Review: A Maverick Heart: Between Love and Life

Author: Ravindra Shukla

Resonance –  We often use the term, “frequency matching” in our daily life to define compatibility. Our frequency does not match, we do not get along? We are not in sync? We are not on the same page etc? When people of similar frequencies (wavelengths or within the same range) come together – output is not a simple sum of individual work, but exponential. In science we term this phenomenon as resonance. Output at this stage is beyond any logical limit. Three young kids, with different family backgrounds and outlook meet during their graduation days at IIT-Bombay campus and become close friends. Although, individually they are in sync, but the same is not true for their interaction with the world. How will their relation withstand the conflict of family and society pressure? How do their character shape out, as they traverse from an educational environment through the corporate world to the realm of the social-political world? Inspired by the real events across the globe from the last decade, Ravindra Shukla brings you the characters based story – struggle and triumphs of a young generation and their relevance in the current socio-eco-political era.

REVIEW:

This book surprised me. I judge books by their cover and this one didn’t really appeal to me. The summary was interesting and quite different so I decided to give it a try. I was assuming it to be like Bhagat’s books and Boy, was I wrong or what?

It is definitely better and more relate-able. The conversations, characters are all very real. I could connect and sympathize with their dilemma’s and struggles. The problems they face are the kind that we all face or see our friends facing. 

I loved Rahul. He is such a nice guy. Mature, sensitive and intelligent. Richita is sweet and smart. She loves her parents and my heart goes out for her. She was trapped in such unfortunate circumstances, she never really had a choice.  Neerav was my favorite. He is such a good friend. I wanted more of him in the book. All three of them are like-able and real. I loved being a part of their journey. The book is more than a love-story. It is a story of three lives. It is a story of friendship and love. It is story of choices and their outcome. 

The writing is intelligent and has a depth to it. It makes you pause and think. It impressed me. The author knows what he is talking about. He gives us an insight into the life of an engineer and what we end up losing when we are busy running after money. The book raises some important questions. 

The problems are really with the editing which is generally an issue I have with most of Indian books. The narration transitioned from third person to first person and left me feeling confused. There were times when I had to read a few lines to understand who is talking. And that’s quite irritating. The book is 383 pages long. The second half of the book is stretched to the point of boredom. There are new characters and after a while it was hard to keep up.There is also a tendency to give too much information, which was just a waste because this book could have been a lot better. 

Overall, definitely a worth reading book. There are so many lines that I can quote from the book.

“Look at this site – it is beautiful and deep. When we come here, we get ourselves lost in its beauty and vastness. Years of sorrow and pain lies in the depth of this lake. You do not know what was here 40-50 years back. Probably, a ditch full of stagnant water and mud breeding mosquitoes. Now here we have beautiful lake surrounded by lush green bushes and beautiful flowers. The place is beautiful today, so we come and enjoy its company, its presence. We do not think about its past or we do not to know what will happen here years later. We enjoy the beauty of its present.”

P.S. Sorry for the delay in reviewing the book. I’ve been really busy with work. 

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