Book Reviews: Life is too short

Authoress: Niveditha Praveen

Readers’ rating: 3.0/5

Critics’ rating: 2.6/5

The book starts with the protagonist of the story, Amy being shot on her wedding day by an unknown stranger. The story unfolds about Amy’s life.

Amy is a Christian girl brought up in Andheri, Mumbai. On a wedding function of her brother’s friend, she meets a handsome guy, Ajay who is a Hindu. Now, it is love at first sight. They talk, and Ajay willingly loses a bet so that he can take Amy out on a date. Their first date on Silver Beach Café is like any typical date, where they acquaint themselves with each other. Amy has lied to her parents that she is with her friend (a girl), because her parents have orthodox values and they wouldn’t like her to marry out of their religion.

They meet again next day at Juhu. Amy’s parents is going out on a family function. So, afterwards Ajay ends up at Amy’s house. He reads some pages of Amy’s diary and they make love for the first time.

After some more meets, Ajay introduces Amy to his parents. They are broad-minded, and are willing to accept Amy. Then Amy reveals to Ajay about something that bothers her. When she was eight years old, she had been sexually abused by a family friend. Ajay tells her to wipe those memories and gives her his shoulders.

Ajay becomes a brand marketing manager at CEP management solution, and Amy goes to Delhi to pursue her MBA. Meanwhile Amy’s parents wants her to marry a Christian boy, who is a family friend and resides in the USA. But Amy has other plans, and tells her parents that she loves Ajay. Her parents opposes her relationship with Ajay.
Amy gives her MBA exams, and is to get married to Ajay. A stranger shows up and shoots her in the wedding venue.
So who could be behind the plot? Amy's parents, her brother or maybe Ajay's parents or someone else? 

“Life is too short” is more of a real life incident than a story. It is what happens in real life, where the perpetrators of child abuse go unscathed. A girls’ parents usually objects to her choice in marriage. And there is a hidden Majnu lurking behind the curtains, stalking every beautiful girl.

The authoress has tried to show that it is life that ultimately matters and keeping a grudge especially among family members can be a cause of regret later on. This book is good for people who wants to read something about the lives of the common people in India. The language is lucid and easy to understand.

As a critic, however, I would point out to the large number of editing errors. There are several punctuation and grammatical mistakes. The story mainly focuses on the principal two characters, and the other relations are kept at bay. The story is incoherent and doesn’t bind – neither the characters nor to the reader. The principal antagonist is not given his due. The authoress has tried her best to express the emotions and incidents but hasn’t mastered the English language yet.

Overall, it depends on your preference whether you want to read or not.