CHARACTERS: 4/5
WRITING STYLE: 4/5
CLIMAX: 4/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5
That’s the thing about girls, every time they do something pretty, even if they’re not much to look at, or even if they’re sort of stupid, you fall in love with them and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can ”
– J.D. Salinger, “The Catcher in the Rye”
The truth/false quotient of the above-mentioned quote is pretty evidently known to all guys who have been in love at least once in their life.
Trying to figure out girls or write about them is ultimately like trying to let a dictionary represent life, no matter how many words there are they will never be enough. The book When she smiled is a story of an adolescent guy who fell in love and realized this mystery about girls the hard way.
This is a story of innocence of a guy who fell for the wrong girl, the story of how even under extreme situations a simple gesture of love from someone you adore can make you forget all your troubles, the story of how bad a heartbreak can be and how much can it change you in your life as a person.
When She Smiled is written in a fresh and honest voice. The characters feel truly alive. It is beautiful, simple, and funny.
It is sweet and touching but not overly melodramatic. It is a quintessential love story and is fully worth the few well-spent reading hours. It’s short. It’s sparsely written. (Which isn’t to suggest that it lacks depth!)
Hey, you might even get that wonderful feeling you once had with your special someone. Or perhaps I am just a hopeless romantic.
It is based in Shimla and which in itself is an abode, and piece of extreme scenic beauty, which plays an important part in the book.
Love is the main theme because this whole book is based on love and its many aspects. The author makes the whole relationship so simple and pure somehow.
You fall in love with not only the book but with “Roy” and “Akansha”(the main characters) who are from different backgrounds entirely; which forms the heart and soul of the book.
Akansha who is an easy-going girl, Roy who has been under extreme pressure from his family to make something worthwhile out of his life, to score big in life.
That’s the gist of the whole story about how well they bond in the beginning and then due to certain dramatic events, they drift apart to extreme lengths.
The author has taken extreme care not to overdo any specific character the only thing which I missed in the book was the girl’s side of the story because I never understood “why girls do what they do” and it left me baffled with curiosity as to “what if ?”
I would have really loved to see an explanation from the girl’s perspective for everything that goes down in the book.
As for the rest, the book is well written, speaks in a manner to the reader.
Finally, it’s also great to see young authors going for self-publishing rather than going after big publication houses.