#58 : When Shall We Meet Again? by Abhimanyu Rajarajan : A Review

                                               

BOOK TITLE: When Shall We Meet Again?

ISBN: 9789383271962

AUTHOR:  Abhimanyu Rajarajan

GENRE: Fiction - Romance

NUMBER OF PAGES:270

FORMAT: Digital

SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone

REVIEW BY: ShreeJanani

HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: The writer sent us a review copy. We thank him for it.

SUMMARY :

 What happens ?...when a software billionaire finds his company’s attrition rate scaling new heights? …when a programming de-bugger meets his ‘break-up” girl after 5 years? …When a revered Swamiji is asked to become a corporate trainer of an IT company?... when a cheerful flirt proposes to a girl who is yet to recover from a relationship shattered by infidelity?... when a college couple gets into a tent in an inebriated state during picnic? when a software Team leader is physically assaulted by her lover in front of her colleagues? …when a drunkard father meets his estranged daughters after a decade? … …when a pervert manager cajoles a new recruit to his private cottage? …when a doting couple’s aborted child enters the body of a Sadhu? … when a lonely girl is lying in bed fully intoxicated and at the mercy of a famished lecher? What happens?..... Passion, Love, Philosophy, Perversion, Thrill, Drama and Wit …..”When shall we meet again?” has a bit of everything….A IT industry romance thriller with lots of life's philosophy thrown in...

REVIEW:

Romance yet again! Given that my take on romance changed after reading plenty of beautiful books, I decided to go ahead and read this book. Thankfully, I don’t regret my decision at all.

I have a soft spot for writers from my city. After all there are not many of that lot. This particular writer obviously is a hardcore Chennaite and has portrayed the beauty of the city – The lush Anna University campus and the beautiful foliage of Theosophical society.

Moving on to the important part – The story line. The summary was a bit misleading. I was expecting “a miracle worker” swamiji who would “use his powers to cure people”. Alas! there came this super cool practical and logical swamiji. Initially the characters were a bit confusing. But as the story progressed, things cleared up.

The writer has done a commendable job in handling multiple story lines belonging to each character. The shift of times lines were also smooth and easy to follow. But more than the story line, the emotions were over powering. There was a practical connect thanks to realistic and heavy emotions – love, hurt, anger, sorrow, disappointment, helplessness and joy.

One character that is worth the mention is sawmiji. The concept of brining in a swamiji into a romance genre of sorts may sound rather absurd. But the writer made a brilliant decision to do that in the form of a corporate trainer. After all, swamijis handling corporate aren’t unheard.

It’s again obvious that the writer has some insight about the functioning of IT companies, their organisational culture  and the usual “corporate training programs”.

My only complaint – the editing could have been a wee bit better.

Overall, the book was neat, logical and practical.

VERDICT: Go ahead pick it up. It might even change your perspective of life and love.

RATING: 4 on 5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Born in a small village near the temple town Kumbakonam, Abhimanyu Rajarajan carries with him the traditional mythological traces passed on by centuries of customs. Doted as an only son, he adores togetherness. As his family shifted to Chennai, Abhimanyu had his schooling there. The metropolitan city had its own urban flavour and the unique speed and thrill of Chennai has had a cascading influence on him. Always a seeker of truth and knowledge beyond the mask of apparent life, Abhimanyu has not let his Engineering and Management degrees come in the way of understanding what true life is all about. His characters seem to come out of his books in search of this truth. His debut novel “When Shall We Meet Again” , published in November 2013, is a romance thriller with philosophical interludes, and has won admiring reviews and is already an Amazon bestseller as ebook. Abhimanyu works for a public sector Fortune 500 Company, and thanks to his job, he has travelled extensively and has met too many weird people to deliver a range of characters in his books. He is married and has two adoring daughters. He can be contacted at rajarajanabhimanyu@gmail.com

EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Kindle & Paperback

PRICE: Rs.99

BOOK LINKS: http://www.amazon.in/When-Shall-We-Meet-Again/dp/9383271965/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392561024&sr=1-1&keywords=9789383271962

Note : This review was first posted in Readers' Muse