** Note: This review may contain sections inappropriate for young readers

I won this book in a giveaway so I had no idea what this book was about. But the main reason why I decided to enter the giveaway in the first place was its title. Don’t you think the title is different and suspenseful?


Well, the THC stands for The Holistic Center. It’s a fictional center setup in the story where the broken hearts are cured, those looking for closure get insights and return to the world with repaired soul. Basically, they do the treatments for both physical and mental problems of the patient by some unique methods of their own. I don’t know about you, but it sounds a little too fictional to me, isn’t it?

Plot

There are three main characters in this book around whom the story revolves – Samar, Sanjaneka, and Varun. All of them are in their mid-forties (though the cover shows that they all are young). Each person has their own problems. Samar is a chain smoker and going through impotence. Sanjaneka has Osteoporosis (pain in joints) and Genophobia (fear of sex). Varun was suffering through Insomnia and depression. All three of them decides to come to THC for their treatment and meet there at a coffee table. The story then develops upon the past of each of them, as each one of them tells their story in a different manner. Will they be able to cover their fears? Will they overcome their weaknesses and return to the world happily? What are the dark secrets that all of them are hiding?

All the three main characters were built correctly and they portrayed our society (mainly the Indian society). They played their respective parts perfectly. As each of them were telling their own stories, you can easily get into their minds and can guess their emotions and can feel them. There were true to their stories. Each character was a person from our day-to-day life and no fictional ones.

After a long time I have read anything diferent by an Indian author. In general, I don’t find Indian books talking easily and so clearly about the topics like impotence, sexual relations, homosexuality etc. Even if there are any such scenes required in the story, they are often cut to the chase. But here, Manoj V Jain has not used such scenes easily but also have talked about them (offcourse not to the points of Eroticas), but in the right amount.



The writing is simple and to the point, making it a quick read. The main thing that I liked about this book was the three different stories of three different persons, yet they were interconnected somehow. All those stories make you think twice about your decisions that you take randomly. Author has tried to give some lessons through the story of each one of them.

Samar: Samar was a chain smoker. Because of this habit he was suffering through mental depression and impotence. Now here, what one can take out of Samar’s story is that smoking and particularly the chain smoking can really be your life destroyer, if it is not cured permanently. Samar came to THC for his cure and after just a day of quitting smoking, he felt relaxed and refreshed. He also had the male ego because of which he had troubled relationship with her wife.

Sanjaneka: I really liked her name first of all. She was suffering for Osteoporosis and Genophobia. One bad incident led her to a path which she never imagined and turned her world upside down. One night, drinking too much, she did what she regreted her whole life. What I can conclude from this is whatever things you do in your life or make decisions, come back to you. It’s upto you to make it a mistake or blessing. Any event can turn the events of your life. Sometimes its not your fault, but you are bound to the outcomes.


Varun: I really liked the story of Varun . For the first time, I read about a homosexual affair by an Indian author. Varun was in a realtionship with his father’s friends’ son (or he thought he was). He was too young at that time to understand this flick. He had troubled relationship with his father, and now he had the same kind of relationship with his son. He always demanded the attentions from others. First, he wanted the attention of Jaiveer and now of his own son. His story don’t just tell you about the complicated relationships but also take you to the insight of the relation between parents and children in today’s world. Any troubled relationship can have a great impact on anyone’s life and thus the person can be affected by depression. This is exactly what happened to Varun.

I was disappointed by the ending. I didn’t expected the last encounter between Sanjaneka and Samar. It was difficult for me to understand how it was closure for them and how it helped them in their cure.

I enjoyed this book overall, though I has some issues. I liked the writing style of author and the way he presented the content. It was a one time read for me, with enjoyable plot but a little lack of after story.

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