Half girlfriend - RK's review

 

Why did I pick 'Half girlfriend?'

You might know that I have a growing passion for writing. 

'Oh! you didn't know? Ok. So now you should be knowing.' 😀

I started writing a story based on Marathon all of a sudden for a specific reason, later I realized I had some interest in doing it and so continued writing more short stories.

Over the days, I had realized I need to read more to write better. Since then, I started to read books focussing to understand the style of writing, usage of verbs and tense, and characterization. 

I read three books from the author 'Arvind Narsima,' an author from Pondicherry, namely 'Arya - The new beginning,' 'The Aravan head' and 'The Chosen One.' Also, I am reading a self-help book 'The 5 AM Club' by Robin Sharma.

During this pandemic, I moved away from reading and I almost lost the habit of reading. After several months, only in April 2021, I resumed reading with the book 'Vaadivaasal' and 'The 5 AM Club.'

I read only 5 pages of the book 'The 5 AM Club' daily just to keep me motivated and continued to read 'Vaadivaasal.' Once I completed reading 'Vaadivaasal,' I ordered two books which I had wanted to read long back. They are 'Neha: Yet another love story' and 'Life in the sunshine.' 😕😏

I could hear a few of you thinking, 'What books are these?' They are from new writers. One from the husband of one of my friends and the other from a friend of my colleague. Being an aspiring writer, I am more excited about reading the works of new writers whom I know.

Please do let me know if you have written something. 😊

The books will be delivered only on May 9th. So I wanted to read something till I get the books. I had the following books at my home to read.

'Ponniyin Selvan - Part 1'

'The Monk who sold his Ferrari'

'Kuttrapparambarai'

'Half girlfriend'

I wanted to read something light as I just finished reading 'Vaadivaasal.' I did not find interest in the first three books for the mood I was in. I was a little hesitant about Chetan Bhagat's book. Earlier, I had read his books 'Five point someone,' 'Three mistakes of my life' and '2 states.' But I was not comfortable starting the book 'Half girlfriend' as I had seen many reviewers thrashing Chetan Bhagat for his writing over the last few years.

After a while, after gaining courage, I somehow started reading 'Half girlfriend'. 

'Did I like it?'

The contents on the back cover of the book were Ok. The Prologue was good. Slowly progressed chapter by chapter without any guilt for reading this book. All of a sudden, I felt disconnected when Madhav looks for kisses or hugs or sex from Riya saying he loves her madly. I could not accept such love always looking for a kiss or hug whenever they are in private. 

Maybe if I had loved someone and been in private with them, I might have easily connected to these romances. Laughs.😜

That was the point that kept me in check whether to continue reading or not. I paused my reading. 

'Should I continue?' 😕

I tapped my chest gently, saying 'All is well' and continued reading believing these romances will pass on soon. 

When I completed 75 pages, I was sick of Madhav for his desire to make love with Riya before loving her sincerely because I was only used to the love where boys take more time to at least touch a girl, impress her slowly, create trust in her, get her approval, and then only will be allowed to kiss. But Madhav kisses directly in lips and wanted to make love all of a sudden. I was worried that this sort of romance will happen every three to four pages. So, I closed the book. I regretted starting this book. I was upset. 😞

20 minutes passed. I looked at the book and picked it up. I skimmed through the next unread pages and found lines saying, 'Madhav and Riya broke up.' It had everything to cheer me up and gave me hope to continue reading. The plot deviated from love and the flow of the story was steady. While reading I was praying that Riya should not jump into any of the chapters. 🙏

Madhav went to Bihar. Gates foundation team will be visiting his school in few weeks. He had to prepare his speech.

All of a sudden Riya brought back into the story. But now, I was thinking 'How is she back from her married life?' and I did not hate her re-entry into the story. Sooner, I realized I could not stop reading and I wanted to know what will happen next. I was tied to the story except when Madhav romances with Riya. 

While reading, I became curious after reading the journals from Riya. It was the high point of the story and unexpected. At least, I did not expect it. From then, I was glued to the story. I decided to read till the end in one shot and did that easily.

Though the ending was like things that will only happen in movies, being a hard-core fan of such movies, I liked it and in fact, I wished for such an ending while reading. Most of the time, we, readers wanted to be happy at the end. I also felt that I should watch the movie based on this book to see how they have adapted it.

Overall, though there are a few boring chapters, the storyline was good. It did not deserve the hesitation I had before reading it.

Hope this write-up too did not deserve the hesitation you had before reading it. 

'No? you say it deserves?'

'All is well!'

Explore RK's writings:

3 books written by RK - "மாலை மாற்று", "22 Gifts" and "The 41-minute Journey"

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