THE ONE YOU CANNOT HAVE- A book Review

Life has been hectic lately, very! But I managed to complete my first read for 2016 "The one you cannot have" by "Preeti Shenoy". And here I sit to jot my review on the same, again fighting with speeding time.

To start I would say, it was a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Aman, Shruti and Anjali and yes Rishabh too. The USP of the book, according to me was the simplistic, untainted approach to the life of the main protagonists. A pee-a-boo into their hearts, to be precise and how candidly. A heart to heart connect with the readers, who could actually relate to these unknown people who gradually grow to be a part of their lives, tangible, alive. And that is the beauty of fiction, you unknowingly start living with the characters of the book, to an extent that you start having an opinion on their actions. For example, at the end of the novel, before I read of Aman’s decision to put his past back, I was already pleading him to do so “Anjali does not deserve a back stab” I kept telling myself.

This book is a pure depiction of human relationships and emotional turmoil. There is nothing we donot know, but actually there is no need too. A novel is not an invention, it is a depiction of life in ways depending on the author and her/his thought process. I loved the lucidity which beautifully conglomerates with the approach of the book. Simple, straightforward but honest. Afterall we don’t read books for jargons and never will prefer to sit with a dictionary to understand the essence. Lucidity is what appeals to me and hence this book was an enjoyable, engaging time for me. Thanks a lot Preeti Shenoy, this one was my first of your novels and I look forward to reading more.

Aritra Chakrabarty Sengupta