Forget me not, Stranger by Novoneel Chakraborty: a review

I have read Marry me, stranger and All yours, stranger; both the books hooked me so much that I HAD TO read Forget me not, stranger. Novoneel Chakraborty has always been a writer whose quotes have influenced me and have been an answer to whatever problems that I have faced in my life. Forget me not, stranger has also done the same thing. Somehow, defined whatever I am going through. After many guesses (like everybody) on what the stranger is doing with Rivanah, I had failed but I was glad to know that who I had guessed to be stranger is actually the stranger. The story was never about the stranger, though. It was always about Rivanah and rightfully so. The blurb does its best to hook the readers for reading the book.

According to the blurb- I’m Rivanah Banerjee, 23/F/Mumbai. Some of you might already know how my life is on a razor edge. Those of you who don’t, just know this: I may be killed soon… by the Stranger. I don’t know who or what he is: a ghost, a person or a figment of my imagination? All I know is he isn’t just one thing: he is sexy and scary, terrific and terrifying. What I don’t understand is why a young, harmless girl like me, who works in a big city, stays away from her parents and has a screwed-up love life, would be of any interest to him. Unless there is something about my own story that I do not know… In the hotly anticipated final instalment of the Stranger trilogy, Rivanah will learn the answers to her many question- What is that binds her to the dead Hiya? Who is the Stranger? Why has he been following her all this while? - leading to an intense, breathtaking climax.

To begin with, the cover. I loved the covers of Marry me, stranger and All yours, stranger. While the cover of Forget me not, stranger completes the way the covers are formed and it shows the face of Rivanah, somehow this concept didn’t work for me. I didn’t find it as breathtaking as the others but the title, no doubt, is wonderful. When you turn the book and you get to the place where the blurb is written, you get to see the stranger. Well, the silhouette of the stranger but that is no doubt a reason why you would feel like turning its pages and read the book. But yes, early warning. Do not read the last page first. Start with the first page first.

When you open the book, the first thing you encounter is the prologue. Now speaking of the prologue, Chakraborty always has the habit of gripping his readers with it. This book was no less either but having been a regular reader of his work and an admirer too, a bit change in the writing and I guess it. This happened with the prologue of this one too. No doubt gripping, this prologue didn’t have the essence (for me) which the other books had. Or maybe I felt so because the prologue of this book came in much after All yours, stranger released, thus fizzing out the essence the book had in the first place.

Coming to the story, Marry me, stranger and All yours, stranger had something in them which hooked every reader to it. So the expectations with Forget me not, stranger were very high. It stood to its expectations or not, I will come to that later. I would first talk about how the story proceeds. The proceeding of the story was in a very typical Novoneel Chakraborty way, with twists and turns in every chapter. You turn the page and you get a twist or a turn. This, in turn, keeps you hooked to the book till the end.

Again, in a fashion which only the author can do, he leads on the readers to thinking about somebody else totally and then brings about something which is just not what the readers have been thinking all this while. That is one thing that every loyal reader of the author looks forward to in his books. This book was no exception as you think about something and something just the opposite happens. But you know what? Somewhere down the line, for the first time, I felt that the story has been dragged in this book. Moreover, while I am at the end of the story, I was surprised with the ending. Never had I expected such an ending. As I have already said, who the stranger is, doesn’t matter but why the stranger doing all this is is what matters. I could see Rivanah’s growth from the first book to the last book and that made me feel proud of Rivanah but, the reason given by the Stranger on why was he doing all this was, I don’t know what to say, too out of the films. Nonetheless, given the trademark of the author, you flow with the book and feel the book with every page. Is there any take back from the book? I would leave it to you to decide!

“A social thriller with a not so happy ending” That is how the author had always defined the book and the book is just that. It surely is a social thriller with a not so happy ending. The idea that Chakraborty wanted to bring forth in the book was wonderful but the way it has been handled wasn’t exactly up to the mark. With the way book 1 and book 2 led the readers thinking, half of book 3 was exactly that. You would learn a lot when you end the book and even you would grow with the book but when you read the end you might be left a bit shaken. With whatever happened. Given my personal reaction after this book ended, I took a lot of time to digest what exactly happened with the whole story. Disappointed? I don’t know. Happy? I don’t know that either. Clueless, I would say.

Coming to the errors of the book, I have already said a lot about it but there is one blazing mistake in the book which I am sure is a typo error but I am also sure that after reading that, die hard stranger fans would want to strangle the author. At least I wanted to. Being an admirer of his work, I would wait for his next book and hope that it is as wonderful as the other books were. Having said all that, wishing the author all the luck in the world, this book gets 4 out of 5.