Book Review: Goodbye, Perfect by Sara Barnard

Title: Goodbye, Perfect
Author: Sara Barnard
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Sara Barnard’s ‘Goodbye, Perfect’ is the story of best friends Eden and Bonnie, two teenagers who are just days away from taking their GCSEs. While Eden is the ‘rebel,’ Bonnie is the ‘good’ girl and ‘Head Prefect’ who plays the flute, lives for exams, and is a model student. Poles apart, the two understand each other and are BFFs.

The story begins when one fine Saturday morning Bonnie runs away with her secret boyfriend, Jack, and the police arrives at Eden’s doorstep to question her. For the latter it’s a bit of a surprise as she discovers that the secret boyfriend is their music teacher, Mr Cohn. Eden suddenly finds herself facing the toughest situation of her life. Though she denies knowledge of her best friend’s whereabouts, it’s not true. Bonnie has been in touch with her through her texts. Eden’s dilemma only surmounts as she is sworn to secrecy and bound by loyalty to her friend. She knows she won’t betray her friend for Bonnie was the one who made Eden feel at home in a new school when she was placed with a new foster family. Until Bonnie, Eden hadn't had a proper friend. She wants to do right by her. But what is right — being silent or speaking up?

Sara Barnard tackles some serious issues in this novel and she does so with tremendous empathy. While Eden’s dilemmas are clearly visible, it is Bonnie whose problems don’t seem like much on the surface. Under pressure to be the perfect student, always achieving good grades, and never misbehaving — is it any wonder Bonnie finds her life stifling and falls for the one man who appears to understand her? There are multiple layers of intricate relationships and tensions throughout the story.

Barnard has beautifully captured the voice and experience of teenagers. The issues that she raises hit home with a silent thud. Readers will likely relate to Eden and Bonnie’s struggle to navigate the treacherous teen waters rife with unhealthy relationships, temptations, and self-doubt. It is definitely an amazing story about friendship, family, and loyalty. 

A realistic, worthwhile look at dating violence and unhealthy relationships in teenage years.  

Sara Barnard lives in Brighton and does all her best writing on trains. She loves books, book people and book things. She has been writing ever since she was too small to reach the 'on' switch on the family's Amstrad computer. She gets her love of words from her dad, who made sure she always had books to read and introduced her to the wonders of second-hand bookshops at a young age. 

Sara is trying to visit every country in Europe, and has managed to reach thirteen with her best friend. She has also lived in Canada and worked in India. An important voice in contemporary YA, she is the author of the bestselling, Zoella Book Club choice Beautiful Broken Things, and A Quiet Kind of Thunder.

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I'd like to thank the publisher 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, Goodreads.com

Blog Tour: Grow Up Messy! by Paromita Goswami

Title: Grow Up Messy!
Author: Paromita Goswami
Publisher: Ficus India

Blurb:

Childhood is considered to be the best time of one’s life. What if you get a chance to live it once more with a five-year-old? 

Misry, a naughty five-year-old girl, lives with her parents in a B.S.F border outpost near Indo-Bangladesh border. But with no schools and friends she feels very lonely. She tries to befriend some local village kids. But they find her incompetent in their rural antics. They nickname her Messy as most of the time she messes up their plan. Can Misry really be a part of the gang? 

Set in the early eighties, join Misry in the adventures of her life.

Fun Facts About The Characters:

Madhavi is a Bengali lady from a middle class family. She is born and brought up in a small town on the outskirts of Howrah in a very secure and loving atmosphere. She has an elder brother, elder sister and a younger sister. Her father is a professor of Botany and her mother is a housewife. Her marriage to Anurag, a B.S.F officer introduced her to an entirely different lifestyle that she had neither dreamt of nor seen before. Nevertheless, she succeeded in adapting the new lifestyle of being a military man’s wife which was more or less full of uncertainty and waiting. She discovered another side of her personality where she is the actual storehouse of strength for her man who has responsibilities beyond his family needs to attend to. There is also a different avatar of her as an officer’s wife where she has to motivate the soldier’s wife’s to be self reliant and confident as a part of the welfare association programs. When Misry walked into her life, it was an entirely different experience for her. Mothering a naughty little girl was not easy. There were times when she even competed with the Head Cook of the Langar to win her child back.

Anurag is a B.S.F officer who knows how to balance between his personal life and his duties towards his job which is more demanding. When he had married Madhavi, Anurag wasn’t sure how she would match up with his lifestyle.  However, under the spell of his love she had settled  in no time and metamorphosed into an officer’s wife who knew very well  how to control her emotions.  Anurag made sure she was always well taken care. Therefore he always made arrangements beforehand when  he might not be around for some time. When Misry announced her arrival he knew he was going to miss part of her growing up years because of his nature of job. So he made sure that whenever he spent time with her it would always be a memorable moment for both of them. Watching the night sky together laying in a cot in the courtyard or telling her adventure stories from his own life during bed time or always considering her opinion above all were some points Anurag never missed. He knew raising a kid was not an easy job when he himself was not present always on several occasions. So he had his own ways of incorporating values and discipline in his naughty daughter that she adored and obeyed him without any second thoughts.  There were several occasions in the book when Misry’s endeavour  made Anurag doubted if he was a good father or not.

