"Suddenly, I felt a hand graze my thi— my upper leg. I froze, startled at the unwanted touch. As the principal droned on, Nicholas’s hand continued to stroke my leg, traveling up toward—“Hands off, you sick pervert!” I screamed, slamming my elbow into his face as hard as I could. I jumped to my feet. There was pin-drop silence in the room as everyone in the audience and onstage looked at me, shell-shocked."
This is from the opening chapter of the novel "Unclutter" by Winnie D Pagora, a new literary sensation in the town. This is her debut novel and I never heard/read anything that she scribbled before this one. You are always doubtful about new writers about whom you have no references/reviews available,
From the moment I picked this up to read, barely I could put the book down. It's so racy (literally as well as if there is a word that describes as " one that moves with the speed, races ahead"). I am a slow reader and normally a book of this size (357 pages) will take nearly 10 days for me to finish but I completed this in just 4 days or so.
Stories meant for and of young adults like Mills & Boon seldom interest me, initially one feels that this book is similar, but as you go along you find that this is not just a story about late school early University going students’ everyday activities and infatuations but it's a story of the protagonist Tina aka Tia aka Tiara who is bold, strong, studious, multi Tasker, intelligent, enterprising, sports person and has the guts to take on her rich and influential perpetrator/s who make her life miserable with the help of his anti-social friends and that of his family influences in the high places.
Tina is bright but timid due to an early life episode that curtailed her childhood activities. The story moves further and the teenager gets into some good company of friends and leaves behind some who turn bad. At that age and with such incidences early in life she is apprehensive about just about anyone and everything. However, how she overcomes those difficulties and turns into a normal life loving teenager who has a great set of loving friends and a boyfriend, which is the crux of the novel. The book also has a social message for everyone especially the teenagers (girls) as to how to guard yourself from hawks who are all around you.. in the family and in the society. In life you are surrounded by different types of people .. your immediate family is always there to protect you and to encourage you to be a fighter against some really bad elements and many others who are your genuine and helpful friends, it takes time for a teenager to identify and differentiate them but if you are courageous (others will help you only when you help yourself, so it's very important that you be brave) everything falls in place and life becomes beautiful and UNCLUTTERED.
The setting of the novel is in the West and detailed and pointed observations give you the impression that the writer has lived all her life over there, a remarkable skill. One thing that irritated me is the description of a character who is often referred at they/them. I know it's a new gender-neutral addressing system but nevertheless, wish the writer has kept the old style and not enforce this "new and bold" gender choice on the generation prior to millennials.
Congratulations Winnie, you made a great beginning in this literary world and we the readers look forward to many more gems, ahead.
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Pradeep Joshi (pradepkjoshi@gmail.com)
Delhi, India
August 23, 2023
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