Lemon Girl by Jyoti Arora; A Book Review.

Lemon Girl   A review

“It’s all your fault!”

The first line of the book is the theme of this dark disturbing novel on abuse. It is a love story. But this is no chic lit. It is a feminist story. But this is no political treatise. It is a protest story. But there are no ranting polemics.

Jyoti Arora’s second book, the self published Lemon Girl, a slim 168 page story of the destructive power of these words, which puts the onus of crime on the victim, and the spiralling self destructive vortex that can change a bubbling spirited girl into a guilt ridden masochist with suicidal tendencies.

The protagonist is Nirvi, with whom, like the hero and co narrator of the story Arsh, I fell in love. What looked like yet another college romance soon took a stark turn, and the protagonist’s narrative, a look into the tortured mind of a psychologically damaged victim bent on self destruction, sounds uncomfortably real.

A true to life ending would, in nine cases out of ten, be with the pointless and painful end of the victim. But Jyoti has, much to my relief, chosen the tenth. There is light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of love, the hope of which gives Nirvi ( a play on Nirbhaya?) the courage to live, and proclaim; “It is NOT my fault!”

This is a story of the gen Y, of techies and call centres; smart phones and blogs, of gaming and clubbing; of living together and anti corruption movement, but with the ancient shackles of conventional attitudes regarding gender roles, sexuality and morality still ruling their lives.

I do not wish to reveal more of the plot and urge the readers to do so themselves, ordering the book on Amazon or Flipkart, or order it at your friendly neighbourhood bookshop at about Rs 250 or less. It would be worth your time.

<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23588660-lemon-girl&#8221; style=”float: left; padding-right: 20px”><img alt=”Lemon Girl” border=”0″ src=”https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1416398248m/23588660.jpg&#8221; /></a><a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23588660-lemon-girl”>Lemon Girl</a> by <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5028317.Jyoti_Arora”>Jyoti Arora</a><br/>
My rating: <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1172197498″>4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />

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<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/12991790-soumya-mukherjee”>View all my reviews</a>