Book Review: The Guardian Angels by Rohit Gore

At a time when there are so many young and upcoming authors, there are a few like authors Rohit Gore who make a mark for themselves, through their books.  Previously I’d read ‘The Circle of Three’ by the same author and I was happy to see Indian authors write such wonderful novels. I started this book, ‘The Guardian Angels’ with a lot of expectations and I’m pretty sure that author has done justice to it. Both to the book and to my expectations.

‘The Guardian Angels’ is the story of the lives of Aditya and Radha. The story starts with Aditya Mehta, the introvert and the son of a billionaire. Adi is a recluse and despite wanting to socialize he forces himself to stay alone. He then meets Radha Deodhar at school. Radha is the exact opposite of what Adi is. She is very smart and proactive and is brought up by her father who believes in socialism. They instantly become friends in school; they help each other walk through the troubles at school, college and in real life. Later in their life, having known each other for almost two decades, they still struggle to find the right name for their relationship.

The book deals with their friendship and how both of them live in an almost parallel universe. The cricket obsessed high profile Adi and the socialism obsessed Radha. Though their worlds are totally different, there is some force which binds them and keeps them together. The same force which helps both of them read each other minds, irrespective of the distance between them.  They understand each other better than their families, and yet their identities seem to be at war, at all times. How they help each other face the numerous obstacles in each of their lives, and whether they successfully find a name for their relationship forms the rest of the story.

The narration of the story takes place in the form of Radha’s journal, with Adi’s account of events at regular intervals. The writing style is simple and it keeps the reader flipping through the pages. The story though simple in its terms, is conveyed in a wonderful way. The author has brought out the differences in the lifestyles of the two of them in a very subtle manner and you sense the slow and gradual transformation of the characters from kids to teenagers to adults. As you move into the depth of the plot, it makes it difficult to put the book down.

Overall, a wonderful and a different read. I would recommend people to read this book.