TO NADDIYAA BY KAVYA SHARMA

TITLE- TO NADDIYAA
AUTHOR- KAVYA SHARMA
NO:OF PAGES- 186
GENRE- FICTION
PUBLISHERS- STORY MIRROR
FORMAT- PAPERBACK

About the book-

It isn't very hard to fall madly in love with your own wife and even though Durjoy was deeply embedded to this reality and the one his father imposed on him since his childhood. Nadia was already a part of another one. while Durjoy grew as the mad child of the misty hills, close to poetry and his mother, Nadia was traditional, internally strong- headed woman of a motherless home. None of them revolted each other's love and yet they ended up crossing each other at a threshold there was no coming back from. 

The story captures an endless wait on a mad lover's part and his wife's failed realization of the same. A series of attempts, hidden letters, awkward emotions and grave family secrets end into a loveless insainity behind the bars of a mental asylum Nadia and Durjoy share their fate in. What follows is a flashback they wish they could go back to, what's left, is a longing and a life, without each other.

My rating-★★★★.5☆

My review-

"It is when people should talk that they choose to act alienated. They wish to avoid things,be recluse in their knowledge and interest and that's what causes further chaos and misery."

What is the pain of unrequited love, more so from your own wife? What is the regret that the wife feels when she sees her husband in a new light, understand his feelings- all that he had never expressed or that she has never understood?

Written in a epistolary format, this book narrates the intimate feelings that Durjoy felt for Nadia- or Naddiyaa as he used to call her. Through a series of letters she comes to know of her husband's perception during their time together- the time when she acted out of sympathy for him, when she refused to understand his love and in the end when she made a cuckold out of him.

After coming across these letters- all she finds in herself is sorrow, misery and regret- of failing to understand that madman's life, his love for her, his innocent heart and the pain he carried in his heart after knowing the truth of her life- their family secret.

This book is an array of emotions- the deep love a husband feels for his wife, the purity of it, the little things that matter to human beings, the sorrow that one feels due to unrequited love and the regret that one holds on upon stumbling on the truth and the guilt that follows. All the emotions are vividly captured in this book- its so heart wrenching that the emotions the characters feel last for quite sometime. The uncertainty of life, the power of love that can make one lose their mind and the sorrow that unites two human beings- this story talks of the deepest human emotions and the way it has been depicted is just so moving.

Completed with beautiful poetic lines, apt alliterations and metaphors this book keeps the readers hooked on emotionally- the only flaw is perhaps the ending of Durjoy which is not clearly mentioned- which is rather abrupt and somewhere tampers with the flow of the story. Perhaps it is meant to depict the uncertainty of life- one of the most emotionally appealing book which cannot be put down before the end.

Characters-

Durjoy- a supposedly madman, who grew with poetry and his mother. His father supposedly made him and the society believe that he was mad- for he had failed to grow up into a man. Familiar with the abusive side of hi father and his emotional detachment he loved his wife Nadia selflessly- to the extent that it turned into a real madman. A deeply emotional person with an insight which people seldom understood- hence he became the victim o the unrequited love o his own wife.

Nadia- Durjoy's wife and the person who lived with a regret and longing for the rest of her life. She failed to understand her husband while being with him only to give into worldly desires- and later found out the real side of life and her husband- which left her with a deep anguish and shame.

Iman- Nadia's son from the other man- oblivious to the truth he felt he was Durjoy's son and Nadia didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. It was he who read out Durjoy's letters to Nadia, being a part of his parents' cursed love story.

Pronoy- he was the other man in Nadia's life and he was Durjoy's brother- the little family secret that Nadia wanted to safeguard but failed.

Writing style-

Written in epistolary format this book contains deep embedded raw human emotions. The narrative is smooth, some parts are difficult to understand for it is too emotions-loaded, it shows both Durjoy's and Nadia's emotions. Through the poetic narration the simple truths of life is beautifully portrayed in this book. The love, the pain and the regret is so beautifully expressed that it makes the readers connect to deeply to the text.

A must read for all, this book is a literary gem. Thank you half baked beans for the review copy. This was such a moving experience.

About the author-

Kavya Sharma is a poetess, fiction writer an a womanist. She is a published poet and has been awarded The Honorable Mention by Delhi Poetry Slam for excellency in poetry in their Free Verse Poetry contest. She has completed her master in Creative Writing from the university of Nottingham, England and runs her own literary magazine by the name verse of Silence besides working as a Commissioning Editor at the Half Baked Beans publishing house, Delhi.