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Crossroads – Its about time is Preeti Singh’s second book after the acclaimed Flirting with Fate which was nominated for the Commonwealth Booker’s Prize of 2012. It won the Best Debut Crime Fiction Award in the same year. She has also been writing for various magazines like Femina and Women’s Era. So does her 2nd novel work? Let’s check it out.
The blurb goes like this –
In the journey of life we see dreams, we fall in love, we experience bliss but yet we often fall, never to rise again.
But Kavita is a fighter.
From marrying the man she loves, to becoming a protective mother, to tolerating abuse and emerging stronger from it, her life is not different from just another Indian woman.
For how long can she take the domestic violence and humiliation? Does she leave her abusive husband Rajiv, in search of greener pastures with Mihir, or does she succumb to a passionate moment with a youngster, Abhinash.
Don’t we all have a right to make our identity, alone, or is marriage the only bond where one must adjust to find happiness.
Is Kavita doing anything wrong by following her heart. If it takes two to tango, where did she go wrong. Can she pamper the child in her, defy the world and live life on her own terms? Or does life give her a chance to make amends and save her precious bonds.
She is standing at the crossroads of her life and wondering which path she should follow to get some peace, something we all are seeking. Why don?t YOU, my reader hold her hand and guide her. It’s about time.
Reading the blurb and seeing the cover, you realize that this is a book of a young woman’s life and how she goes through various trials and tribulations to achieve success and happiness in her life. The idea, the thoughts, the emotions in creating this story are quite beautiful indeed.
Being a woman herself, Preeti explores the different aspects of life in terms of love, hate, relations, fun and everything else which affects humans. She portrays the emotions of Kavita quite beautifully.
The negative aspect of the book lies in two main factors. The editing in terms of the grammar and the language at a lot of places needs to be sorted out really quickly (maybe in the reprint). Secondly, the back and forth narrative across years confuses the reader quite a bit. These two factors act as predominant speed breakers in the narrative of the story.
In terms of characterization, Preeti has done a fairly decent job. Whether its Kavita or the various men in her life like Mihir, Abhinash, Rajiv, Preeti has given a good amount of space to each of the various characters.
All in all, Preeti had a beautiful story but the language and grammar acts as a speed-breaker in the narrative.
Rating – 2.5/5
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