Book Review: The Guardian Angels by Rohit Gore
9 years ago Shaili Desai 2
I finished reading The Guardian Angels by Rohit Gore last month, I do not quite know what I feel about this book, even after one week of having finished it. It’s like I can’t make up my mind about this one. However I shall try to put it all on paper (or cyber space).
The Guardian Angels by Rohit Gore is a story about Radha and Adi, who stumble on to each other during their childhood and share a special bond. The bond remains and strengthens, whatever be the circumstances as they advance in age.
The book seems at first to be a typical Bollywood story of a rich boy and a middle class girl. However, you have to give time to the story to let it develop. Even if you think it’s your typical story, it does keep you interested enough to continue reading. It makes for some good Metro reading but at the same time, the story and the characters are too ‘ideal’, the characters are too perfect, and don’t seem to have many flaws, making the story seem almost surreal. Not to forget the very cheesy yet profoundly tragic ending. But I have to say one thing, it feels that the author has pored everything inside to write this story. It is not a half-hearted attempt and certainly not something that you can shrug off as your regular Indian writer fare. Read if you are a sucker for romances that remain unfulfilled in theory but yet make you feel as if there could be nothing more complete than this love.
About the book: The Guardian Angels | Rohit Gore | Grapevine India | Fiction | 328 Pages
Note: A copy of this book was provided for review by Mr. Rohit Gore.
2 comments
Abhiroop Apr 10, 2014 at 5:31 pm
Thank you for the review, BAALM 🙂
You know what I’d really like from an Indian author? A robust crime thriller with seriously bad characters who make you gasp with (not so) guilty admiration and a rich, intricate plot that redeems no one, not even the good guys. And science fiction. Precious little desi science fiction around. And I’ve always read a book during my Metro commute. The same books I read at bedtime. I don’t know why a ‘metro read’ must automatically be lightweight. The Metro is a perfectly decent place to dive into a Dostoyevsky. Or a Nagraj comic book. Whatever one reads I mean. It needn’t have a separate class of books. You marketing people and your tricks. Grr.
PS I personally think Super Commando Dhruv is way cooler than Nagraj.
admin Apr 27, 2014 at 10:56 am
Metro used to be a decent place to dive into any book, now on your return home, after a hard day’s work in the sun and standing with your behind touching other behinds, a Dostoyevsky is the last book you wish. All you need is something to take you away from the hard reality of life. A Dostoyevsky (or any other book in that category) would only be a reminder of how shallow and empty all our lives are. A Honey Singh song would actually be more successful.
Sounds morose, but yes.
I wish today’s generation of Indian writers (or Engineers turned writers, to be more precise) would try to experiment and not just hope to appeal to that segment of the population who read not to appreciate the beauty of the written word and complex characters which a writer can create, but to just while their time. I wonder what happened to the art ? If this makes me a snob, then I am one.