[Book Review] "A Waiting Wave" by Kulpreet Yadav

When I first looked at A Waiting Wave, I got the impression that this might be one of those tourist guides to Andaman, thanks to the real life pictures of some glorious beaches on the cover page.

You know, when you start reading a novel where the lead character gets lost in wilderness of the archipelago in Andamans, you may excused for smacking your lips in public for the delicious plot that the novel serves you with. The book starts promisingly, but gets dragged down by too much of dramatic clichés and becomes just another novel.

Our hero, Harry, depressed with the problems in his marriage, takes a solitary ride in the Bay of Bengal only to thrown into chaos by the deadly tsunami and goes missing. Harry’s determined wife Kareena goes in search of him. The story follows the couple’s hardships (and many others’ too) post tsunami in a devastated Andaman.

I liked the author’s style. Despite being cliched and trying to be sarcastically funny at most unexpected of times, the flow is very extraordinarily smooth. The story telling alternates between narration (Harry) and third-person style (Kareena) with ease, the former style being much superior to the latter. Harry’s adventures were interesting, however were too short to be memorable.

To be honest, the book had a hell  a lot of potential. Had this book been thrice it’s current length and been painstakingly detailed on Harry’s (mis)adventures in tsunami affected Andamans, it could very well have been classic.

A Waiting Wave is recommended for 3 to 5 hour travels. A entertaining, smooth and a short read.

P.S: I’m obviously getting tired by the concept of a very ordinary insecure guy ending up with a very hot-beautiful girl. Not that I’m against it, but it is just that everyone follows the same formula. It never happens to me or to my friends! Can’t anyone ever write about a normal guy falling in love with a very normal looking girl?

Disclaimer : The author requested to review the book in this blog.