Backward journey

Focus, Sam
By Rohit Gore.
Rupa.
Pages 248. Rs 195.

Reviewed by Ravia Gupta (The Tribune)

ACCIDENTS are part of life. While some accidents are serious in nature, there are some that bring a smile on your face each time you remember them. We all do have accidents in life, but there is something unique in case of Sam as he meets with an accident every year. There is something strange about his 28th accident, as he considers it to be the worst ever accident. This time something evil tells him how he will feel on his 29th accident.

Focus, Sam is a journey of Sam or Sameer Sathe to save himself from the next accident, of which a mystic had warned him that it would be his last accident. The only way he can save himself is by reconnecting with all the girls in his life. Now the biggest question buzzing in his head is, whether the seven women on his list will consider saving his life? Do they still feel that it is worth the effort to save his life despite the hurt and broken promises?

Desperate to save his life, Sam decides to go back in time to repair the damage caused. In his attempt to understand their lives and himself better, he finds out that he did fall in love with each one of them, may be not for a long, but there was something special for each one of them in his heart. To his disappointment, he also finds that most of them were not really in love with him.

This reverse journey becomes quite a learning experience for Sam who now understands the real meaning of life to the fullest and his responsibilities towards life become clear to him. Rohit Gore in his debut novel has sketched some of the characters so well that they almost seem real people with real problems. And you can be sure to learn something new from Sam’s backward journey to step ahead in life.

Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110717/spectrum/book4.htm