Book Review 45: The Diary on the Fifth Floor by Raisha Lalwani.

The Diary on the Fifth Floor is Raisha Lalwani's debut novel. The story is gripping and thought-provoking. I was hooked to the book until I finally finished reading it. The book is totally unputdownable.

The plot revolves around a lady named Savannah Khanna. As the story begins, we see that she came to a hospital to visit Dr Rama Berry, a psychiatrist. Initially, she was a little hesitant to talk to the doctor about her problem. But the doctor made her feel comfortable and made her open up. Savannah ends up giving her personal diary to Dr Berry.
In her diary, Savannah wrote her thoughts and various incidents which she came across. But, all her writings had one thing in common - each one of them began on a pleasing note, but the ending shows the unpleasant side of humanity, cruelty, selfishness.  All of her diary entries had negative vibes in them.
To know what happens next, read the book!

The writing style of the author is absolutely amazing. The language is lucid and it is a quite easy read. The diary entries put forth the harsh reality of humanity and each one of them left me thinking. The narration is also quite great. However, when I read the blurb, I thought this book was some kind of a psychological thriller, but when I read the book, I was surprised. It did not belong to that genre. Some parts are unnecessarily dragged. Also, the ending left me a bit disappointed. It could have been better.

Altogether, this was an okay-ish read. Pick this book if you want to read something different. The diary entries are really worth giving this book a read.

 About the author: Raisha Lalwani, a reader by day and a writer by night, is a content homemaker. Her passion for writing started at an early age and has been growing since. After being trained as a singer in classical Hindustani music, she later went on to get a Master’s in International Business. She has lived in Mumbai, Jaipur, Delhi and Dubai. Her need to pen things down has lead to her debut novel, The Diary on the Fifth Floor. A fine line between fact and fiction, this book is a collection of short stories in the form of diary entries.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars.
Publisher: Rupa Publications.
First Published: October 2018
Pages: 167
Price: ₹295/-

Thanks to the publisher, Rupa Publications, for the review copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.