Till death do us part by Upasona Banerjee: a review

When I came across this book I couldn’t help but adore the simplicity of the book. It doesn’t impress- agreed. But the whole fact that it doesn’t impress is what draws the attention towards you. Next thing you notice is the title of the book- Till death do us part by debut authoress Upasona Banerjee. On one hand the title seems to call you to read the blurb whereas you might be stopped by the unfamiliar name on the cover. Intrigued, I turn the book over and read the blurb.

According to the back cover- Upasona is a new kid on the block whose new novel is tugging at our heartstrings. There is here a bit of Shakespeare, a bit of Love story. But she makes it new. Her roller coaster ride takes her two young lovers on a passion trip, across the continents of the heart, across college campuses in Kolkata, to the green hills of Lava. Parents prove to be problematic, traditional society disapproves. Friends get tense, while fate and death wait in the wings. What happens to the student and teacher, Amrita and Akashdeep? How will their love survive? Or will they succumb to the inevitable? For life is not worth living without love. Come aboard for this love trip of your life time.

Carrying forward from the blurb of the book, the story is really a love trip of your life time. The way the story has been presented to the readers, it seems that you either have faced these situations in reality or you feel that you are facing these situations along with the protagonists of the book. The protagonists, Amrita and Akashdeep have been very well thought of. You might be able to find such people in your life and the fact that these are so believable makes the characters shine out of their allotted parts.

For a debutante I would want to say that the story was a very ‘safe side’ one. I mention the term ‘safe side’ because romance is a safe genre and even though the story has been treated with a wonderful twist, in the beginning it still feels like a safe book. I would consider this to be a good move by the authoress to bring in the twist in the book and that is what makes it stand out of the crowd of the numerous books on the genre.

There were lump in the throat moments in the book and I wouldn’t lie but I cried as I finished the book. Another very good aspect of the book is that even though the book might look a bit thick to read for the general readers but it is such a quick read that I finished the book in 1.5 to 2 hours of continuous reading. 181 pages of unadulterated beauty the book is. Coming from a debutante, I was impressed with the way it has been tackled. 

Now, coming to the cons. I have a lot to say here. I will begin with the cover. As I said earlier, the cover doesn’t impress. Somewhere down the line I feel that amongst the jazzed up covers in the market, this book will not catch the attention. Having said that, I also didn’t like the physical presentation of the book. I felt that it could’ve been much better in terms of presentation. The typesetting, the pages. I would have preferred if the book would have been available in the market. No proper distribution or marketing was done for the book and that is what can stop this book from being what it is meant to be.

There were not many grammatical errors but there were a lot of proofreading errors and spelling errors which might put you off the speed of reading at times. Apart from that I felt that even though the story was nice, it wasn’t told properly. It seemed to be written in plain and simple language. A bit of spices and condiments in the story or rather some articulation was much needed in the book. There were many moments where the authoress could’ve punched in some details or sequences to add to the beauty of the book. Even after all the flaws, the story stays with you and you feel for the protagonists of the book which is a good work done by the authoress. Waiting for more beautifully written words from her, I would rate it 3.75 out of 5.