SCARRED FOR LIFE, HEALED FOREVER BY ASHWATI MENON

ABOUT BOOK

What are these strange visions? What is wrong in her head? Why does she gets strange feelings before incidents happen?

Nishtha Vaidya is a survivor of a terrible natural calamity. Not only does she live on with survivor’s guilt, her mind is still there, on the ill-fated day and she never could come out. Just when things are beginning to settle slowly in the safe and cozy life in vibrant lifestyle of Gujarat – Nishtha is getting strange visions and headaches. Life is taking her back two years in time and she finds she is running around the state, saving different and unknown lives from mortal peril.

Will Nishtha get answer to when she will stop her truce with fate? Will Nishtha be able to pay tribute to her friends whom she lost? Has her untold love story got anything to do with it all? Will Nishtha ever unburden herself?

ABOUT AUTHOR

Ashwati Menon, though, is a native of Kerala, is born and brought up in Gujarat. Writing came early in life and started writing at young age of 8 years. The journey began with short poems and hence on, it has been an upward climb towards trying new style of writing. Currently, she is working in IT Software Company as a Project Manager and has three years of work experience. Education included a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Computers. Her favorite hobbies include reading, dancing and playing guitar. Also, she has published her first novel under the author name "Anita Raghav" titled "Let Me Sleep!"

REVIEWS

REVIEW BY MEGHANT PARMAR

History is a witness to unusual. From sightings of aliens to supernatural powers it's all debated and speculated upon. Concrete answers have been nil. Author Ashwati Menon in her novel "Scarred for Life, Healed Forever" plans to challenge the limits of human abilities and deliver something strange. So does this strange idea works with the readers? Let's find out.

What are these strange visions? What is wrong with her head? Why does she gets strange feelings before any accident? Nishtha Vaidya is a survivor of a terrible natural calamity. Not only does she live on with survivors guilt, her mind is still there, on the ill-fated day and she could never come out of it. Just when things are beginning to settle slowly in the safe and cozy life in vibrant lifestyle of Gujarat - Nishtha is getting strange visions and headaches. Life is taking her back two years in time and she finds she is running around the state, saving different and unknown lives from mortal peril. Will Nishtha get answers to the mind blogging questions? Will Nishtha be able to pay tribute to her friends whom she lost? Has her untold love story got anything to do with it?

First look at the title and the cover and the the lone illusion image of a girl leaves some confusing impressions. It works in the author's favor. The title is too shrouded with mystery and there's not much to be deciphered. The blurb talks about a girl and her life's unusual occurrences which leaves her mystified. The blurb asks a number of questions which created an element of doubt in the mind of the readers. Few questions in the context of the story leave generous hints which is a blooper.

The story is set in Ahmadabad where Nishtha Vaidya is leading an abnormally sane life. Her constant vigil against the past events is futile as it comes back to haunt her in capacity. Her strength to handle the entire sequence is wane. She feeds off on the support of her family and friends yet there are few unexplained ideas in her life. So what is it she battles with? Will she be able to launch herself forward? Will life give her another chance to be normal again? That's what the story is all about.

The story has an idea which is not spoken or read of at great lengths. The story is set with chain of events which is not an everyday affair. The path of unknown is the pillar of the strength of the book.

The downside of the book is it's grammatical exposure. It turns out to be a party spoiler as the command is lost with numerous mistakes in the book. The story is hampered continuously and there's not much to work upon. The idea too is delivered with start and stops and the entire chain of events never sets in a single motion. The story turns out to be too clumsy and short to give a strong finish to the book.

All in all the story required a lot of patience and growth. It fails to excite the reader. The idea is appealing but the construction of the book is appalling. There is a story and a bright idea, yet it fades into the sands of darkness with failed attempts to revive it. The bright spot paled with the rough edges. A story with potential but average deliverance.

