Sunday, June 2, 2013

Uff Ye Emotions Review: A cake for the chic lit lovers, but...




Book: Uff Ye Emotions
Authors: Vinit Bansal, Anjit Sharma, Abhilash Ruhela, Priyanka Dey, Saurabh Arya, C. Suresh, Pankaj Mittal, Rachna Seth, Sanhita Baruah, Stephen Anthony, Himanshu Chhabra, Drishti Dasgupta
Publisher: Mahaveer Publishers
Genre: Romance
Pages: 206
Price: Rs 139
Rating: 3.2 out of 5

Review: ‘Uff Ye Emotions’ is an anthology of 11 short stories, each written by a different author. True to the name, the stories all dabble in emotions albeit of a similar kind. Though, each story is an independent love story and most are readable, some even engaging, there is no story which attempts something fresh. Most stories suffer from cliché and explore the emotional side of young college-goers or the 21st century MNC employees. No author dares to tell an untold story, nobody shows the audacity, or the imagination, to stitch up a romance unheard of.

The only story that takes a slightly different path and makes the reader sit up and notice is Anjit Sharma’s ‘The Soulmate’. Though it opens up with the hint of yet another boy-girl mushy tale, it soon meanders over to a different genre. A bit thrilling, a tad spooky and a touch mysterious, ‘The Soulmate’ scores because of its convoluted plot and an engaging narration.

‘Love@Platform’, the opening story by Vinit K Bansal, is also absorbing. Its opening pages are heart-tugging, and even though it loses some of its charm in the subsequent pages, its climax is definitely not a hackneyed ‘happy ending’ stuff.

‘A Date with the Fate’ by Abhilash Ruhela is an ‘okay’ type tale. It is good, but not good enough. The writing is amateurish and the story lacks that punch. One can always read it in leisure, but it is not what we call an ‘unputdownable’ story.

Priyanka Dey, a blogger who has made a mark with her poems, authors the next tale titled ‘Reminiscences’. The story has several shades and ends beautifully on a poignant note. However, Dey has inked some truly amazing poems over the years and this story does not do full justice to her talent. She is definitely a far better poet than she is a story-teller.

The book accommodates a few other stories like ‘The Intercity Express’ (by Stephen Anthony), ‘Happily Ever After’ (by Sanhita Baruah) and ‘A Path of Thorns’ (by C. Suresh) amongst others.

Almost all the stories are similar in their theme and settings (incidentally many are set inside/outside a train/railway station). While some stories may touch you, some may just make for a light read. If you feed on chic lit romance, then this book will be a ‘paisa vasool’ (money’s worth). But if you love those chaste love stories portrayed by Austen, Bronte and Mitchell in their classics, then you will be a touch disappointed with this one. With simple and not-so-impactful English and an overdose of chic romance, “Uff Ye Emotions” may not quite elicit a happy “emotion” within you.




~Ritesh Agarwal


Note: Most of the authors who have contributed in this book are my fellow-bloggers and some are even friends/acquaintances. I congratulate each of you for getting published and reserving a space in literature. The review above may seem a bit harsh to some. But as a genuine reviewer, I need to be honest with my opinions. And the entire world knows, I am a harsh critic. I give a 2-3 star rating to many of my own stories. You guys still got 3.2   ;)



Update, 14th June, 2013 - I later discovered that I had missed out on one story titled 'Happily Ever After' by Sanhita Baruah. I dunno how I missed reading it. But having realized my folly, I read it later and found it to be surprisingly refreshing. With its unpredictable plot and a well-crafted climax, it stood out and, in my opinion, is the best story of the book.
On the light of this new discovery, I allot the rating of 3.4 to 'Uff Ye Emotions'.





23 comments:

  1. Dinno about this book Ritz...there was this 'get published' contest on Indi-these people are the winners right?! Even though I am not liking the. book much I would say that these bloggers have done a great job! Beautifully reviewed Ritesh! An honest review is something I really appreciate! :)

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  2. Thanks. No, this is not from that contest. This book has got nothing to do with IndiBlogger except for the fact that all the authors are bloggers

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    1. really? Great! :) But the caption says 'award winning entries' so i thought....very well :)

      Replied to your mail do check it :)

      Delete
    2. Ya, this was some contest organized by Mahaveer Publishers.
      Have checked and replied back. You check it :/

      Delete
  3. Loved the review. Highlighted both positives and negatives without giving away any spoilers.

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  4. you are a good reviewer :)
    I'll read this book soon..
    I am also friends with few of them, feels good to read people you know :)

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    Replies
    1. yup...You can read this...it makes for a decent light read :)

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  5. That's nice review prompting me to pick up the book. Thanks for sharing

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  6. thanx for an honest review.
    ANd making a mark definitely feels good! So I congratulate all of them, the fellow bloggers.

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    1. Hi Kislaya . Thanks dear.
      Yes, they have finally achieved what i still havn't. KKudos

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  7. That's one honest review. I want to read Priyanka's story as I like her style of writing.

    Cheers on being honest!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks s Saru. Yes, the book is not that bad after all. And Priyanka is certainly an accomplished writer... :)

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  8. Chick-lit is not a bad genre per se. Even Austen conforms to it one would say. But Indian chick-lit? I am afraid that is quite terrible and entirely avoidable.
    I think I have totally judged this book by its cover. I wish the publisher had chosen a title that at least showed some amount of seriousness to match the effort put in by our blogger-writer friends. How ghastly is this book title!

    http://reekycoleslaw.com/

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  9. Well, love stories are good...it's just nice to have different settings and not necessarily college romance...you are bang on there...the title of this book does not inspire respect...but some stories are really good

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  10. Thanks for reading and reviewing the book. :)

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  11. Thanks for the review and the update.. :)

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  12. Hi sanhita. Thanks for dropping by. Pleasure is mine :)

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  13. Hi Ritesh,

    Found this review from a random search. Good to see a highlight to my story.
    Thanks!

    Regards,
    -Anjit

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  14. hey anjit. congrats for the book. No probs. keep writing

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