I don’t know what I want to talk about – the foolish ending or the fact that it made me cry at a point? The gloominess and goriness of the details or the fact that it all seemed way too real and possible at times. What should I talk about? Let’s start with the boy with a broken heart by Durjoy Datta.
Second part to this duology (not really) after The Boy Who Loved, Durjoy Datta has brought to you the same canny, sarcastic, thoughtful and suicidal character – Raghu Ganguly. It has been two years since the fateful night when he couldn’t save his love – Brahmi Sharma. Much has changed but Raghu? What is he like now? Is he any different? Is he still suicidal?
The boy with a broken heart is again written in the form of a diary but written by a young woman from Dehradun, the queen of the thieves, the not so intelligent but full of cuteness, the young and hopeful – Advaita (how do you really pronounce it?).
Set in a world where families show their demonic side, Advaita captures all that goes through in many Indian households – casteism, animal like behaviour towards the lower caste people, homosexuality and the Indian answer to that, rumours, conspiracies and much more. One thing you notice about the book, just like the first one, is how there are so many society issues touched upon with this one book – friendship, betrayal, slut shaming, discrimination due to religion, local goons and lots of tragedies that never let the under-privileged hold on to their hope and break them into a million pieces, a million times.
The writing style, however, isn’t what you will expect after reading the Boy Who Loved. The Boy With A Broken Heart, with a change in narrator, misses those sad poetic phrases laced with sarcasm and social commentary. I mean, they were my favourites in the last book. However, I did like the cute and simple style of writing Advaita has. It may not be as good as the first book, I still found it flowy and gripping.
There are many more characters in this book as compared to the last one and there are several instances which bring out different reactions from you.
You feel disgusted at times and you feel anger at times.
You hate the way Adavita and her family is treated. You hate the conspiracies and pure hatred for this family.
You hate the family plotting and discrimination.
You hate the character Meghnad for how pathetic, and yet so real he seems to be.
Yes, there was a point when I questioned about something happening in the real-life scenario and honestly, I wouldn’t like to debate over it for the fact is, it did what it should have done to the reader – it made you feel disgusted, and slightly scared (for Adavita).
And then the two worlds meet – Dehradun and Delhi. When that happens, it really brings in a new perspective towards the characters you know from the Boy Who Loved It.
On a side note, it really tells you how perspectives make such a difference. How two people can be very different characters in the stories of two different people.
And then, after I cried a bit, the book ends. I wouldn’t say I was happy with the ending. It seemed foolish and it has left me with too many questions. Maybe it’s the intrigue that’s bringing the negative feeling or maybe, it was a bit foolish (or you can say a bit ‘filmy’).
Overall, I feel it was again a good read and a nice sequel to The Boy Who Loved. Go read The Boy Who Loved if you haven’t read it and then pick this book if you’re interested to know what happens next!
My Ratings 4/5 stars
