Review of Broken Jars, A Fistful Of Dreams

Book Cover Source: Goodreads

Hello Readers...

Often times we look at the societal problems from one side and often ignore the other side of the coin. The book which we are reviewing today does exactly that. Broken Jars: A Fistful Of Dreams is a book written by five authors and highlight the problems which are prevailing in the society. Before beginning with the review, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dolly Koshy for sending the book for the review via goodreads.

So lets start with the review and quickly take a look at the synopsis of the book.

"

Dr. Meghna Goel is a renowned Psychiatrist with an unblemished track record of helping the troubled get back on to their feet. Up until now. This year she is about to face her biggest challenge in the form of seven individuals on the brink of self-destruction or worse.

Razia, a single mother hides a traumatic past. Ahmed is in prison for a heinous crime he has no regrets about. Jivan is burdened under the weight of the dual life he is forced to live. Satyananda, a self-styled Godman believes in justice, swift and cruel. Deepika seeks solace in drugs and sex. Shubham harbors thoughts of revenge and resentment towards a part of society he believes shouldn't exist. Sulochana withers away in silence carrying within  her a terrible secret.

Broken jars, a Fistful of Dreams is a coming together of five authors who weave parallel tale of love, betrayal, injustice and revenge. Issues that plague society are showcased with their inimitable style. The book also takes you on a journey around the metropolitan city Bangalore where the characters currently live and eight places in India where they were born and brought up.

Note: Best enjoyed with a cup of coffee or tea and an open mind.

"

When we grow up, we are often exposed to the bright and better sight of the society. We start having preconceived notions about the society in general and the way in which the society behaves. Anything which doesn't fit into our preconceived notions, we start feeling a sense of awkward demeanor towards that. We start stereotyping things and society in general. This book aims at demolishing these stereotypes and our preconceived notions bringing out the a very different aspect of the human nature in the limelight.

A very interesting about the book is that it is being written by five authors authors in an interesting fashion. The five authors are Amal Charles, Dolly Koshy, Merina Diana Moris, Pinaki Gosh and Shelley Das. All these authors are debut authors and all how done really well in conceptualizing and contemplating the entire story of the book. However, I did feel there was downside to this aspect as well.

The authors have portrayed and narrated the journey of seven people and their stories. For me frankly, it was very difficult to keep up with the details of each and every individual and this kind of wane my interest in the book slightly. I seriously wished that if the authors could have reduced the number of characters in the book it would have been a lot easier for the readers to stay with each and every characters story with confusion.

Also, the transitioning between the characters and there story was not that great as well. Don't get me wrong, the transitioning was not bad but it was also not interesting as well.The transitioning between the characters and their stories could have helped the readers by making it easy for the readers to keep up with the stories of the characters.

However, I must say that the narration and the writing of each of the authors was really nice and considering the fact that all these authors are debutante, they did an amazing job in this aspect.

The USP of the book is undoubtedly the theme of the book. This book touches very sensitive issues which are still prevailing in the society and we kind of keep a deaf year to them. All these sensitive issues are being smartly essayed and portrayed by each and every author of this book. Kudos to all the authors of the book for portrayed such content in such a smart way. To understand the gravity of the issues, it is very much essential that you read this book in a calm environment and have an open mind. So, if you are a person who easily gets offended when their believes are challenged, then this book is not for you.

That was all related to the content of the book. However, I wasn't much impressed with the aesthetic of the book. The book was written in very small font and I felt like I was straining my eyes in order to read the content of the book. The possible reason for this could be to condense the book in a smaller form factor. If written in a proper font, the book could easily be some 500-600 pages long, but right now that much long content is crushed into 280 pages long. Also, I felt that the verses which were written at the start of each and every chapter were misleading. I wished the author could have paid a little more attention to all these aspect which could have made reading this book a much more pleasurable experience.

So to sum up, this book has really interesting and have good content but it lack in some aspect. It was an OK sort of a book for me and surely a one time read. However, I do appreciate the effort and intention of each and every author of this book and approaching the societal problems in such a sensible way. So in case if you want to have a look at book for yourself, here are links to the Amazon from where you can get the copy of the book.

Amazon India: Broken Jars, A Fistful Of Dreams

So, that's it from today. If you have like the review, do hit the like button and share the review among your reading friends. If there are any suggestions for me to improve, do let me know in the comments section, I will really appreciate and in case you haven't SUBSCRIBE to the blog yet, then do SUBSCRIBE to get all the new content right into your mail box.

