Love, life & all that jazz by Ahmed Faiyaz

Love, life & all that jazz is the story of five friends Tania, Sameer, Vikram, Naina & Tanveer. Set in Mumbai the book traces the journey of each of the characters.

Tania & Sameer are college sweethearts going strong. However their rock solid relationship faces major hiccups when Sameer decides to move abroad for higher studies. Their long distance relationship is under strain but will their love survive?

Vikram belongs to a very wealthy & affluent family and is a supportive boyfriend to the aspiring model Naina. Things however take a bad turn for their relationship when Naina achieves new heights in her career leaving Vikram insecure. Who wins in this battle of relationship where both of them are wrong & both of them are right too.

Tanveer belongs to an orthodox & poor Muslim family. For him his family & its responsibilities is the soul purpose of his living. He falls in love with Tanaz the daughter of his Parsi landlord. All hell breaks loose when he discloses his relationship to his parents. Will his love make him choose a path that he would have never dreamt of?

Add to these stories the pressures of career, friendships & family and you have Love, Life & all that jazz up for you.

Will these love stories bloom? You need to read the book to know more.

The book for me is a connotation of life of today’s youth, their aspirations & way of living. The characters are well sketched and the fast pace of the book keeps you glued in. There will surely be instances which each of us can relate to; be it the pains of long distance relationship of Sameer & Tania or the professional troubles of Tanveer.

The book is very contemporary. The other thing which I liked about the book was the positivity in it & the way it ends. In real life we might not necessarily have a happy ending but at least in books we love to see optimism, what say?

However story wise; the book doesn’t rise beyond a point because at places it is predictable as a typical bollywood potboiler. The other problem that I had with the book was the narrative. I don’t know why but at places I felt I was reading a blog.

Despite all its constraints this debut book makes for a good time pass read (I had finished it in two stretches). The book is no literary masterpiece but makes for a good read on a rainy day or during traveling.

My Rating 2.75/5

Author: Ahmed Faiyaz
Publisher: Sanbun
Price: Rs. 150/- (available for 99/- at India Plaza)

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