An Affair To Remember! By Harkeerat Anand.

• Book: An Affair To Remember! 
• Author: Harkeerat Anand.
• Publication House: Srishti Publishers.
• Category: Fiction
• Rating: 2.5/5.

 

Story-in-Short:

Filled with cheesy motivational posters, computer workstations crammed side by side, dumb bosses/ blondes and bored employees looking for a career change - ABCDEF Corp., a software giant, rankles with a sameness of a suffocating software giant's existence. Until one man and his best friend take things into their hands. What follows is a series of misadventures, flushing both men down apink-caked urinal of self-destruction. Set in a city that once was, in an IT giant that once was, the two men journey through a cobweb of friendship,ambition, embezzlement, crime, and most importantly, love.Will they survive ABCDEF Corp.? More so, will ABCDEF Corp. survivethem? Peppy, wild and bitterly sarcastic, An Affair to Remember! is a modern-day retelling of a decades-old classic.

In my view:

Debut author Harkeerat Anand has come out with a perky tale of an affair to remember. And before I proceed ahead, let me tell you that, this isn’t any romantic anecdote but an enigmatic tale with a cloudy plot. 

The story is about the protagonist who gets jaded of his ordinary job at a software company. He gets exasperated on seeing his juniors achieving top posts and designations, with high salary and lifestyle, while he continues to remain on the same post since some years. Nevertheless, he finds a solution to deal with this and along with another person (his friend) he leaves the company. But how does he manage his life after that? And what does he do to shape his life the way he wants? This is what you need to find from the book. 

The book gets readers a tale with the touch of mystery and humour. It’s an intelligently framed story which often changes its path of intelligence and gets down to monotony. The story highlights professional jealously and reactions of people to those situations that they generally detest. 

The cover page of the story is good but it could have been better. Speaking about the title, I think the author should have come up with an interesting title. The blurb increases the level of excitement which the story fails to satisfy. I thought it would be a thrilling tale but it just went on and on casually, leaving me disappointed in the end. The plot and the story lack that calibre to attract readers and keep them hooked.

The humour that the author has instilled, tries its best to charm readers, which is worth appreciable. While the story lacks a good start, humour plays wonders and reduces the level of tedium. But how longer can one factor work? The story at times becomes extremely stodgy and ends predictably.

The author should have focused on the plot. She should not have allotted only humour to charm readers. One factor cannot help readers to proceed for a longer time. Agreed she has a good writing style, but a 'strong story' was a necessity. The plot could have been really good and the story highlighted potentials in between, but the author hasn't worked upon it properly.

I think the author needs to contemplate on the whole story. But for the moment, I am appreciating the efforts of the author to write down the story. Writing is not everybody’s cup of tea and it takes a lot to frame down a book. I am sure that her next work will be impressive enough. 

Considering everything, I would rate the book with 2.5/5. I hope she contemplates on these aspects, works on them and comes up with an interesting work in future. By best wishes for the author! 

NOTE: A review copy of the book was provided by the author.

• An Affair To Remember is available in leading bookstores. 
• You can also avail a copy online via: Amazon,  Flipkart, Infibeam, Rediff Books, Crossword.