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Sunday 10 May 2015




Date Published: February 20, 2015


Publisher: LiFi Publications Pvt. Ltd.

Pages: 204
Source: Review copy provided by Jahid Akhtar

Format: Paperback




Goodreads Synopsis


Devastated by the floods, Bipin and his little boy Tublu move to a faraway land, where they meet the Sharma’s. This marks the beginning of a long and enduring relationship between Bipin and the Sharma’s, and the growing friendship of their children Tublu and Maina. The book captures the journey of this friendship through childhood to adolescence and into adulthood. From some interesting school and college humor, the story progresses on and develops into a mature narrative. As years pass, Tublu’s plain and silent crush on Maina develops into deep love and longing for Maina which bears the potential to conquer all of life’s challenges. The story has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.



My Review



A couple of days ago, I found out about the book ‘Story of Tublu’ by Jahid Akhtar. The blurb of the book as given above made me curious. I contacted the author of the book and he was really kind enough to send me the review copy of the book. I really want to thank Jahid Akhtar for the review copy of the book. I really appreciate that.


The story of the book is quite the simple one and very beautiful one indeed. The story is about Tublu and Maina, two lead characters of the book, who fall in love over the course of time. I really enjoyed reading this beautiful story. The entire book is a story of Tublu and Maina and their love story and it is divided into chapters quite well. Every chapter of the book is, in a way, a phase of life of Tublu and Maina. Every chapter kind of tries to sum up the period of time in Tublu and Maina’s life and hence, the pace of the story seems a little faster. I must mention here that had it not been for the pace of the story, I would have enjoyed the book even more.


The language is quite simple and flows beautifully throughout the novel. I really enjoyed how in certain places the author has used Hindi dialogues. The best thing about Hindi dialogues was that there weren’t too many! Anything which is over-done loses its shine and the author has justice to this rule by not using too many Hindi Dialogues. Apart from a few places where the author missed to use spaces between the words, the language was wonderful and I really enjoyed the simplicity of it.


The best part about the book was how two beautiful children, Tublu and Maina, fell in love with each other over the course of time. Tublu is somewhat shy and taciturn and lacks the courage to tell Maina how he feels for her. The author has beautifully written a story about young love and how over the course of time it grows and matures. This is where the author has done an exceptionally great job! Apart from that, I also enjoyed the information about the region author himself grew up in. The author hails from Assam and he has beautifully given bits and pieces of information throughout the story about the North-East. For a person like me, who is born and brought up in Maharashtra, this information was really helpful in understanding the North-East a little better.   


Probably the only thing that turned me off was that there were spoilers in the ‘Foreword’ and ‘Introduction’ at the beginning itself. I mistakenly read them before I finished the novel and hence, the story became predictable for me. I would advise readers not to read this part of the book before finishing the novel. But although that is the case, I must mention here that the author has surprised me on many occasions with his brilliant twists and turns and made the story enjoyable.


I would be rating this wonderful first attempt by Jahid Akhtar as 3 out of 5 for writing such a beautiful story in simple and beautiful language. I recommend it to all those who enjoy a simple and beautiful story in simple language.


Note: I sincerely apologize to Jahid Akhtar for the delay in reviewing this wonderful book. I am truly touched by his generosity towards me by granting me more time in reading and reviewing the book. I really appreciate that.


Huge thanks to Jahid Akhtar for providing me the review copy of the book. I really appreciate it.


~RP