BOOK- LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT
AUTHOR- PREETI SHENOY
PAGES-224
BLURB-
Life is what you make it is based on a love story
that has been set in India in the 90’s. it has been described by the readers as
a book potraying how love, hope and determination can together win over even
the destiny. It is a gripping tale of a few significant years of the
protagonist’s life.
The novel revolves around a woman in her 20s,
Ankita, who has a past haunting her like a nightmare. As she grows up from
adolescence to a woman in her mid 20s, she wades through different situations,
engages in affairs with a couple of guys and is set-back by her parents refusal
to accept her situation.
As a result of non-stop upheavals in her life, Ankita
develops bipolar disorder at one point of time.
The story revolves
around Ankita’s struggles, determination, her decisions and her faith in self.
The book beautifully describes how she gets acquainted with her bipolar
disorder, how she decides to help her own self and how she battles these
situations all by herself.
MY TAKE ON THE BOOK-
What attracted me the most is the title of the book.
The title made me eager to try and read this book. I was in class IX, I still
remember. One of our teachers told us to write a review on a book and that was
when I first wrote my book review. Although it was a long time back, I feel
happy recalling those days. And this was the first book I wrote a review on ‘Life is what you make it’.
The story is set in the time of 90’s and moves
around two cities.
The protagonist Ankita is in her 20’s who seems to
have issues from the past that haunts her present. The prologue starts with
Ankita sitting on a chair outside the doctor’s office.
The story begins with flashback and there are
letters being exchanged between Ankita and Vaibhav. As the story moves on it
becomes more clear that Ankita’s parents are one of those typical Indian
parents who are strict and doesn’t approve their girls being in the group of
boys or doesn’t approve any guy calling at home. But somehow Ankita and Vaibhav
kept in touch.
Abhi the guy who she met at an inter-collegiate
event begins to woo her. Later they remained in contact though calls and
messages and sometime meeting each other. Ankita didn’t tell Vaibhav about Abhi
and neither did she told Abhi about Vaibhav. Pretending Vaibhav all is well.
Later with Ankita getting into MBA in different
city, she refused Abhi and his plea to stay in touch.
(Only if she had told him that she would be in
contact, may be Abhi would have survived. What I hated the most in this story
is Ankita’s feelings toward Abhi. Abhi was just being helpless ‘coz Ankita was
leaving the city soon and may be it happens. At times we become weak, we become
empty to see the person drifting away from us, there’s a void which makes the
heart heavy with the guilt of nothingness. He just asked her to be in contact
but she was a rock. She didn’t reply and turned him off. That caused all the
troubles and may be that was the reason Abhi was found dead in the beach the
next morning. The waves bringing his body close to the shore.)
The story goes from one city to another when Ankita with all her hard work and determination makes it to her dream of MBA. But perhaps life had some other plan for her. she ended up being in a mental hospital.
This event followed a big mark on her because she
knew Abhi and loved him at some point of time. Why Abhi died nobody knew but
the reason of Abhi’s death was evident to Ankita.
She moved on to the next city with a broken heart
and when every thing was going good, her parents found out the ‘love letters’
and turn on her. In front of her they burnt the letters, from this, a huge bunch
of emotions filled her heart and thereon her problems arises. She begins to miss
he classes and college. She finds herself in a disturbing situation partly due
to her fault and partly due to destiny.
Read the story to know more about Ankita, Abhi and
Vaibhav. How did she managed herself with the episodes of mania and depression
is beautifully written in the book.
P.S.- it is
the story of Ankita’s illness and her fight with it. It is a story of will
power and establishes that even destiny can be overcome by determination. It is
a story of love and more a story of hope.
You won’t regret reading this book. J
Overall Rating- 4/5
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