Book Review #67 Socha Bhi Na Tha : Sriman Narayanan

This book was sent by the author in exchange of an honest and unbiased review.

Blurb:

It’s heart-breaking, finding the right person at the wrong time.
And worse? Meeting the wrong person when the time is right.
Aditi Narang is an obvious beauty. With her charming personality and magical aura, she steals hearts without much ado. When she professes her love to Shyam, he says ‘No’. 
Padma Lakshmi is an average girl, who goes about her life like a routine. There is nothing distinctly remarkable about her, which repels Shyam. But when proposed to marry her, he says ‘Yes’.
Shyam appears quite sorted, well-settled and practical in the way he goes about life, and is the eligible bachelor that any girl would be lucky to marry. 
In a fierce battle between his mind and heart, tossing insecurities and juggling fears, Shyam wrongs both the women. But why would he do that? 
Socha Bhi Na Tha is a fast-paced, gripping story of love in various hues, extraordinary circumstances, thrilling emotions, and unheard of drama. It leaves us wondering, was it his sanity that prevailed, or his insanity that triumphed?

My take:

Shyam is a well written character, as only his side of story is shared by the author. Lots of information about female rights, divorce , martial abuse for men and their rights, sections of IPC weaved without being preachy. But I thought the book was half baked as a lot of things are not clear like why he hated Padma? Being a patron gist I still fail to understand why he decided what he decided.Agreed its his point of view but still it doesn't sound convincing.

Shyam was always confused about what he want and in his confusion he chose Padma and left her without any proper reason. He had just shut his mind and didn't wish to see her point of view. He wanted a beauty with brain kind of  girl and if he was clear he shouldn't have succumbed to getting married and leaving her in lurch.It somehow did't sound convincing that he married under pressure, in spite of being sure that she does not fit to his idea of an ideal partner. Likewise the author never threw a light on why Aditi distanced herself  from him and never reciprocated. I felt this is way one sided as none of the female leads had their say. They had a raw deal.
Everything was his decision and others just moved around that. The story could have been written better with importance to other characters too. It takes time to grow on you as till half way it keeps shuttling between the characters and its only much later you understand what and who it is about. The narration is good, language easy to understand.
At the end of the book, we end up feeling bad for Aditi and Padma , maybe that's what the author meant by Socha Bhi Na Tha. Maybe life is after all, not always about being fair and right.

My Rating:


I would rate this book 3.5/5 as it left me unsatisfied as if there is more to say and the questions remained unanswered till the end.

You can buy the book here.