Book Review: That Thing Called Love by Tuhin A. Sinha

Book Name: That Thing Called Love

Author: Tuhin A. Sinha

Publisher: Rupa Publications

Blurb: 

That Thing Called Love is a novel that explores the complexities of love and the different factors impacting relationships. The story is set in Mumbai during the monsoon season.

Mayank, Anil and Vishal work for a leading matrimonial website. For three guys working on a match-making website, their own love lives are far from ideal. Mayank Sahai, the ad-sales manager of the website, finds it difficult to identify the perfect match for himself. Vishal is consistently unfaithful to his wife. Anil’s wife is still unloading emotional baggage from a past relationship onto him.

Mayank begins to realise how trivialised relationships have become in contemporary society. Couples complicate their lives by fixating on small problems and misunderstandings without trying to work out a compromise.

However, Mayank still refuses to give up his dream of finding a soul mate. Unfortunately, when he does come across a woman who seems to be the one he is looking for, she is already married. Still, they enter into a relationship without knowing or even thinking about where it will lead and how it will affect their lives.

Review:

I picked up this book from my town library for I found the blurb interesting. I started reading it as soon as I reached home. I finished reading this novel in three hours and here I am with my review.

The story has two main characters- Mayank and Revathi. Mayank is a working for a matrimonial site and has been recently engaged to a girl named Nikita. He is having second thoughts about getting married to her for he still feels and thinks about the only relationship of his life - Shweta. Revathi is a married lady and has a daughter. She is working with very famous Shagun: An ultimate destination for wedding shopping. She is having differences with her partner. Yes! A troubled marriage. What happens when Mayank and Revathi meet each other? Who falls in and out of love? 

The blurb seemed to be very interesting but the story wasn't up to that mark. The story has been narrated very well. The flow of events and their narration is really good. The thing that is missing in this one is 'connectivity'. I did not feel connected with the characters. The story also mentions about the life of Mayank's friends which I felt were dumped into this story for the heck of it. Just when Mayank's and Revathi's story grew interesting, his friend's story spoilt all the excitement. Also, the story has no mentions about his friends' lives towards the end.

Likes:

• Mayank's expressive behaviour.
• Pranav's and Revathi's love story.

Dislikes:

• Arun's gay encounter (I didnot find it was necessary to detail his encounter with Aakash.)
• The ending (No proper closure was provided for many incidents.)

On the whole, I would like to conclude saying that 'That Thing Called Love' could have been made better.

I rate:

Cover: 3/5

Characters: 2/5

Story: 2/5

I rate That Thing Called Love with 2/5 stars.

You can book your copies here