Book Review: Nobody's Child by Kanchana Banerjee

          

Name of The Book	Nobody’ Child
Name of the Author	Kanchana Banerjee
Genre	Crime Fiction
Name Of The Publisher	Harper Collins India
No. Of Pages	323
Price {Paperback}	INR 236 {On Amazon}

'She's lost everything ...and when one has nothing more to lose, that's when they become fearless and unstoppable.'

___From the book

Nobody's Child is Kanchana Banerjee's second book, totally different from her first book {A Forgotten Affair}. It's a crime fiction with lots of secrets, drama, lies, deceit and action ___a complete package, you can say. And I really appreciate the author for creating such a dramatic crime story and such vile and wicked characters and situations. There were certain moments when I was like 'Ewww...', which is a good thing, I guess.

A young woman is found, on the streets, in a sad, wounded condition. She claims to be Asavri Bhattacharya ___an immensely talented singer with a sad past who had won Indian Koel, a singing reality show two years ago.

But how is that possible?

Asavri died in an accident just after winning the show. Is she really Asavri? Where was she? What happened to her? You need to read the book to know the answers.

I like Kanchana Banerjee's writing style ___it's engaging. The writing is neat and the story seems well researched, as she has portrayed the drama of reality show {and media, sadly} well. The characters seem like you've seen them on the television. That's why I feel that this book could be a good screen adaptation.

The cover of Nobody's Child is very striking and apt. The story has been told from the four significant points of view. Avneil ___a small time film journalist turned best-selling author. Kamini Pratap Singh ___a nobody turned powerful politician and mother of Tanya, the first runner up of Indian Koel. And Monty ___Asavri's love interest. He's an important character but I didn't get why his PoV was needed. Also, I didn't feel anything for this character.

Now, the story is told in first person narrative, and for me, that was the biggest problem. No, I really like stories told in first person, but telling this story in first person, from multiple points of view affects the element of suspense/mystery{and eventually the joy of reading a crime suspense fiction} in a negative way. The characters are telling everything about themselves ___what they did, what they didn't. What they know, what they don't. No revelation shocked/surprised me because the first person narration gives a fair idea of everything.

Also, there are certain things {that I would not like to mention} I found implausible. Maybe they are small things and you might not give them too much attention, however I couldn't help noticing.

I liked the way the story ends. Just like A Forgotten Affair, Kanchana's debut book, the ending of this book is satisfying.

'Don't fight the bad memories. Allow them to come and go. The more you resist, the more they will persist.'

If you're looking for a masala entertainer, if you enjoy reading crime fiction {with wicked characters}, go for it.


I received this book from Writersmelon for an unbiased review.