Misry the main character of the book is just like any other child but with a difference that she is quite naughty. However, her innocence wins over  all heart. She maybe just five year old but loves to befriend boys older than her. Tomboy as she is, she  gets into serious trouble with  other boys in school and it is really interesting to watch how she comes out of such situation. Her  little pranks can drive anyone crazy. Like an episode  of Bheeru, the child from the village, where Misry lures him with a dairy milk chocolate to get back into the children’s gang but actually ends up somewhere else. Her  funny fights with her cousin Raju is another hilarious moment.  Grow Up Messy! is all  about being a child.

Surbhi, Madhavi’s elder sister and Raju’s mother is another character to watch out for. I especially like her more. She is a home maker and lives in Kolkata with her husband and younger son, Raju.  A middle aged lady who is more focused on getting worried rather than  finding solutions. There is no doubt that we all have come across one such character once in a life our family. One who is disdained to worry for everyone else in the family. Surbhi is one such character in the book loving nicknamed as Chintamani. Though she doesn’t have much role in the book but it is great to watch out for her. I am sure to give her a good role in the sequence.

Dadu and Dida, Misry’s grandparents, Madhavi’s parents. Just like any other grandparents they also love to shower their love upon their grandchildren. There are some hilarious and touching moments in the book when Misry comes to visit them.  How life is so different in this sleepy town of Ashoknagar is definitely to look out for in the book.

About the Author:

Paromita Goswami is a writer and storyteller by passion and a rebel by choice. She says the world is full of stories and as a writer she loves to pen them down. Her work is not genre specific. From literary fiction to children book to upcoming paranormal thriller and women fiction, Paromita Goswami‘s books offer the variety of life to her readers. Grow Up Messy! is her second book. She debuted in 2015 with Shamsuddin’s Grave, a literary fiction. Besides writing, she is also the founder of reading club that enhances book reading habit in children. She lives in central India with her family.

Contact:

Facebook I Twitter I Goodreads I Blog 

Buy Link:

Amazon I Nook I Kobo

Book Review: 18 Via Teen by Shreyasi Rhittika Phukon

Title: 18 Via Teen

Author: Shreyasi Rhittika Phukon

Publisher: Dream House Publications

Review:

Shreyasi Rhittika Phukon has devotedly captured the nuances of life among teenagers in eighteen of her stories compiled under the title ‘18 via teen.’ Apprehension, dilemma, aspiration and hope are major themes. Few of the stories even talk of foundation for self-esteem and refusal to be defined by stigma. She has aptly avoided cute-speak, all the while conveying genuine feeling and the deeper complexity and contradictions of life as it is lived. Her observations approach a certain kind of profundity.

Starting each story with a meaningful quote is a time tested way of catching the reader’s attention. Phukon has done justice to this practice. The sentiment behind each story is quite similar: be yourself. In the writer’s own words, the stories she has penned down enumerate the various phases of a teen and the hopes, aspirations, apprehensions, ambiguity, insecurity, dilemma, restlessness and sensitiveness, associated with each phase. Each story vividly depicts the psychological aspects of a teenage girl/boy and how the intuition helps her/his to overcome the hurdles one after another, which in teen makes her/his matured. 

There are some minor hiccups though. The cover of the book does nothing to attract potential readers. Secondly, the editing could have been better. But I won’t hold these against the author as it is her debut. We learn from our mistakes. I’m sure she’ll do the same.

I’d like to end the review with a positive note. The readers will find some good motivation from the stories if they are willing to get out the sieve.

Author Bio:

Shreyasi Rhittika Phukon lives in Jorhat, Assam. She holds a bachelor’s degree. She has contributed her writings in few anthologies and magazines. Also initiated an anthology “A Phase Unknown Women- A Tribute” and the book has been awarded the “Best Anthology Award 2014”. She is also the winner of “Aagaman Tejasvani Samman 2014” by Sanmati Publishers and distributors. She also works as M.D. for an e-magazine named Novelist Magazine. Currently she is pursuing her Masters from Guwahati University.

Contact:

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Buy Link:

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

Book Review: My Dream Man by Aditi Bose

Title: My Dream Man

Author: Aditi Bose

Pages: 203

Price: 200.00 INR

Publisher: Authors' Ink Publications

Review

‘My Dream Man’ by Aditi Bose is a sweet, simple, easy and fast read. My first impression of this book— fun and quirky. I found it very tender and heartwarming. Reading it was like hearing one of my girlfriends talking about herself. Aditi describes everything so vibrantly that you can picture even the minutest detail in your mind! 

