The Last Bloom by Poulomi Sengupta (Book Review- 3.75*/5) !!!

Whenever a reader picks up a book, he adds many expectations to it. I picked up a book of 400 pages on this Sunday and thought of completing it in a day itself. But I had judged it as soon as I picked it up for reading. The title of the book is "The Last Bloom". The cover page of the book has a flower. The book is written by a debutante female writer- Poulomi Sengupta. It is based on a girl's life who has just entered a new college and is struggling to fit in with new environment and extensive level of politics. At first, I thought as the story is based in college, it is going to end up being another love saga somewhere. But the way, author remains focused on her opinion throughout the book is an amazing experience to read.

The writing style of Poulomi Sengupta is amazing. She manages to write in simple language yet display her strength in vocabulary. The book deals with how the politics in college ruins the whole environment and does not let the education win over the personal interest of few people who want to win seats and rule the sector. Author have again and again described how innocent and dedicated students who are in campus just to study and gain knowledge are forced into participating in the politics otherwise bear the blunt of the majority. The fight between the girls is also described in length. How in jealousy and temptation to be more popular and powerful, girls keep fighting among themselves only to ruin each other's personal space and careers.

Authoress have used the backdrop of Bengal to project the whole issue which is quite evident because of the communal and linguistic issue of the state. People are very skilled and talented there but the political and regional issues doesn't let them grow. Author have mentioned how parents and students prefer to continue their education in their mother tongue itself rather than English language and thus keep getting behind in the race of competition in this ever-competitive nation.  

The author have also used lot of philosophies in the book which I personally liked a lot. I liked the conversation she had with Vivek most of the times and also liked one particular conversation with her father in the midst of the 2nd half of the book. All the conversations are so enlightening that you want to keep reading them again and again. The characters are very hard to get used to in the beginning but as the story moves ahead, you will be able to remember their names and understand who are with the protagonists and who are against her (Haha!).

Talking about the drawbacks, the book is not edited at all in terms of its length. There wasn't many twists and turns for which author needed 400 pages to narrate the whole story. The over-description of not-so-important scenarios have added to the pages unnecessarily. The book could have been easily completed within 300 pages itself. I also felt that not all characters got defined properly except few like Priya, Aashi, Renela, Keya, Suvo etc. I was also expecting a mind-boggling climax but it happened on a very light note without much sound. Overall, this book is a great attempt considering written by the first time author and the topic chosen. I give it 3.75* out of 5. 

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!