Love @ Airforce

On seeing the cover page I thought: Oh! Now even the Airforce officers are writing books. But as soon as I opened the book to read the intro, I realized that I was wrong, for the book was written by a Maths teacher and not by an Airforce personnel. Yes, this debutante author Gaurav Sharma is a Maths teacher who has done this extraordinary job of publishing a book.(Uff, when I’ll come up with mine, the whole world seems busy writing.) 

Talking about the book, the author has done a good job, given that it is his debut novel. The characters, JCO Awasthi, and his wife Divya; Wing Commander Dr.Shabd, and his married love interest, Soumya; Soumya’s husband, Wing Commander Shandilya, and Dr.Sharmistha are all well fleshed out. Kudos to the author for attempting a subject he probably was unfamiliar with : The Indian Airforce and discrimination faced by its non-commissioned personnel’s at the hands of its officers (or does he have any relative in the force, whatever the case may be, the R&D that went into developing the story is appreciable.)     

Story: Wing Commander Shabd Mishra is in love with Soumya―a girl whom he loved since his school days. But sadly, Soumya is already married to some Wing Commander Shandilya. JCO Awasthi, common friend of Shabd and Soumya acts as a middleman and is trying his best to instill some sense in  Shabd, by repeatedly requesting him to forget Soumya and get married, for he considers it immoral to yearn for a woman, who's already married. But, Shabd has turned deaf ears to Awashi’s requests. What happens next? Go ahead, and read the book. 

My 2 cents

This is was the first time I read something on the Airforce, and I liked it. But the problem with the book is, I wanted to fall in love with it, I wanted to fall in love with the story, as I always do, but ended up liking it. Who does not love A GOOD BOOK HANGOVER? No, I didn't get that from the book.

So,what I am saying is, the plot is average, but the flow is good. There are punctuation errors here and there, but the overall language is good. And yes, there are big words generously sprinkled all over the book. So, do sit down with a dictionary or a notepad to jot down these words. In my case, I jotted them down. Whenever, time permits, I’ll look for their meanings (doesn’t the general rule of writing say that use smaller words instead of the bigger ones?)

Go for it if you love Indie fiction: because, my mantra is to read everything that hits the market: Good or bad. I give it 2.5/5.

A complete TIME-PASS book.

I thank the author for a copy.

[This review is part of Reader Cosmos Book ReviewInitiative]