Pages

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Book Review - Dancing with Demons by Nidhie Sharma



DANCING WITH DEMONS by Nidhie Sharma
-          A book review


BOOK TITLE:  Dancing with Demons
AUTHOR: Nidhie Sharma
PUBLISHER: Harlequin India Pvt Ltd
NO.OF.PAGES: 288
COST: 299 INR

Karan Pratap Singh is on the brink of winning the Amateur Boxing Championship, when in a moment, he loses it all. His fall from glory seems fuelled by ruthless arrogance and an out-of-control anger management problem. That, however, is just symptomatic of a deeper issue. Buried under layers of his fractured subconscious lies a childhood secret he cannot come to terms with.
Sonia Kapoor is a beautiful volatile young woman with a secret that torments her at night but a secret that she feels no guilt for.
When fate throws Karan and Sonia together in Mumbai, their personal demons and past collide and stir up trouble in their fragile and uncertain present. But, is redemption possible without forgiveness?

My views:
About the story and the characters:
The story starts with Karan Pratap Singh fighting his finals in the Boxing Championship. He knows he can win it, yet he loses it. What would be the reason for the sudden change?
After that incident, his life spirals downwards. The life is merciless to him in his entire endeavour. That is when Sonia enters his life. Her past is an enigma. Whether they were able to come out of their past and live in the present or were they chased by the past demons unable to find the door of freedom?
The portrayal of Karan Pratap Singh is that of an innocent yet strong man. Though haunted by the past, his soul focus is boxing. And he regards his coach Jerry as his own father figure. When life leaves him alone, though he finds it hard, his fighting spirit never dies. He is taunted by his own failures and his past haunts his life even more.
Sonia, on the other hand remains the mysterious and yet beautiful character in the book. The readers do not get to know about her in the beginning and that adds a mystery factor to the book.
Of the two characters, one is given as an open book. When Karan faces the woes of his life, the reader tends to empathize with him.  You can feel his emotions and regrets. The author has done a good job in portraying the mighty boxer. Sonia, on the other hand is painted as a girl running away from something and even she doesn’t know about it. But, before the end of the story, you get to know her more and the readers will end up wishing only the good for them.
The boxing scenes are penned by the author in such a manner that even a person with no prior knowledge in boxing, will be able to assimilate well. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the fighting scenes.


About the writing:
The writing in general had been kept simple by the author. It was easy to read, except for in some places, where I had to read twice to grasp what the author actually meant.

About the ending:
It was predictable and cinematic.
The author had mentioned about her intentions of directing a movie with the same story. But that doesn’t mean she should make the book filmy. And when reading the ending, I was remembered of a movie that dealt with boxing. It was similar. Because, most movies take the same route and one will not be expecting a book to end in that fashion. And there ended my liking of the book.

Final Verdict:
It had been a great and commendable effort by the author, but not impeccable.
There are places where the author should consider modifying and she should do it certainly, if it is going to be a movie. The movie goers have different expectations nowadays and if you are going to serve the same dish, it will not be palatable.

My Rating:
6.5/10

No comments:

Post a Comment