Forever is a Lie by Novoneel Chakraborty | Book Review

Novoneel Chakraborty is a successful writer with a fair few bestsellers to his name. Most of his books are classed as dark, romantic thrillers with twists and turns and readers enjoy these books a lot.

We have been reading some of his earlier books including the stranger trilogy and will be publishing a review of it soon. Meanwhile, I read “Forever Is a Lie” on behalf of Team Thinkerviews and here are our thoughts on it.

Let us take a look at the cover page of the book.

Book Cover:

Here it is…

Published in 2017 by Penguin Random House India, the front coverpage of the book shows a half face of an unhappy, young woman, while the back-cover page features silhouette of a man looking over a metropolis. The colour scheme does a good job of creating a haunting atmosphere and will draw some new readers in addition to the fans for whom the author’s name is enough.

Storyline:

Eighteen year old Prisha Srivastav is dealing with a lot – she has left her home in Faridabad to study in Bangalore, left her friends behind and is yet to make any new ones, and is recovering from a heartbreak.

Soon enough, the hero (I mean the protagonist 🙂 ) enters the scene. Saveer is a 34 year old man with a murky past and a heartbreak of his own. As a result of which he knows that Forever is a Lie. Prisha bumps into him a few times and falls for him. However, Saveer has no interest in her.

Prisha makes friends in form of Gauri and Diggy, and all three of them join Saveer’s NGO for an internship. Saveer’s indifference towards Prisha turns into interest, friendship and eventually Love.

But there is someone who cannot allow Saveer and Prisha to have a “Happy Ever After” ending…

This is the first book by Novoneel Chakraborty that I have read (though my fellow editor has read and reviewed a short EBook named Red Suits You earlier), and I can see the appeal of a fast-paced, snappy, dark tale featuring contemporary youth and their daily dilemmas. The book talks about the concept of the burden of forever on a relationship, the idea of complete love, the hopelessness of believing in a relationship based on lies and human tendency to be in love with the idea of love rather than a person.

The main duo is appealing enough – Prisha with her innocence and wonder for the adult world and Saveer with his world-weariness make a predictable pair. The supporting cast of Zinnia, Diggy and Gauri make Prisha’s friend-circle and rest come and go as required. Of course, there is the mystery woman who’ll come to light in the second installment of the series and we’ll find out whether she is behind the darkness in Saveer’s life.

Although the book is set in Bengaluru and has Indian feel, I could not help but draw parallels to the tremendously successful Twilight saga – the teenage heroine, the “monster” protagonist, the impossible love connection, the hidden vulnerability on both sides… Of course, the drama is yet to unfold in the second book, so we’ll see if the parallel end here 🙂

As the story features characters bracing reality of relationships and discovering the dark side of love and obsession, the book features a good number of observations and quotes regarding love and life, so let’s share a few:

When your world collapses, it also brings down the beliefs you have grown up on. You stop trusting in truths altogether. Some call it the loss of innocence. It is then that you start giving in to the collective lies that makes everyone sorted adults.
— — —
When the person you have been with turn out to be wrong then do the realizations the person made you stumble upon stand as wrong too? What do you do when the picture is fake but the colours in it are genuine?

Do all relationships come with an in-built “self-destruct” feature that activates with loss of communication?

How we try to keep things to ourselves, fearing an adverse effect on our relationships, knowing well that keeping things to ourselves would not have a desirable effect either.

And after all, love stories are about building bridges, trying again and most importantly, believing in future:

Hope is what makes one refuse to give up on a journey. Without hope, it would just be an unending loop.

There are a few grammatical errors and misprints in the hard copy, but all in all, it is quite a swift read and will keep you interested and entertained enough for a few hours.

The book is strictly aimed for adults, so please keep out of reach of your children.

As mentioned above, there is going to be a second book to complete the series, so let’s wait and watch what happens next…

Summary:

An adult crime thriller which will appeal mainly to youngsters who like reading the same genre.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy Book From Amazon India – Paperback
• Buy Book From Amazon India – Kindle EBook
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Kindle Ebook
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Kindle Ebook

Over To You:

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