So until next time, this is me SUSHANT signing off. You guys have a great day.

CIAO.

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School Monitor - Alex Dunn Review

(Book Cover Source: Goodreads)

Hello Readers...

Today on the eve of Indie Author Day...I have a book written by an Indie Author "Alex Dunn". I would like to express my gratitude to Alex Dunn for providing a copy of this book for review. In case you haven't check her earlier book Crazy For Alice, check out the book here:

Review of Crazy For Alice by The Empty Pages

Here is a brief synopsis of the book before beginning with the actual review:

"Richard refuses to believe his socially awkward twin Chrissie has an unhealthy obsession with him. He's too busy making films and having fun with his best friends, but when the twins are sent to St.Bart's, the boarding school from Hell, Richard finds himself trapped in a real life psychological horror when he's framed for stealing, and on a mission to clear his name, discovers he's not the only actor in his family."

The thing what I like about this book the most is the concept of this book. This book has touched a sensitive topic of bullying in the school. It has clearly depicted to what an extent the bullies can go. Also this book showed that the best way to stop getting bullied is to bring the entire incident to the eyes of the people as there is no better punishment for the bullies other than facing social disgrace.

Coming to the characters of the books, the characters are well drafted and felt genuine to me. There are many characters present in the book and Alex Dunn has done a great job in creating each and every characters. I could immediately connect with the characters right from the start of the book.

Like I said earlier, I really liked the story of this book. Alex Dunn  has created a great story and you will surely connect and might even relate to in some instances. The story right away with the introduction of the central character and gets building up till the end with plot twists happening in the middle and in the end. The narration is top notch which will not be a surprise to you if you had read her earlier work. The transitioning between the chapters is super-smooth and you won't fell disconnected when shifting from one chapter to the other. Alex Dunn has made use of simple and easy vocabulary which will make it easier for you to stay connected to the story if English is not your primary language.

The only thing that bothered me was that the story became predictable after some instances. For eg. I could predict what was going to happen in few cases. But Yes, the end is something which caught me by surprise. Also few more twists in the plot would be nicer but yes there are enough plot twists in the book to keep you in to the story. Apart from these minor points, there are no much complains from my side.

So to sum up, I really liked the book. I would surely recommend this book to any one who love to read Young Adult novel. If asked to rate it, I would give this book 4 stars out of 5. So if you are thinking of buying this book, I will leave link to Amazon as well as to Smashwords, from where you can get your copy of this book. I can surely say that you will like this book.

Amazon:

India: School Monitor by Alex Dunn
Outside India: School Monitor by Alex Dunn

Smashwords: School Monitor by Alex Dunn

So, this is what I feel after reading this book. Do let me know in the comment section what do you feel about the book. Guys if you like this review, hit the like button below and if you don't, do vote it down and mention the reason in the comment section below as it will help me to get better and do SUBSCRIBE to the blog to get all the reviews right into your mail box. To know more about Alex Dunn and her recent work you can visit her website: www.alexdunnauthor.com/

So until next time, this is me Sushant signing off. You guys have a great day.

CIAO.

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Crazy For Alice - Alex Dunn Review

(Book Cover Source: www.goodreads.com)

Hello Readers...

Before starting with the review, I would like to express my gratitude to Alex Dunn for providing a copy of this book for the review purpose. I was skeptical after reading the synopsis, still I decided to give it a try and I was happy that I did.

Here is a brief synopsis of the book:

"Donnie Darko meets Pleasantville in this dark urban fantasy about sixteen year old Ben Howard. When Ben accidentally kills his father and is sectioned after a failed suicide attempt, he escapes the guilt by seeking solace deep within the recesses of his won mind.

Waking in a strange ethereal black and white world, where most people exist as living states, Ben leaps from New York skyscrapers into African Jungles without fear of injury, severed from his emotions, until he meets and falls in love with Alice. But, no sooner does he settle into this strange, new exustence, he's traumatically catapulted bcak to the brutal reality he left behind.

Nobody believes he's spent the last six months in a Gray World. Not his neurotic mother, his policeman brother Gavin, or his friends Mitch and Wendy, and certainly not Dr. McKenzie who's threatening to give him even more pills. They all think he's crazy, and why wouldn't they when he's been in some strange coma locked up in a mental asylum?"

