A Couple of Choices by Ajesh Sharma

Review by Shwetha H S

Genre: Play, Drama
Imprint: Kindle edition
ASIN: B07836YLTW

Ajesh Sharma is an NRI writer residing in Canada. A Couple of Choices is his first play and first published work.

Alex is a writer living in seclusion, somewhere is outskirts of a city that is almost a jungle. Linda, his literary agent, is after him to know why his estranged wife, Phyllis, is visiting him after so many years. Alex is all ready to welcome Phyllis to his home as if she is coming to live with him forever. Even he doesn’t know why she is visiting him. Though Alex is not keen on it, Linda barges into his privacy and insists on meeting Phyllis. Linda wants to know if Phyllis is the inspiration behind the great female characters in Alex’s stories. After the meet and greet, Phyllis tells Alex the reason she is visiting him. Alex is saddened, angered and calm, all at the same time after listening to the reason behind Phyllis’ visit. What is that reason? Read (enact in your mind) A Couple of Choices to know the reason.

A Couple of Choices is a play with dialogues that sound like every day conversations. They are in layman language and not complicated. Moreover, it is about a topic with which most of us are familiar. In a short duration, this play tells you about the bonds that weren’t supposed to happen, weren’t supposed to break, weren’t supposed to renew. All this in an easy flow of dialogues and mannerisms. But I felt the ending was kind of abrupt. On the other hand, I feel the characters just moved on with their lives. Maybe I missed something the author has hinted. All in all, I enjoyed reading it.

Even if you are not into plays, do give A Couple of Choices a read. It is not some random script for a play that doesn’t know where it is taking its audience (or even readers). It is a beautifully scripted play that can teach anybody a thing or two about relationships. Do give A Couple of Choices a read.

Pluviophile by Aarohi Brar

Review by Shwetha H S

Pluviophile is a love story that would make you cuddle. You know it is going to be what you are thinking on your mind, but how is the question that keeps you reading it till the end. This love story with quite a few twists and turns as well as a fitting title is a perfect read during this monsoon.

What is exceptional about this story is the way it is narrated; two people narrating their point of view of the same story without clashing with each other is not only unique, but also saves people from exaggerating on the other’s point of view. This kind of narration reminds me of Jhumpa Lahiri’s story of Hema and Kaushik in her book of short stories called Unaccustomed Earth. Another plus point is fewer characters; it doesn’t burden your brain to remember to many characters and what they do. The number of characters is so less that you can count them on your fingers.

The one and only thing that is bothering me about Juliet’s emotions depicted in this story is how she can get involved with Derek while she is newly widowed, still genuinely mourning the death of her beloved husband, find out who Derek is and again go back to mourning about her dead husband. Let’s just blame it on her vulnerable situation. Apart from this, every other character is relatable. Pluviophile won’t disappoint you.