RATINGS: 2 OUT OF 5

REVIEW BY ABHILASH RUHELA

Scarred For Life, Healed Forever" is the latest book I finished reading. It's written by the 2nd time author- Ashwati Menon. This 126-pages novel is written with an intention of making people aware of the kind of power our brain has. It uses concept of 6th sense and intuition to tell us about some power a normal human being can have. Ashwati Menon have written the book in a very easy language which I should compliment the first thing in this review, as writing on such topic could have become complicated and hard to understand for a layman like us. It was quite evident that the writer has gone through a good research before writing on such unusual topic.

There could have been few parts where the story must have looked fake but luckily, the determination of author towards projecting this story in good light made it look possible and a story-next-door. Some scenes are written really very terrifically. You might get scared imagining the situation but that's true in some rare cases which we see in news channel sometimes. The characters are wonderfully projected by the authoress even when she wrote this in quite a short-story format. Nishtha is beautifully portrayed. Her brother, Prakash and Sahdev are another two good characters who shall be always remembered whenever this book would be a topic of discussion.

I also liked the author's choice of keeping this story short as even 10 more pages could have made it boring and unacceptable as it's not about fun and humor but written on a very serious yet interesting topic. The only drawback which I feel will work against this book is its narrative. I found the flow of the story very confusing. Author switches from one time period to another without intimating and therefore, it leads to a messy situation in a reader's mind. The flashbacks could have been written more beautifully. In all, I would give this book 3 stars out of 5- a little above average attempt.

REVIEW BY TIMID FINGERS

Blurb: What are these strange visions? What is wrong in her head? Why does she get strange feelings before incidents happen?

Nishtha Vaidya is a survivor of a terrible natural calamity. Not only does she live on with survivor's guilt, her mind is still there, on the ill-fated day and she could never come out of it. Just when things are beginning to settle slowly in the safe and cozy life in a vibrant lifestyle of Gujarat - Nishtha is getting strange visions and headaches. Life is taking her back two years in time and she finds she is running around the state, saving different and unknown lives from mortal peril.

Will Nishtha get answers to these mind boggling questions? Will Nishtha be able to pay tribute to her friends whom she lost? Has her untold love story got anything to do with it at all? Will Nishtha Ever unburden herself?

Verdict: ‘Scarred for life, Healed Forever’ is the first book by Ashwati Menon. This is an unusual story with an equally unusual ending.

The first thing that catches the eye of the author is the cover, which is quite efficiently designed. The illusion image of a girl on the front will raise questions among the readers. But I think the cover doesn't go with the story and could have been designed in a different way. The blurb was good and gives a good outline of the story. Overall the first impression was good but doesn't say much about the content.

This story is of a Nishtha Vaidya, a girl from Ahmedabad, fighting with her super natural powers. Nishtha had a happy and caring family and a good paying job thanks to her academic skills. After going to Australia for the Foreign Student Exchange Programme, she faced Tsunami and became the only Indian to survive. That incident changed everything in her life. She lost her friends and the love of her life. Nishtha realized that she had got some super natural power and sometimes can see what is going to happen next. How she manages to cope up with this power and uses it to save lives? How these visions made her life tough? And how she came out of this trauma? That is the book all about.

The author has chosen a different story for her debut novel which is commendable but the execution is not up to the mark. The narrating style was simple and was unable to keep the reader engaged. There are scenes which could have been described in a better way. The grammatical errors were dropping the speed of the book.

The characterization was good. Almost every characters has a different role to play in the story. There is one character in the story which I think could have been ignored by the author that is of Dnyaneshwar uncle. One thing where the author needs to work is on the description of the characters. Apart from the main protagonist and the few main characters all most all characters had lacked the lime light.

The author had tried to pen down something different than the regular but the framing of the plot could have been better. I like those frequent jumping of the scenes from present to past and the end. The author has the capability of describing scenes and could do a way lot better than this. Overall a nice brave attempt by a new author.

REVIEW BY HIMANI GUPTA

Verdict:   ☆☆☆ A nice thriller with an unusual ending. The events and adventure faced by a young girl is an interesting to read. A must read book.