The story starts with the protagonist Ajopa Ganguly and her ranting. A struggling writer, she is reeling from the pains of her manuscript having been rejected by all publishers. She knows that making cupcakes and embroidering handkerchiefs is not her true calling. However, she is scared to write anymore and is losing focus. This is when Aniket Verma re-enters her life. He is a professor of economics who is well known in his circle. He's twelve years older to Ajopa. They had been good friends till a misunderstanding happened five years back. What happens when they meet again is what the story is all about. Read to explore the changing relationship between a professor and his student. 

The plot premise of this book isn’t its strong suit, but the story had me laughing and turning the pages. A bong trying to be a writer—it is something I could relate to being on the same boat and all. I don’t want to complain, but a little less straying/ranting would have done the story a little more justice. There aren’t many characters either, at least not fleshed out properly. Even between Ajopa and Aniket—the two protagonists—the narrative is the former heavy. I agree that the book is from her point of view, and yet there should have been more of the other characters too. Coming to the look of the book, I didn’t much like the cover. It is quite misleading in a sense. It hints at being an erotica which the book is not.

That being said, I do want to repeat myself that it is a good and light-hearted read that I enjoyed in spite of everything. Aditi has a flair for writing and her debut novel proves that. A chick lit through and through, I’m sure the book will find many readers.

About the author

A content writer and the author of an e-book for children, Aditi Bose is based in Delhi. She completed her MBA from the International Management Institute and is an alumna of Loreto House and St. Xaviers College. Hailing from a family of judges and lawyers, she is the first to pick up the pen. Stories her parents told her as a child and her passion for maintaining a personal diary and a travel journal inspired her to take up writing. You can join her by following her on Twitter (@aditi_bose) or liking her Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MyDreamManBook)

Social media links

Twitter- @aditi_bose

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/aditi.bose.716

Blog URL - http://kiddiestory365.com/

Book Links

Pustakmandi 

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

This Review is a part of the Blogger Outreach Program by Read Out Loud in association with b00k r3vi3w Tours

Book Review Silence and Sound by Namitha K

Title: Silence and Sound

Author: Namitha K

Pages: 65

Price: INR 199.00

Publisher: Partridge Publishing

 Review

The poetry collection, ‘Silence and Sound,’ by Namitha K contains twenty-four poems in which she represents various shades of a youthful mind. Hope, felicity, sorrow, concern and incertitude form the base for all of the poems, nostalgia being the underlying tone in most. There’s a kind of musical cadence in the poems in spite of being written in free verse. The use of simple words creates a light mood yet packs in a certain depth that cannot be overlooked.
A few of the poems stand out for their themes. ‘Just Another Girl’ (pg. 32) and ‘Being A Girl’ (pg. 34) are two such poems that leave us to ponder even after we’ve finished reading the book. The poet has spoken of her fears. But it is not just about herself that she’s talking, rather she’s the voice of every teenage girl who wishes to appear beautiful but is afraid to do so for fear of becoming the victim of unwanted attention. She speaks of the tragedy of being born a girl in this society, of growing up to be a woman whose dignity is not safe from the lechers who fester around us. It is a shame that young girls have to walk around with so much dread and uncertainty. It is a reason for grave concern but the poet is an optimist who believes in fighting for even a stranger thus portraying a not so ruthless world after all.
 The sentence, ‘There’s always a black sheep,’ (A Rebel, pg. 41) speaks of Namitha’s maturity in sensing a free spirit’s core nature. In very simple words she has been able to drive home an otherwise composite subject. In ‘Shadows That Haunt His Eyes,’ the pain of a boy over his sexual orientation culminates in a positive note where he’s no longer haunted by his demons. It hints at the change that the youths of our present time wish to bring about.
The poet has also spoken of the conflict between spiritual and material value in the modern world in a subtle yet strong voice when she plants saplings following the felling of her dear tree. The same concept resurfaces when she talks of ‘a dying tradition’ like the kindling of earthen lamps in temples.
Sandwiched amidst these serious issues are poems reflecting Namitha’s love for nature. Her heart bursts into a song with the smallest of things like the first rain or a bird soaring up high in the sky. A typical teen, we hear of her laments over friendships molded and ended; of her desire to fly high and of a caring heart that she nurtures within her.

Cons

There are a few noticeable mistakes in editing and proofreading. The use of emoticon in literature is undesirable and should be avoided.

Verdict

The book needs to be read ones if only to hear out the voice of the youths of today. To know what they think and aspire and to know the workings of the ignited minds. There is potential in the writer which needs an audience to develop further.

 About the author

Namitha, a student of architecture, doing her first year, grew up in different states of India. She loves dancing, debating, playing, painting, and writing poems. Her strength lies in focused concentration, adaptability and high spiritedness. She started scribbling verses at the age of eleven. For her, life is a canvas—one that is yet to be filled with all that life has in store. She won the Horlicks Wiz Kids award in 2013.

Book links:

1. www.scribd.com/book/248152675/Silence-and-Sound
2. http://www.amazon.com/Silence-Sound-Namitha-K/dp/1482840936
3. http://www.flipkart.com/search…
4. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/silence-and-sou…/1120806421…
5. http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/silence-and-sound

Connect with Namitha on Social Media

Namithak334@gmail.com

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