The One You Cannot Have

The One You Cannot Have by Preeti Shenoy is a wonderful modern day love tale. Preeti, as a writer, is gifted; have no doubts about this! She is a kind of constant love-stories-teller who has been producing novels based on the theme of love. The way she brings out her characters is so real. It leads to a kind of magical impression and you can say that the reader seems to be in the nostalgia of the book even after completing it. The emotions so well portrayed that you can just feel them closer to you. For her language, Preeti writes so clear; she does not fall behind to the (supposes) basics of writing which say that ‘hide behind metaphors’. The reader is able to comprehend whatever she writes.

As usual, there is a love story in The One You Cannot Have. The love story discusses a couple. This time, it goes with Aman and Shruti. The story of Aman and Shruti is a common but lovable story. Both of them are inseparable and madly in love. But as always, Shruti’s parents are against her marrying Aman because of some health issues of his mother. Shruti is then married to Rishabh. A devastated Aman settles in the UK. After two years he comes back to India. But is not able to forget Shruti. A beautiful girl Anjali falls in love with him but to no avail. Shruti’s image is too high in Aman’s life to hide.

Shruti too lands up after being tortured by her husband and in-laws for various issues including his past relation with Aman.
Aman and Shruti have a future together or they settle in their own world…for that one has to read the novel.

Critically, the tale is the same but tell-tale is what makes this story beautiful. The readers need to read the novel to understand what happens with Preeti’s characters. I have enjoyed reading the novel for its simple narration and a beautiful craft. This is not a book for those who look for ‘class’ in fiction. To be frank, modern fiction gives lesser value to the classical notions and goes ahead to ‘serve’ a readymade cooked food. The days of collecting items and baking them for a perfect cake-party have gone! Read at your own risk – if you love simple romance and love novels, that’s there for you! Otherwise, settle with Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Happy reading guys!