Sumrit Shahi
has a way with words. I just wish it were a little less sexual. I actually have
a theory on why some Indian authors have a crude way of writing various scenes
but it’s big, so I’ll save it for another post. Till then, let’s see what Just Friends is about and how it scores
on Unhealthy Obsessions.
Let’s start
with the positive points in this book. Sumrit has an amazing imagination and
like I said has a way with words. I like his vocabulary too. It’s helped me expand my own vocabulary and
that’s saying something. He has captured every aspect of teenage life in Just Friends and I find it very
realistic. The way he tells the story of the two protagonists is fantastic.
Also, I like the way he weaves the two stories together and makes it one.
However, on
the down side, I find this book full of sexual innuendos. I wish he’d written
it in a little more decent way but then I guess we wouldn’t have a book since
out of the 248 pages, about 200 of them are crap. Sigh! I find it a big turn off
when people sell a romance book which is more like porn.
The storyline:
The first
story is about how a boy (Aryan) and a girl (Ishita) fall in love and how the boy’s
best friend (Boza), who is a girl, falls in love with him. Ishita, after
spending a day with Aryan, who, had unintentionally got them suspended form the
MUN (Mock UN), decides that she can’t be in love with him because her parents,
who were high school sweeties, were divorced and she didn’t want that happening
to he. Plus, she lived in Singapore.
Aryan goes
all depressed and detached, ignoring his friends and everyone just so that he could
go to Singapore on a student exchange and meet her. In the meantime, Boza and Aryan
almost kiss before they have a fight with lots of slapping and this is where
Boza calls Aryan names on the lines of branding him as a womanizer. However,
Boza still cares for Aryan and helps him out wherever she can but he never
reciprocates. He finally manages to go to Singapore but realizes that he doesn’t
love Ishita and that he loves Boza. So, even though his dream of going to Singapore
had come true, he doesn’t meet Ishita. He just sits there, waiting for the trip
to get over so that he can see Boza, who’s admitted in the ICU.
The second story,
is about Tanie, Sumer and their respective partners – Rehaan and Liaka. Tanie
loves Rehaan with all her might and does everything for him. Sumer’s long
distance relationship with Liaka is taking a toll on him. He and Tanie are best
friends. Like literally! They didn’t have that instant connection and no one
would even expect them to have because the first time they meet, though
technically it’s not a meeting, he picks up her up. The second time, he’s
listening to loud music and dancing in his boxers when Tanie barges in on him. Embarrassing!
Anyways,
they finally connect, spend all their time together and have fun, talking and
laughing about stuff only teenagers can think about. Then comes the fateful day
when Sumer finds out that Tanie’s boyfriend is cheating on her. Tanie doesn’t
believe him, they fight and a few days later Taine finds out that Sumer was
right. She goes to him sobbing and he consoles her. They kiss and Tanie, who still
hasn’t gotten over Rehaan, runs away.
How are these two stories connected?
The two
stories are connected by the MUN, A book and a delayed flight. Tanie and Aryan meet
at the airport in Singapore, where Aryan had come for the student exchange and
Tanie for the MUN. They share their stories and it is then that Tanie realizes
that she likes Sumer.
All in all I think
the book could be made a little less fancy, or rather the words can be made a little
less fancy. It becomes painful when you have to try and guess the meaning of
the words. If Sumrit (the author) would refine his writing and make it more
meaningful than just sexual innuendos, he can go to a bigger publisher like
Penguin, Harper Collins etc.
All in all I would
rate this book
♥♥1/2 / ♥♥♥♥
Cheers!
Serena
Disclaimer: All
views in this post are based on my personal views. No offense was meant to
anyone.
