Honest rating: 2.5 stars
Himanshu Rai’s 'I am Always Here With You' is yet another story that uses the timeworn concept of undying love and tries to bring some iota of unseen emotion to it.
I am Always Here With You is the story of Kartik and Ashima, two people whose character sketches are barely distinguishable from each other. When Kartik moves to a new school in Delhi, his thoughts are like that of any other kid – how will I adjust? But on his first day, he makes Ashima’s acquaintance and is immediately besotted with her. As days pass, they begin to spend more and more time with each other and it is not long before they fall in love.
Kartik, being an only son, has a best friend in his father, who has high hopes that Kartik will study engineering, which the son wants to do, too. But when Ashima comes into Kartik’s life, his priorities change, much to the fury of his usually friendly and accommodating father. A rift begins to break them apart and even though, a few years later, Kartik and Ashima are happily married, this rift still hurts him to no end.
What happens when something happens that will break the family apart in ways that they never thought were possible? Will Kartik be able to repair these bonds or does fate have something else in mind for this family? This forms the rest of the story.
I have a couple of points that I did actually quite like about this book.
There are places where you actually feel the pain and the heartbreak that the characters are going through. So much that your brows knit up and you are on the brink of heartbreak. But then you just want the sadness to be over.
The concept of a love such as the one between Kartik and Ashima, I’ve seen in just one couple so far in my life. But it is such a compelling notion that it warms me up from the inside and simply makes me want to curl up and dwell on it for a long time.
And that’s it.
While the plot and the concept are bearable – good even – there are a lot of things about this narrative, about this story that could have been improved.
Language – I’m all for more people trying their hand at bringing out different stories to the masses. But when the language is merely okay, there isn’t much that it is doing to help forward the intention of the book.
Writing style – There is a childish quality to the writing style that prevents the story from being called a piece of literature. Even for a piece of emotional yet light reading, the style isn’t something that I am a fan of.
Descriptions – When a man describes a woman – and it is not just in this one – he usually tends to describe that “she is so beautiful, her lipstick was pretty, her nails were artfully done, her hair was combed et al”. This is a vague description of how a woman looks. Not what a woman is. Talk about her strengths. Talk about how she talks. Talk about how she makes you feel. Describing just her beauty is passé.
Plus, this book is written in first person and a couple of times, when there was a hug, it went something on the lines of “she threw her arms around my perfect physique.” No.
Spelling mistakes – There are so many spelling mistakes peppered throughout the book, I wonder – what was the editor doing?
Logic – In many places, this one important quality is missing. They might be calculation mistakes, but when you’re writing a book and putting it out for the people to read, you have to be very careful. For example:
Kartik was in his tenth class, and it was his first day at school.
Sanjeev and Rashmi are the same age as Kartik and Ashima – 24 years old. And yet, Sanjeev is an accomplished surgeon and Rashmi is a practicing gynecologist. Nope, nope, nope, nope. I’m not going into explanations here, unless they are coincidentally prodigies.
Contradictory sentences – I parked my car on the side and asked her to step out. I rushed to the other side to open the door. I took her hand and helped her to step out of the car.
Plenty of sentimental quotes – misplaced – I appreciate the effort of the author in trying to bring sentimental explanations everywhere. But the problem here is that inserting these quotes in the middle of a narrative do not make them great. Instead, they become pretty annoying.
Quite a few clichés – In addition to the undying love trope, even the one about bereaved better halves has been overdone in Indie literature as well as in Bollywood. This is another book that reinforces those stereotypes.
But despite having so many shortcomings, for me, those chunks of feel-worthy paragraphs made me like this book a little, elevating it from a 1.5 or 2 to a 2.5 star book.
If you’re looking for a moderately touching love story and don’t mind these above negatives (that are from my perspective), do give this one a try.
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ABOUT THE BOOK –TITLE – I AM ALWAYS HERE WITH YOUAUTHOR – HIMANSHU RAIGENRE – Romance FictionPUBLISHER – Srishti Publishers & DistributorsPUBLISHING DATE – 10 Jan 2019LANGUAGE – EnglishFORMAT – PaperbackNUMBER OF PAGES – 200ISBN 10 – 9387022528ISBN 13 – 978-9387022522COVER DESIGN – Hasnain WarisPRICE – 195 INRTITLEThe title is based on a promise. A promise which almost everyone in love has ever made. It obviously suits the storyline and is an attractive and intimidating one as well.COVERThe cover shows a beautiful scenario, with a girl and boy (supposedly a couple) seen riding on bicycles. A beautiful cover, portraying love and happiness, which goes well with the story and the title.STORYLINEIt is not merely a story, it is a journey, it is an emotional rollercoaster ride, which, in the end, will leave you thinking what love actually is. The protagonists, Kartik and Ashima are people you’ll feel connected to. Their relationship begins with friendship, and as a result of a series of incidents, they get married. Kartik, who had fallen in love with Ashima at the very first sight, considers her as his dream girl, an Angel. On the other hand, he is Ashima’s Teddy, her support and confidant, someone who she can rely on.As they put a step forward into their new phase of life, everything around seems joyful and happy. Life seems to be filled with love.Kartik has gone against everyone to be with Ashima, even his father. One day, he’s certain that his father will accept their relationship. Little does he know that things are going to undergo a drastic change.What makes Ashima marry someone else?And why is it such that Kartik, who had loved Ashima more than her life, accepts this marriage?And after all, why is this life so unpredictable?Read this unique story to find out the answers to all these questions.The story has deep love, something which has no bounds and can go to any extent.It has a relationship that can break all barriers.And most importantly, it has a promise, which every person in love makes, that I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE WITH YOU.LANGUAGE AND WRITING SKILLSSuch a well written book it is. The author reminds you of every single emotion that is embedded deep within your soul, be it love, care, friendship, pain or faith. The emotional rollercoaster that the author takes you on is a feeling worth experiencing for each and every reader out there.NARRATIONA well narrated story. The author’s mature style of narration is sure to leave you spellbound.PORTRAYAL OF CHARACTERSKartik, Ashima, and the characters of their parents have been portrayed very well. At every point, you’re sure to feel connected to one character or the other.RECOMMENDED FOR— Believers of love— People looking for an unique storyline— Admirers of emotional storiesSTRENGTHS— Unique plot— Title— CoverRATINGS — TITLE – 5/5 — COVER – 5/5 — STORYLINE – 5/5 — LANGUAGE – 5/5 — WRITING SKILLS – 5/5 — NARRATION – 5/5 — PORTRAYAL OF CHARACTERS – 5/5 — END – 5/5 — OVERALL RATING – 5/5
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