Beyond School by Chitra Anand.

• Book: Beyond School.
• Author: Chitra Anand.
• Publication House: Leadstart Publications.
• Category: Fiction.
• Rating: 4/5

Story-in-Short: 

Beyond School centres upon the weeks leading up to 17-year-old Shail’s final board exams, as his world becomes a pressure-cooker and the weight of preparing for the exams sends him fleeing rebelliously in the other direction. Along with Shail’s journey from boyhood to manhood, Beyond School vividly weaves between the narratives of four main characters, seamlessly uniting the past and present of Shail, his parents-Urmila and Sushil and his mentor-Gladys, in a story that is honest, funny, heartbreaking and ultimately, incredibly human.

In my view:

Studies… Studies… Studies… This is what parents keep nagging their students with. At school, kids generally attend their lectures but then self-study is also essential. The phase of board exams is completely crucial. While passing through this stage of life, students experience their parents' constant urge to focus on studies, teachers giving lectures on board exams and its importance, intentional inquires by neighbour's and relatives, etc. I remember my SSC days and can easily recount the pressure that was existing over at that time. 

But as every coin has two sides, even this parental pressure has positive effects. Often students attention tend to distract and divert. And at such times this pressure helps them to maintain their focus. I have finished reading Beyond School by Chitra Anand. 

This story is about a standard twelfth student Shail from a school in Muscat. Standard twelve brings with it another crucial board exam. Shail spends his time doing everything else that he likes and his parents find it hard to make him realize about the importance of studying for the approaching exams. He sleeps cozily, plays his favorite sport, enjoys with his friends, talks to his girlfriend, etc. On a one hand, Shail has something different in his mind and on another hand his parents get worried for his attitude towards exams. 

As concerned parents, they approach Gladys a counsellor. Suggestions of Glady's and some other instances of Roha and Shail’s parent’s anxiety, have been narrated by the author in a touching manner. Not just this but a lot other things, which are important for parents and grownups to imbibe, have been presented by the author through this book. 

Over-all: The cover of the book shows a study table with books on it and a football has been featured. This gives an idea about the story and its genre. The cover is creative and suitable for this particular novel. The title too is perfect! The narration of the story is good and gripping. The story is enjoyable and readers will surely find it mesmerizing. The central part of the story could have been a bit more interesting as it tends to dodge a reader’s attention. Otherwise, the book has a good story and I am surely recommending it to students as well as their parents! 

Keeping everything into account, I would rate the book with 4/5. Congratulations to the author for her debut novel and hope she comes up with stories as interesting as this! 

NOTE: A review copy of the book was provided by The Readers Cosmos. The above review is a part of The Readers Cosmos book review program. To get free books log onto The Reader's Cosmos. 

• The book is available in leading bookstores. 
• You can also get it online: Infibeam, Landmark, Uread, Amazon.in, Crossword, Flipkart.