I must say, the story of this book remind me the story of one of my favorite movie "Inception" directed by "Christopher Nolan". Unlike Inception, the story of this book is based only in two worlds.

Coming to the technicalities of the book, the entire concept of the book set in the modern times seems very surreal to me. The way the story is based in two world makes this book interesting and keeps the readers engaging. The writing of this book is simply exceptional. Since I haven't read any of Alex's previous work, I was skeptical as to how her writing would be, but I must say my skepticism faded after reading first few chapters. I must say Alex Dunn have written this novel exceptionally well. The best thing about her writing is the way she moves between the two worlds while narrating the story. The way she moved the story, it was like a roller-coaster journey for me, full of thrill and excitement.

Coming to individual sections, the book seems pretty balanced to me. The beginning is bang on as it can be, immediately grabbing the attention of the reader and taking him straight towards the story. The beginning of this book is definitely the best beginning of any book which I have read lately. I immediately felt connected with the characters and the story right from the beginning. KUDOS to Alex Dunn for that. Same goes with the second half of the book as well. However, I personally feel the first half of the book was slightly better as compared to the second half. Also, Alex Dunn managed to keep this book to just around 180-190 pages making this book, a quick read.

The characters feel genuine and I found it very difficult to keep this book down, forcing me to catch up my sleep during the classes though. Definitely, this is among the great books which I have read lately.

So, if ask to rate it, I will give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. Definitely a must read and I will surely be recommending this book to all the non-habitual readers, as this book will generate keen interest regarding the novels among all my non-habitual readers. So if you wanna grab a copy of this book, I'll leave link to amazon down below:

India: Crazy For Alice by Alex Dunn

Outside India: Crazy For Alice by Alex Dunn

So, this is what I feel after reading this book. Do let me know in the comment section what do you feel about the book. Guys if you like this review, hit the like button below and if you don't, do vote it down and mention the reason in the comment section below as it will help me to get better and do SUBSCRIBE to the blog to get all the reviews right into your mail box. To know more about Alex Dunn and her recent work you can visit her website: www.alexdunnauthor.com/

So until next time, this is me Sushant signing off. You guys have a great day.

CIAO.

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The Glass Ceiling - Julie LaVoie Review

Book Cover Source: Goodreads.com

The Glass Ceiling is a dystopian written by Julie LaVoie. I would like to express my gratitude to the author Julie LaVoie for providing a copy of this book for the review and I am very thankful that I did read this novel.

The Glass Ceiling is a story of a sixteen year old girl name Heart or commonly known by her number 120. Heart escapes mines only to find herself in to bigger prison. A prison or a transparent dome controlled by a blatant man "Guardian". Due to her rebellious nature and a thirst to seek freedom she puts herself against the biased and patriarchal world which the Guardian has created, Heart seeks way to escape this dome and make all the people residing in the dome realize the joy of being free. She takes help of the people who wished to be free and eventually stumbles upon the door which leads her out of the dome. When her friends are held captive and her freedom arms away, Heart must decide between taking the freedom she desperately wanted or saving her friends live and making the entire people free form this patriarchal dome.

The story was pretty intriguing and kept me interested to finish the book. The character description is pretty good. The story development was nice and it kept me wondering which new twist would be coming up as I keep reading further. I am pretty sure that you won't be able to drop this book in the middle without finishing it as the story is fast paced and new twists keeps on coming making it an interesting read. I was so connected that I could barely keep this book out of my mind.

However, I find it difficult to sense the passage of time as days were passed and I was completely caught off-guard. Also it was weird, how a sixteen year old girl pick a lock in her first attempt. It was kinda strange thing which were happening which distracted me slightly.

So if you are looking for a dystopian young adult novel which you can't keep it down, you should definitely have a look at this one. So if I have to rate this novel, I will give it 4 out of 5 stars. I will also leave down link to amazon, if you want to buy it.

Buy the book from here:

India: The Glass Ceiling by Julie LaVoie

Outside India: The Glass Ceiling by Julie LaVoie

Let me know in the comments section below whats your take on this book if you have read it already. And do comment on things which you like or don't like about this review. Any suggestions will surely be appreciated.

With this, this is me Sushant Sawant signing off. You guys have a great day.

CIAO.

The Glass Ceiling - Julie LaVoie
Reviewed by Sushant Sawant
Rating:4

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