And Still My Heart Beats | Sourabh Suman | Book Review

And Still My Heart BeatsPLOT: 2.5/5
CHARACTERS: 3/5
WRITING STYLE: 2.5/5
CLIMAX: 2.5/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 2.5/5

And Still My Heart Beats is Sourabh Suman’s debut novel which tells the story of two teenage sweethearts – Rehan and Anya. It aspires to be a cute teenage love story and succeeds to a very large extent.

The Plot – The story arc is pretty generic. Boy meets girl at school and it is love at first sight followed by the mandatory period of separation and the eventual reconciliation. But what makes this work worth a read is the inherent honesty and sincerity that it has. Every teenager (who happens to read And Still My Heart Beats) will be able to connect to the characters.

The Characters – Rehan is a very much likeable character. He is the typical, confused teenager who is trying his best to balance his studies and his relationship. The studious and intelligent student that he is, he even goes to the extent of calling off his relationship as his grades fall drastically. Anya is every boy’s dream. She is beautiful, compassionate and (like Rehan) is also a bit confused. Besides Anya and Rehan, we have believable and tangible characters like Vicky, Annu, Dipu who form the protagonist’s friend circle.

The Writing And Still My Heart Beats is divided into short chapters each one being an episode in Rehan’s school life. A perfect blend of teenage love, nostalgia and childhood friendship, these pages are nothing short of a breezy read. The writer has also been successful enough in bringing interesting twists and turns at regular intervals.

On the downside, the language is pretty plain. If you are looking for a more mature and serious love story, this one is definitely not going to be your cup of tea. Towards the climax, And Still My Heart Beats has shades of Ravinder Singh’s debut best seller ‘I too had a Love Story’. Moreover, there are a good number of typos and grammatical errors and as a result, some sentences fail to make any sense. Sample this – After reading these words I couldn’t control my provocation within myself hence in result I roar out load ‘woohoo’ volatility. I wish Saurabh had a better proofreader/editor for this work.

What I liked the most about this book

  1. The classroom scenes.
  2. The ‘parting’ scene.
  3. The length. For a wafer-thin love story, the overall length of the book is quite right. Kudos to the author for not stretching it unnecessarily.

What I didn’t like

  1. The frequent typos and grammatical errors were big turn-offs.
  2. The hazy tone of the book towards the climax. At one point, I almost felt that I was reading yet another version of ‘I too had a love story’!
  3. Some of the sequences were a bit bizarre, the appendicitis scene being a case in point.

On the whole, if a superfluous teenage love story is what you are looking for as your weekend read, do pick this one up!

Leave a Comment