By Prakash Shekle and Deovart Verma. Grade C.
A few chapters into the book, and I went: “Oh God, not again!” Several new and young writers have impressed me with their fresh story-telling skills, even though they lingered around the age – old tried and tested formula of love found and love lost. I badly wished Prakash Shelke and Deovart Verma would fall in this category and churn out more promising ventures for the future.
And I was deceived. Painfully. Badly.
She Was My Girlfriend
Did you ever drink the ‘magical’ cappuccino that makes a girl kiss you?
Did you ever drive back 1000-Kms just because your girlfriend was ‘missing’ you?
Can you see and tell, if the couple in the front of you ‘kissed’ two minutes ago or not?
Ever been stuck in a so called ‘Love-Triangle’?
Is there any mistake you did, that still haunts you?
Is ‘break-up’ more painful or the patch-up? If in case it follows.
Do you have the guts to save a girl from getting ‘Raped’?
What happens when your ‘Girlfriend’ meets your ‘Ex’?
There is a guy, who actually did face all these things!
He is a big time lover-boy, a great friend, a creative genius, an emotional fool.
And a Dreamer!
He is Dev.
She was my Girlfriend! Or… I thought so!!’, is his story that narrates everything from his early high school ‘serious’ crushes to his college life’s ‘true’ love!
Still its’ not just a love story, it has something more in it!
“She was my Girlfriend! Or … I Thought So!!” revolves around Dev, highlighting him as a lover-boy who intentionally, or unintentionally, manages to charm every pretty girl that he comes across. There is his girlfriend Tanvi, followed by the girl he saved, Anshika, and finally Nivedita, who he believes to be the love of his life. How Dev juggles around with this abundance of love is what forms the crux of this story. Sadly, this is where the story starts, and ends.
As I try to focus on the plot, turning each page, gradually and slowly, Dev moves in and out of love randomly at his own whim. Sometimes, his decisions are pretty inexplicable, and you fail to understand the logic behind his actions. This is one major drawback of this story. The events are so erratic, and sometimes unnecessary, that you wish the authors should have kept something for their future stories. Too many cooks (events) did spoil the broth (book).
I understand that writing in simple and easy language is the current trend, and is preferred by many, but excuse me, there is something called grammar. You can’t just omit punctuation marks and play with the tenses when you are publishing a novel. This implies a certain degree of carelessness by the authors, but what were the editors doing?
However, one positive that I could derive from this book was that it manages to create the desire to know what would eventually happen in the end, and due to this reason I kept on turning the pages. I just had to know which ‘lucky’ girl would get Dev. Know I did, encountering an unexpected twist that suddenly cropped up from nowhere. An interesting denouement always serves a book well, but was it impactful enough? To be honest, the twist was expressed in a very straight forward manner, hardly making me sit up and re-read the lines.
The book could have turned a lot better if it was polished and refined properly. My first impression after reading this novel was that it was written and published in a hurry. Now, writing a book is no easy task, and full respect to the authors who have come out with this story. It’s easy to criticize and point out the negatives. However, when you are writing something for the world to buy and read, why not try and make it perfect? If you have a story, half the battle is won. But what matters most is the other half, where your story is expressed in words.
Young writers are the future and I would certainly like to read more stories from Prakash and Deovart. I just wish they pay a bit more attention to their books in future. Few little changes can make a big difference. My best wishes.