very less room for the reader to be at the edge of the seat for the accident to unfold. In a tale with only 2 characters (this one doesn’t have many supporting characters), both have to be carved out extremely well. Over here neither the character of Abhishek nor Preeti get etched in your heart. The journey of Abhishek is shown but what about Preeti? She has only been shown as being a telephonic support to Abhishek. What does she do for a living? The dates show that they are a current generation couple so isn’t Preeti also inclined towards building a career? Their conversations even at the age of 20 feel like teenagers conversing.There is a lot more spark and boldness in today’s relationships, which the author has not captured at all. The essence of a 21st century relationship doesn’t get depicted at all.
A better job could have been done by Shynu K with the cover page. Good editing could have atleast eliminated the grammatical errors. I don’t know how this happened, but everywhere where it was to be my it has been printed as mine.
As a story U & I doesn’t really touch your chords, which is expected of a love story. There is no plot. The characters are weak. Their love story is just limited to words. The depth in their love should have been painted beautifully as that is what the storyline demands but the author fails to do that completely.
A futile attempt and a definite miss in this ever growing genre.
Title: U & I
Author: Abhishek Singh
Publisher/ Imprint: Leadstart Books/ Frog Books
Pages: 260
Genre/ Sub-Genre: Fiction/ Romance
Rating: 1.25 of 5.00
Reviewed for: Publisher
Read the reviews of other books rated 1 star by Team TP HERE
Want to read? Buy a copy:
