Author: Arpit Vageria
Publisher: Srishti Publications
Do you think the lockdown brought about a
material change in our lives and the way we look at things?
The Girl Next Door by Arpit Vageria is the story of Ishaan, a guy who had vowed never
to return to his place of birth, his hometown after what happened one fateful
night and Ruhi, a well-known choreographer and the Chief Minister’s daughter. Both
of them had led separate lives in the city of Mumbai but when a lockdown was
imposed to cope with the impact of the Aquavirus, both of them travel back to
Bhopal. As their eyes meet across the roofs, love starts to blossom, the 90s
way. Would they cross roofs and meet, or would they fall victim to the
lockdown?
The plot of the story is quite contemporary with Arpit picking up the current scenario of the lockdown to base his story on. The story is the usual boy-meets-girl, only this time the setting is a bit different. The concept of the story seems good, but it fails on the execution aspect. The scenes of the story seem disconnected and the plot suffers from gaps that reduce the reading experience. The style of narration used by Arpit is quite innovative and when the reason comes to light, it is quite shocking and provides context to the entire thing. The one thing that did not work for me in the book was that some of the scenes seeming forced and uncalled for. It is a quick read and good if you are looking for one. The climax was good but could have been better.
Coming to the characters, a good backstory
was provided for the Agarwal family to behave the manner they did, and a lot of
context was provided for the same. Ishaan’s character curve was interesting,
and I loved his treatment in the story. I would have loved to have Ruhi’s perspective
of the story as well and it would have given a completely new dimension to it.
Nakul as a character did confuse me and his arc did not seem that clear to me.
Overall, the book scores a 3.19 for me.
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