Tuesday, November 6, 2018

THE DIARY ON THE FIFTH FLOOR BY RAISHA LALWANI


TITLE- THE DIARY ON THE FIFTH FLOOR
AUTHOR- RAISHA LALWANI
GENRE- PSYCHOLOGICAL FICTION
NO:OF PAGES- 164
PUBLISHERS- RUPA PUBLICATIONS
FORMAT- PAPERBACK

About the book-

A woman leaves her infant at home but finds her on a busy street in an unexpected turn of events... Another woman wakes up on a flight hours later, befuddled, in the strangest circumstances..
The fascinating tale of a young woman who takes hold of us from the moment she enters the hospital; more precisely, the fifth floor. Visible terrified, she clutches at her cloth bound diary, caught in the horns of a terrible dilemma- whether or not to hand over the diary to the doctor. She fears that she will be declared insane if her tangled web of thoughts unspooling in dark mysterious stories is read by the dissecting eye of a doctor.
What does this diary contain? As the novel progresses, we are drawn into characters and stories that are toe- curling, strange and haunting in their raw intensity. What is the story of this woman? What secret lies in the pages of her diary? And most importantly, what happens on the fifth floor.

My rating- ★★★★.8☆

My review-

"We live in a world where people are killed in their sleep. Where a woman crying in a hospital, waiting to be attended to is asked to keep quite and wipe her blood off the floor because nurses feel miscarriages are no big deal. Where people are not willing to help an injured person in a car crash because they don't want to get involved in the police case afterwards".

The world around us is savage and the naive ones have a hard time dealing with it. This is the the theme that the author has portrayed in this novella.
Savannah Khanna enters Dr. Rama Berry- the psychologist's-office as Sairah Khanna to attend the appointment she had been trying to get desperately. In her hand is a diary which she later on gives to the doctor so that she is able to know about her patient and her thoughts.
Now this diary is the key element for it contains the thoughts from Savannah's tormented mind. Her experiences and observations of the world in the form of little anecdotes which gives us an idea of the pessimistic way she perceives the world.

Written in epistolary format-this book tells about all the things that are wrong with the world and the humans- where they have stooped low enough to lose their humanity, where practicality thrives over emotions and where genuineness, trust, faith, love- every good emotion has lost it's meaning.
Being a very sensitive person Savannah has been gravely affected by this fact- to the extent that she carries this sadness within herself- somewhere she has lost all her hopes in humanity and in life as a whole.
The author also points at the way society considers mental illness as a taboo- as shown by the necessity to use the name Sairah instead of Savannah and her constant dilemma to carry on with the sessions.

This book is an experience in itself- a stark contrast between a lost mind and a source of light in the dark world- in the form of Dr Berry. The anecdotes are thought provoking, the whole narration gives a vivid account of the sadness one can carry in their minds and hearts and the kind of guidance and motivation required to get through this state of mind.
The whole doctor patient interaction is very appealing, very real and the way Savannah's state of mind has been depicted is really commendable.

A beautiful book which leaves the readers to ponder over many things- which has the ability to change something in the minds of the present day humans, somethings which are absolutely necessary at present.

Characters-

Savannah- a beautiful young lady of 25 who instead of being carried away by the world decides to question it's ways. A very sensitive mind which is not capable of handling the cruelty of the world- she suffers from one of the most common mental illnesses which turns her into a pessimist- one who is neither able to contain her emotions nor express them in the right way.

Dr. Rama Berry- a very experienced psychologist, who is the complete opposite of Savannah. She helps her to change her perception of the world and ways to express her emotions completely. She is one person who tried hard to get Savannah out of her torment through her question- answer sessions.

Writing style-

The novella is mostly written in epistolary format with doctor- patient interactions in between. The diary entries narrates the little anecdotes which clearly depicts Savannah's state of mind. Written in a lucid way, the text clearly depicts the problems and the solutions- the ones which can make life more bearable. A deep emotion laden text with a definite message that makes it difficult for the readers to wrap their brains around.

A book filled with raw emotions- the reality check that it has given has left me speechless.
I recommend it to everyone, please read this, this will change something in you irrespective of whether you are an optimist or a pessimist.

Thank you vinfluencers for giving me this review copy. Undoubtedly this is one of the best debut books I have ever come across.

About the author-


Raisha Lalwani, a reader by day and a writer by night, is a content homemaker. Her passion for writing started at an early age and has been growing since. After being trained as a singer in Hindustani classical music and having graduated from Delhi University, she got her master's degree in international business. This is her debut novel.

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