The Diary on the Fifth Floor-Raisha Lalwani

Book: The Diary on the Fifth Floor

Author: Raisha Lalwani

Publisher: Rupa Publications

The Diary on the Fifth Floor opens with a woman rushing for an appointment with a doctor. We meet Ms. Khanna (Not using her first name for a reason) who has pleaded with Dr. Rama Berry, a psychiatrist, a lot to schedule an appointment and hence we see her rushing towards the hospital despite of a huge traffic jam. Finally reaching the doctor’s office on the Fifth Floor of the hospital, we are then introduced to “The Diary”. The book is basically a collection of diary entries that help us understand the character of Ms. Khanna better. There are some fictional as well as true incidents from the life of Ms. Khanna that make up this diary.

Some accounts are thrilling, some are sad and some are plain cruel. From a story where a woman leaves her infant at home but finds her on a busy street in an unexpected turn of events to another woman, who wakes up on a flight, befuddled in strangest of circumstances, there is an assortment of events which are connected by a common thread-sadness. This brings us to understand the state of the mind of Ms. Khanna and her reason for visiting Dr. Berry. Over 4 sessions, we see a change in the mind of Ms. Khanna as Dr berry helps her understand the positive side of things.

The ending of the book is unexpected and poignant and is in fact in line with the tone of the book.

The blurb of “The Diary on the Fifth Floor” makes it out to be a thriller, with the questioning undertones and the title itself making you believe that, but in fact, that is not the case. For me the thing that worked in the book was the honesty of the author and the simplicity of the events that take place. The emotions and the feelings of the sub-plots can be felt. Some of the quotes of the book are nice and relatable as well.

The thing that did not work for me was the abruptness of the sub-plots, weak connection between events and an unconvincing ending. The book could have been a lot better of the psyche of Ms. Khanna could have been explored further. Dr. Berry was a wonderful character but unfortunately, she had a truly small part in the plot.

All in all, a decent read. I would rate the book 3/5.