Lately, I have been following Preeti Shenoy's blog closely . I indeed wait for her new postings and a large part of my leisure time is spent on her earlier ones . I thoroughly admire upbeat attitude reflected, so well in her writing.
I ordered her latest 'Tea for two and a piece of cake' and 'Life is what you make of it ' together , from flipkart last week and Needless to say once I couldn't put any of the books down once I started reading 'em.
So after a weekend very well spent on 'Life is what you make of it ', turns out that this is one of the finest books I have ever read in recent past. I felt like I was on a journey with Ankita and experience her exhilaration, joys , sorrows and frustrations .
The striking thing about the book is that Preeti has managed to bring out the patients perspective so well . You feel overwhelmed as Ankita goes through a maniac phase accomplishing things far fetched for normal ability and Your heart cries for Ankita when she is realizes her ability to read and comprehend has been lost to her depressive phase cycle, when she is scared to face her parents and the social stigma attached to mental illness in our society. Her character fits the girl next door image to the 'T' . She could be any one of us and that's the high point of the book. This book instills the thought in our mind that people suffering from mental illness are just plain simple people who we all know and meet in daily walks of life. If our acceptance of people doesn't change if we discover , they suffer from high BP or Diabetes then why do we fail to accept people with bipolar disorder.
The author has been audacious enough to take up a subject least discussed in hush hush tones in our society and has done to full justice to almost every aspect of it . The book certainly strikes a chord anyone has experienced mental disorders , not necessarily first-hand . The book captures the perspectives of the patients and people close to them, both dumbfounded with occurrence of sudden events, failing miserably to cope and comprehend .
It address the social stigma attached to Bi-Polar disorder and other mental conditions and instills a the deep faith that as any other illnesses , these could be managed very well too. People suffering from these do lead normal and highly successful lives when they learn to cope and not break down with such diseases.
Here is where Ankita's story will comes out as an inspiration . I strongly recommend this book. I also wish this book reaches to the patients who suffer from such conditions and their families to as a source of strength.
Not to mention a praise about Preeti's writing style which is simple , straight forward and never ones fail to capture reader's attention.
Kudos to Preeti Shenoy for this book . My respect for her has increased manifolds after I read this.
