Book Review: Love Lasts Forever By Vikrant Khanna

The book I picked up this week for reading was ‘Love Lasts Forever’ by Vikrant Khanna. I bought it a month ago but never read it and eventually forgot about it. After reading some of the books from my priority list, I found this one lying in my cupboard and picked it up as my next read. I remember the day when I ordered this book online, I’d just came across it and on finding that the protagonist of this book was a seafarer (just like me) and the author himself is a Captain by profession, I started getting an urge for reading it. It hardy took a minute and I ordered it online, since then it was kept in my cupboard along with other books.

When I picked it up, I thought that I’ll finish it by a week or so (keeping my reading habits in mind) I usually read slowly and only for an hour or two, I read a few chapters and then leave the rest for the next day. However it took me three days to finish ‘Love Lasts Forever’ and the reason for that was the story. It was a total page turner and I wasn’t able to take my mind off of it. I ended up leaving the book the very first day I started reading it, I read a couple of chapters and left it for next day. On second day the story took its turn and I wasn’t able to let the book go, I finished around 70 percent of book on day two, then I came to Part III of the story and forced myself to get some sleep (I usually read late nights) – though it was hard to let go of the book but I wanted to build up some suspense. Third Day, I read the entire Part III and finished the book, FYI I just finished the book and am writing this review.

The Plot of Love Lasts Forever (No Spoilers)

The plot was simple and exciting, a guy named ‘Ronit’ meets a girl named ‘Aisha’ at his naval pre-sea training graduation day. She is the sister of their batch mate named ‘Priyank’ or Priyanka as they like to call (Ronit & Joe Singh- his batch mate and best friend). Priyank is a guy who used to get bullied and was a regular victim of Ronit & Joe Singh’s pranks. At first sight, Ronit falls in love with Aisha and decides that he’ll marry her. After spending time together while they were dating, Aisha & Ronit, both fall for each other. Ronit proposed Aisha a couple of times, but she refused every time saying that they’re too young to get married and should wait for some more time.

After seven years or dating, finally she accepts his proposal and they get married (of course they struggled convincing their parents and others), So finally they’re married but the love starts wearing off right after they get married, after a week of tying knot, they’re wondering ‘Why the hell they got married in first place?’ – The situation worsens and after four months of marriage, their relationship comes to an edge of divorce. Ronit frustration takes the sky and he decides to leave the house, so that he can get a break from household affairs. He takes an assignment on a ship and leaves.

The seven year old love turns to hatred just after four months of marriage. Ronit decides to divorce her wife, as soon as he goes back.

After two weeks of boarding the ship, their ship gets hijacked by Somali pirates. Now he is trapped on a ship with ghoulish, in-human creatures, for whom killing people is like scratching their balls. Will he survive? Will he be able to save his marriage? Will love last forever or he’ll end up divorcing his wife? What will happen next? Read the book for answers.

My Review for Love Lasts Forever

So that was the plot, from here I will start my review for the book. Please Note, from this point I will talk about the events which took place in the story, I might talk about the suspense and twists, so if you don’t want to hear spoilers then go read the book first and then continue reading this review. This was just a warning, after this I’m not responsible for ruining this lovely story for you :P

First of all the story was well written and was beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every page of the book. Initially it seemed like any other love story but once it took shape, it was difficult for me to even keep the book down. I loved the way the author penned the story, it was such a delight going through it. However I found some parts to be poorly written and inappropriate, I would’ve loved if those parts weren’t so exaggerating. Overall the story was a page-turner and did well. The Author used an easy language which was fun to read, he explained the situations very well and you can almost feel like a movie running in front of your eyes.

The main characters were strong and had a great presence, I felt that Joe Singh’s involvement in the story was low and would’ve loved to see more from him. Priyank definitely sounded gay. Ronit played his part well and at times Aisha sounded like a bitch, but still had a strong presence. My favorite characters from the book were Shekhar & Shikha. I was more hurt seeing Shekhar & Shikha separate than seeing Ronit & Aisha. Overall I loved the characters, each had a dark side and played an important part in the story.

At some points in the story, the author tried to add some humor and punch lines. They were good but at a point I think the author overdid them. For example the Toothpaste-in-Ass part. This happened four times throughout the book, the first time was hilarious, the second time it was cold revenge, the third time it was again ok but I didn’t buy the fourth time (I’ll come to that later). Other things which I think author overdid were; Aisha’s sudden behavior change after marriage. Right from the point she said “When are these clowns going to leave?” she sounded like a bitch. Then the things got exaggerated with the Honeymoon, I agree she had here plans which got ruined, but that is no way of behaving with husband. She had objections all the time and the way she snatched Ronit’s wallet for taking money and the way she burned his hard earned cash on useless things, I hated her. The things worsen when they came back home, the fights etc. I thought the author overdid it. I know it was important for the story but I think still it was a bit too much. I felt it to be at a point above which it would’ve started looking unreal.

