Book Review: A Wild Rose by Uzma Zafri

About the Book:

Ritu Anand. Vivacious television anchor envied by many, makes the biggest mistake of her life. A man is at the center of it all. Who is he? And why is he after her?
Ritu Anand is a strikingly beautiful and wealthy divorcee, all of 25 years. None but her parents and best friend in life, Sumbul, know the truth of her divorce. Her career too, had gone to dust thanks to her failed marriage and traumatic ill-health. To the rest of the world, Ritu maintains a façade of still being married. In an effort to piece her life together again, she goes back to being an anchorperson after 3 long year.
And a very important part of this new life becomes the enigmatic Anshuman Sinha. Not very tall and with an average physique, deep hazel eyes and sharp intense features, Anshuman is dangerous and irresistible – he is the very picture of 'Ritu's Man'. The devastatingly dashing ‘casanova’ soon has the ‘love starved- Ritu’ eating from the palm of his hand and dreaming of a picture perfect life with him. The gullible Ritu is soon weaving the tapestry of a picture perfect life, of a happily ever after with her lover. But there is her hidden past to deal with. What was the truth behind her sordid marriage? And coming to the present, what did she know about Anshuman at all?
264 pages

Published September 20th 2013 by Mahaveer Publisher

About the author:

Though she belongs to an affluent Muslim family, Uzma Jafri has been brought up in the most cosmopolitan way. A commerce graduate from Delhi University with a keen interest and active participation in public speaking helped her to chisel a career in the media world. A television Anchor by profession, she glows as a human being due to the unconditional support and love of her husband and child.

'A Wild Rose' is her debut humble attempt. Being a feminist at heart and in her actions, Uzma wrote this woman-centred fiction so that she could share her views with her readers. She is also a patron of the Non Profit ‘Serve Humanity Foundation, NGO’ which solely aims at serving humanity irrespective of colour, religion and culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89UsX4B15sI

My Review:

 The lasting impression that the novel makes is that it does not appear to be a tyro's work, so furnished is the expression of emotions. However, it is a lugubrious tale of a woman who is left emotionally crippled for a lifetime because of the games people play.

Usually the expectation from a first time author is to create a refreshing story, with a refreshing perspective, set in the contemporary times. Given that the plethora of love stories inundating the market only adds to the expectations, the mysteriously captivating cover and title and blurb of the book worked wonders to compel a reader to read with captivation, engrossed in the story.

Gripping, the novel surely was. The characters have a tale to narrate

The ending is harshly disappointing and the elements governing it are highly regressive, not to say, to an extent, anti-feminist. At the risk of sounding too acrimonious, tears refuse to come even at the misfortune that befell the gullible, credulous, naive Ritu because we certainly expect a better substance of character. The author crafts a character which is utterly impossible, because for one she is a successful woman, talented and in possession of all one could aspire for, yet somehow it seems highly improbable that after having faced so much deception in a farce marriage before, she could so easily be guiled into yet another vicious deception, a snare that she willingly let herself into. It was so explicit to even a restless reader-spectator that Anshuman had done all acts to raise suspicion, and that he should have been raided by the girl for a test of fidelity. However, the author had anything else in mind. The better part is that it has been written convincingly, though. Her friend Sumbul has been an endearing character and also lends a great deal of conviction to the plot.

The language is both simple and adorned with some enjoyable phrases. It is an easy read, and one is satiated for the desire to read because it finishes within a couple of hours and yet leaves you exhausted if you venture under the skin of the characters. That is something commendable, which not many authors can do.

The Urdu poetry is another icing on the cake, but the icing has been used with miserliness, we crave for more, so that it can have its desired effect.

The book, on the whole is not a masterpiece, but a good read, nevertheless.

Best line: Cappuccino tasted better that day as it was brewed with a cosy tete-a-tete between two best friends.

And of course, the metaphor of love and a wild rose is impeccably impressive.