The Girl in Room 105

      “This is not a love story. It is an unlove story.”

The Girl in Room 105 is an Indian novel written by Chetan Bhagat which was published in 2018. So, this is all about a girl, named Zara Lone and his ex, who is also the protagonist, Keshav Rajpurohit. They are not together anymore(not even in the book) but one night, on her birthday, Zara calls him over, to her room 105 and then, everything changes. But, honestly, whatever change Chetan wanted us to feel, wasn’t delivered appreciatively. Chetan Bhagat, the author of 8 best selling novels(including this), attempted this genre for the very first time and I really appreciate the change. Though, one thing that remains common in each of his books is the links of his protagonists with IITs and JEE, which hasn’t changed this time as well, yet, it was nice to get a crime story from him.

Plot(SPOILER ALERT !!!!!)

Keshav, an IITian, works as a teacher in a coaching centre. His life sucks. He broke up with his girlfriend, Zara, who he was madly in love with. So, you’ll see him all drunk and insane in the first few pages. But, one night, when he gets texts from Zara, calling her over, he gets all his senses back(even in the drunk stage!!)and he takes no time to reach her hostel. He feels everything will get fine once he meets her but when he does, his life turns upside down because he finds her murdered. And this is where the story begins. From now on, we just see the spy Keshav trying to be the next ‘007’,  trying to find out the real killer. I don’t know how some normal guy teaching in "Chandan Classes" suddenly gets a spy mind!! Maybe because Chetan wanted him to get one!

Why to read this?

• It's fast paced(I only took a day to finish)
• Story line and characters are moderately engaging
• If you are Chetan Bhagat's fan,you mustn’t skip this
• Appropriate for light reading

What was upsetting?

• Old, simple and amateurish way of expression
• Mention of 'more than required' Kashmir politics
• Lacks complexity here and there which could maintain absolute suspense
• Twists in the plot are not well presented
• Easily predictable climax and ending
• If you have a thing for Agatha Christie or Paula Hawkins, you might not want to try this

Another awful thing is, the same old way of authoring, transformed the novel into a story book . I must say, he needs to work on this part if he really wants to win hearts in this genre. Apart from this, one thing that was an utter disappointment was this ‘unlove’ thing. What was the need of Keshav saying ‘I unlove you’,  has remained the only suspense, for me, from the book that hasn’t yet unfurled. I think, it was merely a buzzword, created to establish all sort of murmurs around this book.

Conclusion

If you are bored, or if you have read some really mind-twisting books recently and want some relaxation, this novel can be a good recommendation.

RATE: 3/5

To hear from the writer: Chetan Bhagat

Happy Reading!!