DIDN'T SWIPE MY HEART

BOOK: SHE SWIPED RIGHT INTO MY HEART  

AUTHOR: SUDEEP NAGARKAR

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH 

COUNTRY: INDIA 

GENRE: FICTION 

PUBLISH DATE: MAY, 2016

PUBLICATION: PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

Sudeep Nagarkar', the name has earned a lot in the genre of Indian Romantic Tales. And 'She Swiped Right into My Heart' is again a romantic tale by him, which revolves around a Trio - Geet, Tushita and Shibani, making all the three stories or subplots to become one towards the end. The author talks about various gentle emotions like love, friendship, flirtation ship and relationship. Besides that, he seems to throw a light on crucial issues like LGBT, physical harassment in a relationship etc. A girl portrayed as nerd in both looks and life, finally hook up with the college most handsome stud Rudra, initially showing him to be her fake boyfriend, but finally realizing him to be her true love. On the other hand, other beautiful girl Tushita, after facing a hard tormentation in her previous relationship, finally finds her love in her best friend, Vivaan. And completely different from these two, third girl, Shibani, who is a feminist by heart, and a biker, who believes in the concept of 'all men are the same', finds herself to be a 'lesbian' and accepts the fact bravely and openly, and does something which she was not supposed to do.

Dialogue sounds preachy and philosophical were more like monologues rather than dialogues. And few dialogues were too cheesy that it made me cringe. Like the ones characters mouth in a TV serial. A tiny twist that Nagarkar tries to bring in at the end of the book was another let down. While reading the novel, readers will know the culprit behind the fiasco, even before it is revealed in the later chapters. There were some chapters to be skipped.

But one commendable point is infusing the LGBT angle in the story. Not many Indian authors take the brave plunge to write about the LGBT community. But then again proper justice is not meted out. It turned into yet another I-will-preach fest, with Shibani (the lesbian character) dishing out a two-page monologue. I would have loved to read about a budding relationship of Shibani and a girl similar to her that could be different about lesbians rather than a monologue. On the whole, this story did not pacify to me.

In conclusion, I didn’t like the book that much. It takes a good start then slowly it become very common and guessing the next line and passage become so easy. Typical Bollywood style story with happy ending, few easily guessable twist and turns and abrupt ending. No Elaborate storyline and full of forceful addition of sexual orientation even places where it was not desired or needed.