Sunday, April 17, 2016

Book Review: Beyond Love Lines: Do You Know Jeevan Who Loved Nancy? by Krish

Beyond Love Lines: Do You Know Jeevan Who Loved Nancy?
The disclaimer is that author, Krishna Raj, is my schoolmate. Last month, we had an alumni meet, and during the event, he got a few copies; and all of them were sold out among the alumni.

The book revolves around the life of Jeevan, who had a crush on his neighbour and childhood friend Nancy. But he reads too much into every action her or absence of it, and mistakes them as love. There are many other characters too who come into the story.

Half way into the book, I realised how apt the title of the book is. The story is not actually about the love/ infatuation of Jeevan and Nancy. It is all about the militant uprisings in Kashmir and how Jeevan as an officer in the Indian Army deals with it. The entire relationship issues of Jeevan and others are narrated as flashback.

The author has done well weave the plot and many subplots, the present and the past, without confusing the reader too much. Probably, at a few places, the flashback portion could have been separated with asterisks, as has been done in a few other places.

The story also juxtaposes the ironic difficulty of Jeevan to deal with emotional turmoils with the life-threatening situations in the valley to which he squares so boldly and effortlessly. The novel is truly all about love lines and what lies beyond them.

I found the initial portions a bit slow and lumbering. The narrative is a very easy one, without heavy literary expressions or syntax. A good start for Krishna with his first book.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars