AND WE WALKED AWAY BY SUBRAT SAURABH

TITLE- AND WE WALKED AWAY
AUTHOR- SUBRAT SAURABH

GENRE- ROMANCE

NO:OF PAGES- 188

PUBLISHERS- NOTION PRESS

FORMAT- PAPERBACK

About the book-

Abhimanyu, a well known author returns to his engineering college in Bangalore after a decade and notices a lot of changes in the college over this period. It reminds him of how he met his ladylove, Naina on the first day of college and fell in love with her at first sight. Abhimanyu being an impulsive, stubborn and impatient guy decides to propose her in a rush. She doesn't believe in love and has her own reasons for it. Abhimanyu with the help of his friends Aarush and Dev proposes and tries to convince Naina many times in unusual ways but he fails miserably. However, a trick helps to melt her heart, but destiny has a different plan.

My rating-⭐⭐/5

My review-

"Love is an emotion which can be felt best when you don't get it, and it can be best expressed when it's one-sided."

This is the story of Abhimanyu, an engineer turned author who remenenisces his college days a decade after leaving the place. He speaks of how he fell in love with Naina and what all tactics he had used to win over her. He also talks of his friendship with two guys- Aarush and Dev who were his sidekick throughout this journey.
Was he successful in wooing Naina? How has destiny played it's role in his life?

This story is a typical college romance, where a stubborn guy persues a girl despite her wishes with a side story involving the sidekicks- just an attempt to increase the content perhaps.
However I am personally very dissatisfied with this book.
The entire story is just exaggerated, with clichéd Bollywood dialogues- depicts the desperation of the main character who according to me is just pathetic. He symbolizes that section of the youth who would do anything- just anything to ensure that they win over the girl. His sidekick Dev is equally shallow depicting those friends who motivate to just keep nagging the girl. Also the girls are stereotyped too- who don't believe in love, whose first priority is always family, who are easily wooed by gifts, who friend zone guys who love them and who become the vamp between best friends.
The plot is very average, there are snatches of Bollywood movies at almost every point. The ending is almost predictable, character development is non-existent and the thoughts doesn't seem to be in continuation. For an instance- one character meets another at the door of the library- they both, going in opposite direction but in the next scene they both are shown talking inside the library. There are many unfinished thoughts and grammatical errors at various places.

The only thing that I liked about this book is the episodic narration, the swift transition between past and present and the various little phrases depicting the torment of unrequited love.
On the whole this is just an exaggerated Bollywood plot with snatches of resemblance with the real life which is quite minimal- more of a generalization.

Characters-

Abhimanyu- the protagonist who is a shallow, stubborn and obnoxious person- basically pathetic. He is that person who doesn't respect anyone's feelings and twists every thing according to his own convenience. An arrogant, self absorbed character wallowing in self pity every now and then.

Only the transformation towards the end in noteworthy where he realizes his true nature and decides to change himself.

Naina- Abhimanyu's lady love, she is the one who doesn't believe in love before marriage- just because she doesn't have the courage to stand up for it. She is this stereotyped character who on one hand doesn't want to commit but on the other doesn't want to let go off the guy. Contrary to Abhimanyu's transformation her character in the end becomes more pathetic.

Dev- one of Abhimanyu's friends who has a love story of his own. He seems to be sensible in the beginning but later he turns out to be just another passing character.

Nidhi- Dev's love interest who doesn't want a relationship in future but wants a relationship just for the college.

Aarush- the only sensible character perhaps, he is funny, gives great advice, is practical and perhaps is the most sorted one.

Writing style-

The entire story is written in an episodic format which is a new thing- however the mechanical narration has just killed the essence of the feelings behind the dialogues. It seems the characters are holding back their thoughts even from the readers. Also there are unnecessary details and highlights throughout the story- only the soleful one liners in between salvage the narration to some extent.

If you are a die- hard Bollywood fan or love clichéd Indian love stories you can opt for this- but not recommending this to anyone really.

I would like to thank the author for giving me a complimentary copy in exchange of an honest review.

About the author-

Popularly known as ChickenBiriyanii on social media Subrat Saurabh is an engineer by profession. He is very proficient in writing witty one-liners , is a poet, an avid blogger and writer of the best seller book "kuch woh pal". He loves observing people around him where he often seaches for his stories and inspirations.