On A Journey Of Life- Book Review

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Book Title: On A Journey Of Life

Author: Kajal Rai & Nivedita Karmaran

Self-Published on Amazon Kindle Pub (Ebook format)

My Rating: *****


On A Journey Of Life offers you two (long) short stories by two authors namely, As The Miles Went By written by Kajal Rai & That Summer written by Nivedita Karmaran.

Both the stories in the book complement each other beautifully. The commonalities between the two separate stories are that each have a female protagonist who has embarked on a journey of self-discovery, by peeking into their individual pasts. In As The Miles Went By,  the protagonist Saanchi Avasthi reads her late mother's diary, and decides to go on a spontaneous road trip to the mountains of Uttarkashi, while in That Summer, a recluse yet free-spirited Rashi Anand is writing a letter to her dear old friend and revisiting her past, thus taking the readers along on the proverbial journey of her life. 

What I loved about the book was the young voice in each of the stories that took me back to my own teenage experiences. Both the characters  are so relatable and as I read I realised I had become an eager audience in these coming-of-age tales of Saanchi and Rashi. 

It was a veritable treat to  be reading the hearty conversations and banter between Saanchi and the handsome, dimpled, Arjun Singh- a math professor from Uttarkashi who lands up driving Saanchi to the town, the friendship that is sparked between the two, and the descriptions of the spectacular Himalayan ranges playing hide-and-seek behind the clouds surrounding it, as the two go on a trek. 

Whereas, Rashi is back at Bungalow No. 64, and is writing a letter to her dear friend Laltu, tripping back to the memory of that summer when she had formed an unexpected friendship with him, Lalit Mishra- the maintenance man of their gated society. It was really wonderful to read how the author was able to relate the entire story in the form of letter-writing, while still maintaining the voice, pace, and interest quotient all throughout.  

Would Saanchi go back to the abusive, restrictive life imposed upon her by the tyrannical widower father, or will she take a chance at living life on her terms? Did Rashi rebel to rescue the so-called forbidden friendship, and did their relationship stand the test of time?
Without giving out spoilers, I will say that it was a great journey of reading ahead to discover pragmatic endings to these bitter-sweet, and sometimes tear-jerker romance stories.
 
I wish both my friends-  Kajal and Nivedita, great success with their debut publishing 'On A Journey Of Life' 
Please do not miss the Book Cover Design which is my creative contribution to the project. 
I look forward to receiving feedback on the same. 

Submitting this Book Review as the 

Fiction-NonFiction Challenge 2021 #FNFReads2021 with @VinayLeoReads

for the category- A book by an author you have met in real life

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