Book Review: Rafflesia: The Banished Princess by Gautam

Book: Rafflesia: The Banished Princess

Author: Gautam

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Leadstart Publishing

Price: 395

Pages: 397

Blurb:

"Rafflesia: The Banished Princess"

The curtains draw up. Lights are dimmed. The musical is about to begin. As the beautiful princess descends on stage, the mythical creatures from her kingdom come alive. Flickers of brilliant colors
blaze across as mesmerizing music pulsates from one corner of the theatre to the other. A fairy tale is about to unfold…

As young children, we often come across things that stay in our hearts forever. For Appu, it is a fairy tale about a beautiful princess. He lives with her in a world filled with the magical creatures from her kingdom until the real world beckons. A reluctant Appu steps into it as a striking young man and struggles to find his place.

What follows is an evocative tale of love and loss, friendship and betrayal, as the story travels through the snow-peaked mountains of Arunachal to the golden deserts of Jaisalmer, the tulip gardens of
Holland to the lush greens of Kerala. Does Appu find what he had set out for? The answer lies in Rafflesia — The Banished Princess because in her story, lay his!"

Review:

The book Rafflesia is a very well knitted tale, surrounding a bunch of people who have a very different side, very peculiar way of behaving in the book, which makes the book a really enjoyable treat. From the very start the book travels in two dimensions.

Well, the trend of playing with flashbacks is so much in trend that it didn’t came as a surprise. The author managed both the scenarios with perfection and everything was complementing the larger picture in the long run.

I particularly enjoyed the flashback more than the present world because it had a lot of sincerity and pieces that were so innocent and emotional that it was so easy to connect with them. I always waited for the bigger Appu to vanish and smaller version of him to appear and tickle me everywhere with his little doings.

The characters in the book were of great range and I enjoyed them beyond any limits. I loved Appu, I adored Rahul, and I loved their mothers and their fathers. It was a great family saga written in a very simplistic manner which kept the pace moving with ease. Not at one point I felt bored but yes the book was extended without any specific need.

Also I felt that there was a need to decipher the meanings of the phrases used in a foreign language in brackets or at the end of the book because due to that the connectivity was broken and that is one reason why I sometimes wanted to skip the narration that dealt with the life of a grown up Appu.

Good part about the book is that it is relatable. It is easy to wear Appu’s shoes if you are an Indian kid. The appearance of such part is really enjoyable. The book tells you how Indian kids are so unique, they have a very different way to deal with things or rather they are brought up that way.

The hardship, the turmoil’s, the people accompanying the shy and reserved Appu is really delightful. If and only if some parts were trimmed while editing, some phrases were re-told so that they became understandable, the book could have reached the zenith.

Still it is a great read with right amounts of everything. The good thing is that it can attract any reader irrespective of her or his choices.

About the author:

A B-School graduate, Gautam is a business analyst by profession. Considers the laptop as among his best friends and nurses a secret desire to turn an entrepreneur someday.

Buy the book:

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