31 Miles by Vinita Bakshi (Book Review- 2*/5) !!!

There are some books which aren’t that lengthy but it takes you a lot of time to complete them. And it is because they become such a bore after a time that reading out each sentence becomes a hell of a job. I admit that I have never skipped pages or sentences between any books even if I find them the most boring thing on Earth. I recently picked up book written by Vinita Bakshi named “31 Miles”. It also has the tagline “Can we ever win against ourselves?” The book has been complimented by Imtiaz Ali and the foreword has been written by Rajiv Makhni. Seeing all this, I had very high expectations with the story but I am deeply disappointed with the outcome.

Vinita Bakshi’s command on the language is undoubtedly unbeatable and she has the skill sets to challenge some bestselling authors of India. But the problem lies with the narration. She gets stuck in a section of the story and keeps on repeating the same until it sucks out all the excitement out of the reader. Even when the story is fast paced and short, it feels as if you are not turning pages anymore. The same thing is retold. The same emotion of a character is defined every time with different formation of sentences. The same type of conversation keeps happening between the character of protagonist and Rajan. The same consequences take place every time after the conversation. This makes the story sound totally boring and uninteresting.

Talking about the climax, I would have rated the book at par even if the ending would have done some justice to it. But it isn’t as fascinating as I expected it to be. When the words like Karma and Dharma are used, you already know what will happen and by whom and to whom. There is not much in it then to surprise you. Same has happened with the climax of this book. Though its intriguing to read how the unexpected takes place but it somewhere got predictable since the pre-climax section begun. Overall, I would say that the narration of the author could have changed the whole outcome of this novel. I give this book just 2 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!!