“Teenage Diaries – The Days that Were” is the debut novel of Saurabh Sharma. The book follows the story of Ghanshyam right from his birth(!) to his life in 12th standard.
Having given the name “Diaires” in the title, it gives the author complete freedom to go hop jump skip from one incident to the next incident without being burdened with the obligation of providing a connective narrative to bind them together.
Which is not saying that it’s a bad thing. It is quite enjoyable for most part of the book and Saurabh does wield a mean pen with a good sprinkling of humor. The book starts of in a bit of a sluggish manner when the formative years of Ghanshyam is narrated but picks up very well during his 9th-12th standard phase.
I was pleasently surprised to see that the protagonist is a pessimistic nerd and the obligatory side kick of a friend is an optimistic guy who’s gung ho about everything. However, this status does change as the narrative progresses because hey..you got to also get the story to sell.
The stories are the usual mix of crushes, love stories, light hearted banter, fear and love of parents, heart break and epiphanies which follow heart breaks. It was irksome initially when Ghanshyam comes out unscathed from most of the tight corners. All this off course is forgotten when Ghanshyam gets into a series of bad situations which conveniently culminates into the story’s climax.
The unimaginative title and the slim volume may discourage a serious reader, but there’s a good narrative going with nice humor. If the characters were more fleshed out and if some of the melodramatic theatrics of the parents in some scenes were built up better, this would’ve been a real winner. For me, the book borders on being an above average fare.
filluM$ boOK$ & gYan 