An affair to remember by Harkeerat Anand: a review

In the colors of a wide range, the abstract features of the characters in the cover would only make sense to the readers once they are done with the book. Harkeerat Anand’s debut book An Affair to Remember is surely one of those books which gives you the most unexpected thing as you turn the pages of the book.

According to the blurb- Filled with cheesy motivational posters, computer workstations crammed side by side, dumb bosses/blondes and bored employees looking for a career change- ABCDEF Corp., a software giant, rankles with a sameness of a suffocating software giant’s existence. Until one man and his best friend take things into their hands. What follows is a series of misadventures, flushing both men down a pink-caked urinal of self destruction. Set in a city that once was, in an IT giant that once was, the two men journey through a cobweb of friendship, ambition, embezzlement, crime and most importantly, love. Will they survive ABCDEF Corp.? More so, will ABCDEF Corp. survive them? Peppy, wild and bitterly sarcastic, An Affair to Remember! Is a modern-day retelling of a decades-old classic.

When I talk about the first impression I had when I held the book I must tell you that I didn’t have that high expectations. After reading the blurb, I felt that this book can be the old food in a different platter and the beginning scenes actually made me feel that my instinct was right. The first half of the book was very common, showing the life of two friends and their lives.

The characterizations, according to me were done very nicely. It gave the readers a feel of realism and that is needed in every story. The situations the characters go through and their mind frame at certain time frames are very nicely described. Though I felt there were very abstract ‘not much needed’ characters, nonetheless it went on to be clear at a later phase.

Coming to the story, well; it’s tough to describe. The first two parts of the story were ‘normal’ and too peppy and wild which might leave the readers with an urge to ‘not-read’ the book. But to those readers who keep holding the book and reading it, I can guarantee that they are in for a special surprise as the book nears its end.

The readers might feel that the book has been written in abstracts as it seems that it has been written in bits and parts starting and ending all so suddenly. As we get towards the middle of the book, there is a sudden rush between the characters and that gears the readers up for a treat. As the end comes, the climax to be specific, the readers are left awestruck. The authoress leaves subtle hints throughout the book but it’s only at the end that we understand what we have missed.

The flaws of the book were a few. The descriptions could’ve been written in a better way. The first part could’ve been written in a more engaging way giving more hints that has already been given about what the end is going to be. Apart from that, there were a few grammatical errors also.


 Some characters came and went without any such role and things like this might be a flaw for the book. For me, I would like to rate it 3.25 out of 5 with an applause for attempting such a type of story.