Clandestine Waters

Thank you, Literoma Publishing Services and the author, for providing me with the e-book copy.

A debut novel by the author, I had a rather mixed review while reading the book. To begin with, there are some points I liked, such as the unconventional love story of Atul and Neha with the urban storyline is a good change for the readers. The character of Neha, her bold and outright personality also brings a freshness in the concept of the typical notion of Indian women (which we get to see in the character of Simran) as a rather plain-Jane. That she is not put in a negative shade is a good relief and also breaks the stereotypes
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The title of the book is good and goes with the theme. However, the cover design could have been made better. The narrative style and language are quite weak comparatively and there are plenty of areas that need improvement. There are certain editing errors and narrative errors that need correction otherwise it will mar the entire reading the story, one such error is on page 84 of the text where the author confuses the name of Simran with Neha. As I said, the theme is good and realistic, only little bit proper editing could have made the story a success.

From my end, I’ll give this book 3/5.

Thanks to Literoma and Author for gifting a review copy of the book. ‘Clandestine Waters’ by Sumit Vanjani is a a promising debut of author Sumit Vanjani. A big thanks to ‘Literoma Publishing Services’ and Sristisukh for helping these young & budding writing talents to become published authors.

The interest sparks about the book immediately when a reader looks at the cover page. It’s a fantastically designed cover which appeals to the conscious and sub-conscious parts of the mind. The content of the book keeps the promises made by the cover. Sumit is an award winning speaker and it got reflected in his story telling style. With a very simple choice of words Sumit ensured the story is weaved in a proper manner.

However, there are scopes for improvement in the editing front. It highly lacked the professional touch. There have been some name mismatches in the contents. However, as a debutante venture that can be neglected. But from the next titles, the author needs to safeguard against this point if he wants to offer a seamless reading experience to his readers.

As a reader, irrespective of the fact whether you like or don’t like love stories go ahead and explore this novella. It will be worth giving a read. Overall, the book is a praiseworthy effort by Literoma and Author. Recommended for young adults.

Thank you, Literoma Publishing Services and the author, for providing me with the review copy.

A debut novel by the author, I had a rather mixed review while reading the book. The title of the book is good and goes with the theme. It’s a novella of only 105 pages so you can have a quick read of the book.
The plot reflects realism and there is a vivid description of the city of Kolkata and the changes it has embraced with modern urbanization. The unconventional love story of Atul and Neha offers a fresh change to the readers. The art of characterization is good. The characters are quite real and exist in the day to day world. The character of Neha, her bold and outright personality brings a freshness to the concept of the typical notion of Indian women (which we get to see in the character of Simran) as a rather plain-Jane. That she is not put in a negative shade is a good relief and also breaks the stereotypes. We see the strength of her character as she asks Atul to lead a normal life if she dies. The broken marriage of Barnali stands in sharp contrast to the platonic love of Atul and Neha and shows the juxtaposition between romance before and after marriage. Also, we see the strength in the character of Simran whom we believed to be a stereotype when Atul confesses about his clandestine affair with Neha to her. She acknowledges his honesty and the fact that she will not come to know the truth from some third person post their marriage shows that she too has a mind of her own even if she is not ready to drop the suffix ‘ji’ while addressing her would be husband and ready to follow him like a shadow all her life.
There is a space for improvement in the narrative technique, style and the language of the novel. There are also few editing errors which, I feel, could have been easily avoided. The climax of the novel is good and the author keeps the pace until the end. Actually, the last few chapters draw the interest to the story.