That kiss in the rain by Novoneel Chakraborty: a review

“That kiss in the rain...” Novoneel Chakraborty’s 2^nd novel surely defines what the tag line says – “Love is the weather of life”. After the massive success of his first book A thing beyond forever, the author went on to write this book. A onetime read, the cover, did justice to the book. As a reader, if I do not read the blurb or the prologue and just judge the book by its cover then the cover won’t work but if you do not judge a book by its cover then I would say that you must pick up and read this book. Going forward, the back cover of the book doesn’t say much but whatever little it says is sure to attract the readers.

According to the back cover- “If we women are really weak then why do they need to discharge so many sperms for one ovum?” – Pallavi, 27, single. Kingfisher Airlines. “Half the heartaches in a man’s life involve a woman and half the heartaches in a woman’s life are because of a man” – Swadha 24 single. NH consultants Pvt Ltd. And then they met him... exactly when they shouldn’t have.

What do I talk about in the beginning? The characters, I guess because that’s the strongest point of a Novoneel Chakraborty novel. I wouldn’t talk about the male character(s) much because usually the female characters are more a part of the story than a male character and it’s the same with this novel too. I have to say, I am in love with Pallavi. But somehow I am not satisfied with the other characters. Another very subtle but important character in the book who had my heart was Palki. I loved the way both Pallavi and Palki have been developed by the author. Pallavi’s growth throughout the novel seems so real that you will find similarities with either yourself or with people around you. Nitin was the awesome best friend too. Someone, I would love to have as a best friend.

Coming to the story, shall I be very frank here? The story was good. In fact, the book was a good read but somewhere down the line I couldn’t match the writing or thoughts with that of the Novoneel Chakraborty novels I have read all through the years. No, that is not a down point but that is in fact a compliment for the author for it just focuses on the fact that the author has grown to be a better writer.

The quotes are the only thing, apart from the characterisation of the novel that seemed to belong to the Novoneel Chakraborty of today. I’m really glad to notice one thing in the writing and that is the fact that the writing flow of the author hasn’t changed much in all these years. Yes, today the author can handle a situation in a very different and interesting way which becomes a treat to read. To talk of the cons, this book had grammatical errors and certain parts, as I felt was unnecessarily articulated (which can be a bit tough for a layman) and I felt there are a few situations which could’ve been changed or altered.

Apart from that, I guess this book (giving to the fact that the author is so good these days and this is a very old book, in the beginning days of the author) is the best the author could’ve done back then and keeping the high expectations of it being a Novoneel Chakraborty book aside, reading it was a satisfactory read. I wouldn’t want a re-written book but I would want a sequel or probably something that says “what after this..?” For me, having said all this, this book is 3.75 out of 5. And I am really looking forward to more books from the author.