Star rating:
Synopsis of the novel by Sameera Kotta:
This is a book about an orphan in India, Majnu, who runs away from his orphanage at the age of ten. He faces many difficulties before he realizes his dream of becoming a doctor. The book provides an insight into the life of a regular college student in India, while touching on the deeper meanings of day-to-day incidents. It may be regarded as a suspense/thriller, though it attempts to convey a profound meaning. It also touches on women's issues and mental illness.
My experience with the book:
This novel depicts the day-to-day life of an underprivileged boy called Majnu. It gives us a view of his life and all the trouble and turmoil this poor boy goes through at every single phase of his life. Initially, you would think of Majnu as a carefree and nutritious boy who is not serious about his life. Only to later find out that he is quiet a responsible one and above all an orphan child. You begin to see minor problems in the boy's life from being forced to follow a certain religion that the orphanage imposes to running away and being employed as a child to live on the streets. Over the course of the book, you begin to realize the intensity of emotional horror grow. There are stages in life where the boy witnesses prostitution, death of near and dear ones, constant struggle for survival and having his heart-broken, just like every other boy. But, this boy's spirit to be a better person is one of the biggest highlight. I truly admired and appreciate the effort Sameera has put in keeping the boy grounded through all the twists and turns in his life. Majnu grows to study a field he always admired and this is a milestone in his life. Around these better years in Majnu's life, you will get to see typical uninterested boy falling in love with the bad-ass girl who fights for herself with a slight twist. A second love interest and finally life coming to a full circle with some well laid plans in pursuit of justice.
Sameera knows how to portray India in an authentic way and has a way to paint a vivid picture in the readers mind.The emotional roller-coaster this book takes you through cannot be explained. I had a Khaled Hosseini flashback, just in an Indian way (if you catch my drift!) There so much suffering and pain and so much to learn through these sufferings and pain. Sameera not only sheds light on the dishonesty in the society where even good intentions are manipulated, where certain events make children loose their souls. But also, on the idea of stripping out all the superficial features human being are attracted to and actually understand each other. An understanding of how everyone have their own journey and have something to learn from each other. She even touches upon topics like having a sense of belonging and how man is a social creature who needs someone to share things with.
One of the best parts about the book is where she illustrates that there is more to life than just appearance. People are so conditioned to fall in love with appearance that we fail to make an effort to get to know anyone personally. Yes, there will be pretty girls with great personality. But not so pretty girls have them too and as they don't make it to the first cut or filter of good looking appearance a lot of people miss out on quality people who could add value to their life in more than just a superficial way.
All in all, this book was truly an emotional one. My heart clenched so many times, that I'm surprised that I didn't have a heart attack. Seriously though, make sure to have a kerchief handy while you read this one.
About the novel:
You can find and buy the book "Beyond What Meets The Eye" here.
About the Author:
Sameera is a 23-year old author in Hyderabad, who has just self-published her first book on Kindle Direct. To know more, go check out her book!
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