Monday, May 1, 2017

Book Review: Unns - The Captivation by Sapan Saxena

Title: Unns - The Captivation
Author: Sapan Saxena
Publisher: Inspire India Publishers


Review

Part romance, part thriller — Sapan Saxena’s ‘Unns’ is more than just a simple love story. It is the story of Atharva Rathod and Meher Qasim, two unlikely people with different agendas in life who meet in school, fall in love, and get separated only to meet once again years later when their actions set the course of each other’s lives forever. 
The plot of this novel is neither ambitious nor extraordinary, but its execution is commendable. Remember the movie ‘Dedh Ishqiya' or the song ‘Satrangi Re’? In the movie, Naseeruddin Shah is educating Arshad Warsi on the seven phases of love over drinks. The song which was filmed on Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala, in some way or the other, whether through lyrics or the choreography, gloriously portrays these stages of love and charms us along. Unns, Dedh Ishqiya, and Satrangi Re has this one thing in common — the explanation of the stages of love as perceived by the Sufis.
In Arabic literature, love is supposed to have seven stages. The seven stages are namely hub (attraction), unns (infatuation), ishq (love), akidat (trust/reverence), ibadat (worship),junoon (madness), and finally maut (death). Sapan’s Atharva and Meher unwillingly and unknowingly transcend all the seven stages of love. However, the ensuing drama that unfolds is not that predictable. The narrative goes on in a clear manner even with a leap of several years. The transition in the time frame is seamless. The readers will not be left floundering.
The writer has taken some time to establish the plot. The book gathers steam only in the second half of the narration. A simplistic storytelling and the need for a high-level suspension of belief may leave some readers unsatisfied. Not stellar, but it gets the job done. 

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About the Author


Brought up in the city of Nawabs, Lucknow, Sapan did B. Tech in Information & Technology from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad.
He started taking interest in writing on various spiritual and mythological subjects during his college days and his work found place in leading newspapers on many occasions. His profession is engineering but writing is his passion. He connects and finds links of modernization with mythology having keen interest in the same.

Sapan married in the year 2011 and is now the proud father of a toddler. A responsible father, a loving husband, a supportive brother and a caring son, Sapan generates time to write.



I'd like to thank the author for letting me review the book. I do hope you end up liking the book when you read it. Thank you so much for stopping by, and happy reading! 



* I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
** Picture courtesy: Amazon.in 

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