About The Author: Ashwati Menon, though, is a native of Kerala, is born and brought up in Gujarat. Writing came early in life and started writing at young age of 8 years. The journey began with short poems and hence on, it has been an upward climb towards trying new style of writing. Currently, she is working in IT Software Company as a Project Manager and has three years of work experience. Education included a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Computers. Her favorite hobbies include reading, dancing and playing guitar. Also, she has published her first novel under the author name "Anita Raghav" titled "Let Me Sleep!"

About the Book: What are these strange visions? What is wrong in her head? Why does she get strange feelings before incidents happen?

Nishtha Vaidya is a survivor of a terrible natural calamity. Not only does she live on with survivor's guilt, her mind is still there, on the ill-fated day and she could never come out of it. Just when things are beginning to settle slowly in the safe and cozy life in a vibrant lifestyle of Gujarat - Nishtha is getting strange visions and headaches. Life is taking her back two years in time and she finds she is running around the state, saving different and unknown lives from mortal peril.

Will Nishtha get answers to these mind boggling questions? Will Nishtha be able to pay tribute to her friends whom she lost? Has her untold love story got anything to do with it at all? Will Nishtha Ever unburden herself?

Review:  First look of the title and the cover is simple and interesting. The cover is beautifully designed by Amol karambe. It clearly matches with the blurb which tells us about the unusual events happening with the young girl and she is helpless. The book had managed to capture the attention of the reader till the end. The Author had clearly described the mental trauma faced by the girl due to lost of her friends and love of her life. Also the way Nishtha the main protagonist handle her natural powers were commendable and very well portrayed by the Author. Earlier, she was shocked and confused, but slowly she had a good control over bad powers and she started using her power in a good way. I loved reading these events. The characters were very well described. The series of events in the book was nicely written by the author without creating confusion. The Author had perfectly created the balance between past and present. At one moment the story was at present and suddenly at another moment it jumps to post without creating confusion among the readers. The writing style is good. I enjoyed the way Author had clearly managed the confusion going inside the head of Nishtha. Overall a nice read. All the best Author.

Drawback: There were some characters which can be skipped from the story as these characters have no use. For example Dhnyaneshwar from the past and Uncle Kashi. The end should be more polished. I wanted something more from the book. 

REVIEW BY SONAL

Ashwati Menon is an emerging star in literary world. She already made critics take her note through her short story in Drenched souls-Moonlit Matinee 2. ‘Scarred for Life, Healed Forever’ is her first novel and as a reviewer, as a reader I must say she has achieved what she wanted. There are very few works which can absorb my attention totally and this one made to that list. I put aside all of my tasks and continued to read the novel. I completed it in one sitting and I must say Ashwati has got awesome future in this field.

‘Scarred for Life, Healed Forever’ is story of a girl Nishtha Vaidya, who is next door girl living in Ahmedabad. She seems quite normal girl, if you meet her in a restaurant or on a road, walking by her, you won’t be able to predict anything about her. She seems quite a blessed child of God. With loving parents, caring elder brother and grand job due to her tremendous educational qualification, she seems the luckiest person on this earth. However, it is said that God has always balanced everyone’s life by giving each and everyone their share of luck and bad luck. Nishtha has also faced this wrath of God in her life and blessed or better to say cursed with some special powers. She gets selected for Foreign Student Exchange Program and goes to Australia. She is enjoying life with few friends like Paulina, Andrew and Jordan, where their ill-fate strikes them and they face Tsunami. Like a miracle, Nishtha is the only Indian to survive. Tsunami snatches away Paulina, Andrew and Jordan. This fact affects her the most and her mind power which was already active gets hyper active and she develops some powers. She has the power of visions. She can forecast upcoming events and can save people.

What this powers of influencing and forecasting will do to Nishtha?

Will she get the ultimate happiness in her life?

Novel is really a good one, at some points it seems loosening its grip but at next moment it again clutches the reader. Some points could be more clarifying and entertaining. Few characters could be given extra light, yet novel is a good read.

My overall rating for this work is 3.5/5

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HAPPY READING!!