Hold My Hand by Durjoy Datta (Book Review- 3 out of 5)!!!

   When it comes to reading our favorite author, we do not even see the backcover and check synopsis whether the story is of our type or not, we just purchase the book without making any 2nd thought. This is what I did when I came to know that Durjoy Datta's 9th book is up for pre-ordering. First, I logged in to Flipkart, ordered the book and then read what's it all about. This is the 2nd book of Durjoy which gets published by India's No.1 publisher- Penguin. And this is only the 3rd book in which he has no co-author and he has done all the work single-handed. The speed with which he comes up with a new book is quite exciting as we, his loyal readers, do not have to wait for a long time to read what our favorite writer writes. The ratio of every 100th blog of mine and his new book coming is almost the same. Whenever I am up with a century post, there's a new book of Mr. Durjoy. :-) Hence, he has 9 books in his pocket while I have 900 Blog Posts. :-) I hope he is coming up with his next up till December. Haha!

SYNOPSIS:-

           An awkward young man, Deep, obsessed with libraries and books, has his dream come true when he is sent to Hong Kong by ATS Technologies to study and test the library cataloguing software at its head office. There he sees - the most beautiful girl he has ever laid his eyes on, But there is a twist to this love story - Ahana is not just stunningly beautiful, she also has a rare congenital disease leaving her blind. Together they explore Hong Kong Aahana guiding with the smells and sounds of the wondrous city and Deep bringing to life the sights he sees.

       

    As we already know that Durjoy Datta has quite matured as a writer and he has stopped writing those repeated stuffs anymore. Now, he has started examining people and finds out their characterization and attributes. Then he develops his own characters and his book rotates around almost every character that he describes even once in the book. He has stopped writing sex scenes after every 10 pages and in fact, this 196 pages book "Hold My Hand" does not a single scene that can make you feel "Repetitive Durjoy is back". This has assured that his audience will keep buying his book to see how much more has their author being improved. What I like about Durjoy's writing is that he writes a book as a book without any other ambitions attached to it otherwise many writers write a book as if a Bollywood movie is going to be made of it as soon as it releases. Irritating! 

            I liked the initial pages in the book where the characters are described and we are told what each of them are dealing with so that we can understand their state of mind once we read the scenarios pages ahead. The narration of how Deep is being interned in Hong Kong, and his mother's pain, his father's toughness, his friends' annoyance etc. is done greatly in the beginning. I just felt that the protagonist took a lot of time in India itself and its almost after 1/3rd part of the book is over that we finally find him in Hong Kong. I liked one part where Deep tells about what books has taught him. That whole paragraph is wonderful. Also, every time his writer's heart and love for books is discussed, Durjoy takes the words and sentences to the next level. 

            As soon as Ahana comes in to the picture, story takes a sweet and a soft turn. It's not about the pity and sympathy and the support that Deep shows towards her because of her eyes-disorder but about the feelings that both of them share. His falling in love with her, her father being strict, her attachment with her ex-boyfriend who's also blind like her etc is what this part of story needed. Actually, this part is less of her struggle with blindness but a relationship between a father and daughter. I liked the character of Ranbeer because this is how even i wish to be with my children. An ideal character it is! Sadhika's character is also portrayed beautifully. It's good that Durjoy wrote a part in Ahana's words that we get to know what this blind girl keeps thinking within herself who does not remember anything that she was before the age of 5 when her eyes were fine. Coming to the climax, Durjoy tried to make it surprising but it ended up being flat. I wanted it to look much better. 

           In all, I didn't find much of the mistake in the book but I feel it quite disappointed to speak that this book is average in terms of the kind of author has written it, the publisher that has published it and the kind of reader-base this duo already has. Someone like You was so much better than this. Even Till The Last Breath. I am not upset with the book but I felt as if this one is done in hurry to beat some deadline. Otherwise Durjoy can never write a story which has a good foundation but not the treatment. He treats every story of his as if it's his last book. That's his specialty though he has failed this time. I give this book an average 3 out of 5 points. I hope his next book comes soon with another terrific page-turner. 

 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!