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For the love of life
Reviewed by Aditi Garg
Manan
by Mohit Parikh
Harper.
Pages 198. Rs 199
 Growing
pains of an adolescent boy is the subject of Mohit Parikh's Manan.
For a boy who harbours an inferiority complex for being short, the
onset of puberty is like the trump card that will set his game right.
Jubilant as the first signs greet him, he awaits with unabated breath
the signs of growing up, changing voice and all other things that come
with puberty. Mohit Parikh has been published in Identity Theory,
Out of Print Magazine, Burrow Press Review and The Bombay
Literary Magazine, among others and Manan is his first book. The
book paints a vivid picture of the average Indian home, with the
dynamics of husband-wife relationship, sibling chemistry and the toll
that the very suggestion of a love marriage can take, pitched against
a backdrop of a boy's wait at the precipice of manhood. From the inane
jokes that Manan, the protagonist, shares with his friends, to his
imagination that runs riot, there is a lot to keep you very engrossed.
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The Second Breath I Took
by Gitanshu Garg.
Rumour Books.
Pages 158. Rs 150
 College
is a place where friendships are born and love blooms. While love may
or may not endure, friendships last. Gitanshu Garg's first novel,
The Second Breath I Took, follows the college life of Armaan. His
life revolves around his two friends who are as different as chalk and
cheese, with one forever chasing women, the other desperately trying
to win university elections. He, on the other hand, is completely
smitten by Zoya, the only daughter of a tycoon, always followed by two
burly sisters to keep any romantic pursuits at bay.
To test him to the core,
when all else seems to crumble down, he is faced with a difficult
choice of standing beside a friend in need or deserting him in the
light of evidence against him. Garg uses a shifting-narrative
technique that shuttles between past and present. Interspersed with
poems, the book is makes for a good read.
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Play With Me
by Ananth.
Penguin.
Pages 246. Rs 250
 When
Sid, a popular photographer and partner in a successful ad agency,
stumbles upon the idea of a picture-perfect life, his notions of love
are jolted. From a staid, work-centred life, he finds himself in a
different world altogether. Gorgeous Cara debuts as a newcomer in his
office to work specially with him. He is torn between a super-charged
life with her and another woman in his life, Natasha. For a debut
novel, Ananth has done a good job of depicting passion at its
strongest, while one keeps waiting for mystery about Cara to solve. In
comparison, Natasha is much better fleshed-out character. A racy read,
it rightfully claims on the back cover that it is an entertainment
device that needs no batteries.
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