A Quest for Spring by Monica Mujumdar Dixit

Publication Date: September 12th 2017

Publisher: Notion Press

Read Date: February 20th 2018

Genre: Romance

Pages: 402

Stars: 4.5/5

Blurb∼∼

‘A Quest for Spring’ was a quest for love, happiness, contentedness, and completeness in life of characters.

I went into book with the thought that it’s romance book and there will be lot of talk about love but I was surprised and it was good and pleasant one. Story was mainly about trust, betrayal, friendship, jealousy, and love. It was more than just romance. It covered many small topics including political issues, religious differences, terrorism, family loss, mental issues, loveless marriage, divorce. Story was narrated in third person perspective and was divided in four parts covering 20 years of life span and love story of Amolika and Raehan.

Amolika– was ambitious, smart and self-centered person. Her life goal and carrier was most important for her that I found very admirable. Initially this nature of her looked little negative but as I read more about her I could understand her perspective. Her justifications for her decisions felt realistic. I liked how she turned out a strong female character of the book. Her love for her family, friends and Raehan was remarkable. She was not that selfish as she looked initially and the biggest reason I can give was what she did for her Kaka (uncle) and Raehan. No matter how much a person is selfish for the rest of the world, there are always selected people in their life for whom they can do anything and are ready to put their second nature (selfishness) aside. This character showed it wonderfully.

Raehan– He never got love from his family not in way that a child should get and rarely shared his feelings to others. Though his thoughts were little different from Amolika, she was the only one in his world who could make him look at things with different perspective, she brought out the best things in Raehan. With her he developed tremendously and without her there was so much coldness in him. He was caring, kind, and gentleman.  

Both main characters and other side characters were flawed but they were likable (except Vikram, I never liked him from the very beginning) and realistic. Oh I loved Millie and Dhruv as well as Naazish. Friendship between Millie and Amolika was most lovable, I so envy it that I want to be a part of this small group.

The prologue was wow. To be honest I wasn’t expecting it just by reading blurb. It was so interesting that I wanted to read Amolika and Raehan’s story from the beginning that started in past in 1997 narrating how Amolika and Raehan met, how their friendship and relationship developed, what went wrong how they parted which was also surprising. Though I knew this was going to happen but not exactly how I thought.

I loved poetry and the mention of all the famous events and persons during this time frame of story in the book. Romance throughout the book was clean, appropriate for any age group. I loved the relationship between main characters, it was adorable. I binge read this book. I finished 400 pages in 2 and half days which is highly unlikely of me. It kept me awake till 3 a.m. It was great page turner and emotional roller coaster. I loved the way author justified the title of the book. How the events and phases of life were compared to seasons, it felt so appropriate and reasonable for the story. I specifically loved last lines of the book expressing the title, it  was awesome.

I loved to know characters in this first part of the book. I literally could feel for Amolika. I could understand her feelings and turmoil. It was real hard for her from the very beginning and I could see where story was going how it was going to end and who will be most affected by all. Part-I was so beautiful and also sad at the same time.

There was so much sadness in second part. I don’t like Indian parents being so typical, I don’t know about other countries but in India this is every child’s nightmare. I didn’t like the way Amolika’s kaka was pushing her for marriage and what happened after that, God! I just didn’t like those two characters Vikram and Kaka (maybe he was being parent but still wrong is wrong, this mentality is not right). Ahhh, as expected Kaka felt guilty of what happened, at last he confessed it and told Amolika what he should have in the very beginning (why parents do this!). But I liked that part, It was something that every parents should understand and implement in their life and should say it to their children before its too late. I really felt bad for Amolika. The feelings- anger, sadness and hopelessness- was so intense that I could deeply feel it.

Third part, and another phase of life where two separated person meet after long time of heart break which is still fresh and unhealed. This portion of the book included politics, doubts and suspicion, hatred and coldness of characters. It was like everything was crumbling in already crumbled life. I loved Amolika at this point of book. She was so remarkable, more strong and determined person. I was thinking what happened to Raehan because till this part and almost majority of the book was focused around Amolika. Here I got to know about life of Raehan how he turned out after the separation. Honestly by the end of this portion I didn’t know what will happen next.

The fourth part of the book was unpredictable and in this part there was the actual development in Raehan. It focused on depression and later how he accepted the changes in the life, came to terms with the past and Amolika’s betrayal, he realized his mistakes and love. This part was full of emotions. Climax was okay not that drastic but was good. After so much sadness there was feel good factor in this part and loved the way book ended.

Conversations at some point were repetitive. End was little stretched. I didn’t like some characters disappeared suddenly like Sameer and Dhruv. Otherwise story was great. There were some punctuation and spacing errors but I don’t bother much while I read, those who are sensitive for such errors might feel it irritating.

Overall, this was compelling, fast paced, thought-provoking, spell-binding life journey and love story of Amolika and Raehan, covering many issues and with many messages that any age group would love to read it. I recommend this book to everyone who find it interesting.

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*** Note: I received this book from the author, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to author for the copy and giving me chance to read this book. ***

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