When Aisha demanded Gold and Ronit brought her ‘Gold Biscuits’ because he thought that it was a great investment. I laughed uncontrollably. Seriously it was one of the best punch lines from the book.

The best part of the story, if you ask me, was the love story of Shekhar & Shikha. I was really touched by their story until it took the ugly turn, I was heartbroken then.

It was a pain reading the part when Shikha started behaving rudely with Shekhar. I felt like it was happening to me, there were questions popping out of my head, how could someone behave like that to a person who is madly in love with them? How could someone forget everything they had and start behaving like they never knew each other? And a lot more... Anyways it ended in divorce, I was shocked at that. I found the reaction of Shekhar very natural and hated Shikha for doing that to him.

When the story took its final turn and Ronit got Shikha’s Diary – I was really emotional after finding the real story behind Shekhar & Shikha’s dispute. On hearing she died after two months of separation, the rest of the story was predictable. Even I predicted the role of cancer or any other deadly disease which made Shikha take such harsh steps. I even convinced myself that she was having an extra-marital affair but as the truth unfolded, I was very touched with Shikha’s part.

At that part when Ronit realizes his love with Aisha and decides to give their marriage a second chance, I was really hoping for that to happen. Then after surviving eleven months of torture with Somali pirates, finally he goes to Aisha for a second chance. I hated the expression of Aisha, she behaved rudely (obviously unaware of the hijack, she thought that his husband forgot her as he never called in eleven months) and even after knowing about the hijack her response seemed unreal.

“Oh, Really?” was her reaction, I was expecting that she’ll hug him tight and sob but nothing like that happened.

She looked cold hearted. After all that drama, she sat down on the couch and kept the cold expression, still no reaction from her side. I felt bad for Ronit, even after going through such harsh times, torture, no proper food and almost got killed, he was still the one begging to Aisha to come back in his life and Aisha looked like she didn’t give any shit. I agree that Aisha needed an apology from Ronit but what Ronit did, it looked like he is begging her and she isn’t buying. I wondered why she didn’t felt any pity towards Ronit, he already went through a lot and she is still mad at him. At last she agreed but still needed Ronit to pay a price. Yes the fourth Toothpaste-in-ass episode happened here and not only toothpaste, this time the recipe also included chili and other hot spices.

Are you fucking kidding? What the hell was that? First you behave rudely to a person who already went through a lot, then you make an already troubled person beg, then you trouble him even more by shoving chili and toothpaste up in his ass! What kind of thing is that?

I seriously didn’t liked the end. I don’t think Ronit did anything for which he deserved such a punishment. I agree Ronit wasn’t very supportive after marriage but Aisha wasn’t even right either. If she complained that Ronit didn’t call her in eleven months then even she hadn’t called him during that period, so I don’t think Ronit deserved that abuse. An apology and a bit of pleading would’ve been enough.

I think the author exaggerated this part too.

Also what I didn’t like was the forcefully added “Joe Singh’s relationship with a Chinese bar dancer cum prostitute” – This again seemed unreal and too stupid to be funny. He could’ve made him fall in love with some regular girl, like his neighbor or some old friend etc. Why Chinese prostitute? That part was again stupid.

Priyank got married to a manly girl! Again a desperate attempt of making it funny, I didn’t find it funny at all.

Anyways Aisha and Ronit once again were together and I was happy for that. The end wasn’t as I expected but anyways it ended in a happy ending and I was happy for that.

Verdict

So this was my honest opinion about the book, this is what I felt like after reading the book, the feeling might be different for you. I don't think myself capable of rating a book because every book has some emotions and every reader feels them in a different way. I may like it, you may not and vice versa. So lets talk about 'Love Lasts Forever' - I loved reading it. One of the reasons which made me glued to the book was the atmosphere on the ship, since I'm too a seafarer, I can understand how it feels to be trapped on a ship under life threat of pirates for years. I can understand what the characters might be going through while the ship was hijacked. 

Instead of dragging this review more, I would like to conclude it here. You can go and enjoy this amazing story. If you still want me to rate it on a scale of 5 then Love Lasts Forever will be a 3.

Rating: 3 out of 5