Monday, August 12, 2013

Review: No Vacancy for Love by Anuj Shrivastava

Friends are an important part of everyone's life. Some stay till eternity, some use you and some just leave your hand when you need them the most. Author Anuj Shrivastava in his debut novel "No Vacancy for Love" has come up with a story portraying the colors of friendship. So has the book done enough justice to the title and the story? Let's find out. 

A reserved boy, an extroverted girl, both of them from the same college and a small town. It's not a love story, but a story of trust, belief, loyalty and sacrifices. Welcome to 'No Vacancy for Love' this is a story about two young people Shabd - Tanya and their friendship. It is about a friendship that burns under the path of faith, humanity, decency and hurting decisions. It challenges the saying 'if you are good to others, they are always good to you, if not today then wait for tomorrow.'


The title is a unique one. The cover page has shades of black and white and a girl and a boy. The blurb contains a mistake. It should be extrovert not extroverted. It's a decent blurb which talks about two people and their friendship. 

The story revolves around Shabd, his college life, his friends and also about Tanya and his relationship. It takes for the readers to find out whether it's love or infatuation or just friends. It involves some classmates who despise their friendship and in the end what Shabd realizes when he confronts himself about the situation. 

The story has plain and simple narration. It's not a long book. It has the strong flavor of friendship and misunderstandings in it. It has been put up to let people know the true colors of friendship and feelings. It leaves a strong message as to how one should go about approaching friends in their circle. The heartbreaking turn of events in Shabd's life are a highlight and to be enjoyed thoroughly. 

Spelling mistakes especially the Hindi Words are a turn off. It's yaar not yarr. It's behen not bahan. Editing is not good. The story lacks depth and focuses more on college assignments, gossips and rumors and Shabd's personal achievements. Tanya-Shabd's friendship doesn't justifies the title. Love is not the true flavor of the book. A different title for the book would have made it more apt. It had to be approached with more focus on friendship rather than college achievements. Tanya's character lacked intensity which was the main requirement of the story. 

It could have been much better with a much more suitable title for the story. The story won't woo the readers but few emotional patches will make readers ponder about it. A lot more was expected from the book but it didn't do justice to its theme. 

RATINGS: 

2 OUT OF 5. 

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