Journey Across the Street by Madhusudhan R.

Pages : 156 pages

Publisher : White Falcon Publishing

Genre : Fiction

Language : English

“Sooner or later, like a boomerang, everything makes it way back to us. Everything is redirected towards its origin, every action rewarded; one by one or all at once”

Journey Across the Street is a story of love and friendship with an element of suspense in it. Two people, Goutham and Rhea, become friends as children, only to stop speaking to each other eventually over a tussle and then reconciling after 14 years.

Their personalities are stark opposites but they bond well despite their differences. Rhea has a mysterious nature and a troubled life whereas Goutham is a fairly simple guy with a normal life.

This book made me go through a myriad of emotions throughout the story. There were carefree moments of fun which one experiences while being with college friends with their ongoing banter, there was a wave of nostalgia that overwhelmed me while reading a very simple yet effective description of Goutham’s childhood, the feeling of elation that accompanies love, all along with an air of nail-biting anticipation.

The story has been narrated by Goutham so it’s his perspective that you get to see the world from. While I feel that he was a good choice for the narrator of the story, given his sorted mind and his neutral personality, I would have loved to get into the head of Rhea, who clearly had far more to offer as a character than Goutham. Maybe, if I had gotten to read Rhea’s perspective, I would have liked her somewhat better. That being said, I would like to make it clear that I didn’t hate her either. I felt she was too confusing sometimes and went a little overboard with her philosophies and grand quotes about life which also slowed the pace of the story down. I don’t mind slow paced stories, but I was really enjoying reading the book until Rhea’s and Goutham’s conversations started getting a bit dull.

“Maybe it would not have been the same if were together all these years, but we weren’t and that’s what made is so special”

But the book is relatively short so this phase didn’t last very long and to my relief the story resumed its pace, rather it became even more of a page turner than before with things going haywire and the mystery factor finally kicking in with full force.

As is my habit, I was trying to guess the suspense all along, my mind formulating and rejecting the solutions it kept coming up with and finally as the truth is unveiled, I mentally chide myself for not being able to put a finger on what was so obvious but then, the story wouldn’t have been as racy as it was.

This book holds an engaging story that becomes somewhat slow and a little too philosophical in between and has a character that is endearing and annoying in an equal measure with some unexpected turn of events.

The writing is as easy to follow as it is effortless.

My Rating – 3.5/5 Stars

Want to get this book? Get it here.