If You Could See Me Now- Cecelia Ahern.

Author- Cecelia Ahern
Price – INR 225 (flipkart.com)
ISBN – 9781401383817
Genre- Romance

Synopsis (As given behind the book)- 

Elizabeth Egan's life runs on order: Both her home and her emotions are arranged just so, with little room for spontaneity. It's how she counteracts the chaos of her family -- an alcoholic mother who left when she was young, an emotionally distant father, and a free-spirited sister, who seems to be following in their mother's footsteps, leaving her own six-yearold son, Luke, in Elizabeth's care. When Ivan, Luke's mysterious new grown-up friend, enters the picture, Elizabeth doesnt know quite what to make of him. With his penchant for adventure and colourful take on things large and small, Ivan opens Elizabeth's eyes to a whole new way of living. But is it for real? Is Ivan for real?

If You Could See Me Now is a love story with heart -- and just a touch of magic

AaishanniA-

This is part of a project I'm doing, 10 books, 10 genres, 10 days.

I know what you’re thinking. For a genre like romance, why choose an author like Cecelia Ahern? But don’t. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Read the review. The reason I chose this book is because it is beautiful. It is filled with fantasy and is romance escapism.

Elizabeth is a fastidious interior decorator. She lives a life of monotony and routine. She has always been the responsible one in her family. As a child, her mother abandoned her family leaving her to take care of her younger sister. Her father is still awaiting his wife’s return. Her younger sister is an alcoholic whose child, Luke is left in care with Elizabeth. Elizabeth tries her best to get along with Luke but the burden of responsibility has her tightly wound up and in this she has forgotten how to enjoy herself.

When Ivan from 'Ekam Eveileb' comes to visit Luke, Elizabeth feels Luke is making him up as little children do sometimes. She treats him as Luke’s imaginary friend and ignores the situation most of the time.  After a while, she begins to see him but still treats him as the father of a friend of Luke. As time goes by, the focus of the book shifts from the relationship of Luke and Ivan to Elizabeth and Ivan.  Their relationship graduates from that of friendship to love. He helps her rediscover herself, get rid of all her inhibitions and generally let loose. She starts to believe in fairy tales again, in love again. 

As the relationship blossoms, Ivan goes to his boss Opal for advice. He has fallen in love with her. This is where we find out that he was her imaginary friend. The same person that only she and Luke could see. In that world, imaginary friends can only exist till the person NEEDS them. When they blossom as people even if they still want their imaginary friends they can’t have them as they disappear and throw themselves into helping someone else. Opal tells Ivan that there is no point of pursuing this relationship because unlike him Elizabeth will grow old and eventually stop seeing him (in the literal sense).

Yes, the end is slightly tragic. But don’t all the immortal love stories end tragically? Ivan slowly fades in Elizabeth’s eyes and he visits her in a dream, telling her why he has to leave. They end up together without each other. Thus ends the magical journey back home. Back home to childhood, back home to oneself. Free from everything yet bonded to something.

The best about this book is that although the theme seems childish, it isn’t. It really has quite a deep meaning to it and if you can read between the complexities and layers of the book, you’re sure to enjoy it.

Rating- 4.5/5

Favourite Quotes/excerpts:

·          “She likened it to a childhood crush, such strong almost obsessive feelings, but more, it had depth. She felt attracted to everything about him, the way he talked, the way he dressed, the words he used, his apparent innocence. Yet he was filled with a deep knowledge of wise insights. He always said the right things, even when she didn't want to hear them. The darkness lifted and she could suddenly see beyond. When he breezed into the room, he brought clarity and brightness with him. He was walking hope and she could tell that things for her be… not fantastic or wonderful or happily ever after, but that they could be okay. And that was enough.” 

·          “You've come to give me a piece of your mind, I repeated, looking at her. "You know that phrase is really beautiful. The mind is the most powerful thing in the body, you know, whatever the mind believes, the body can achieve. So to give someone a piece of it...well, thank you, Elizabeth. Funny how people are always intent on giving it to the people they dislike when it really should be for the ones they love. There's another funny thing. But a piece of your mind...what a gift that would be." I looped the last stalk and formed a chain. "I'll give you a daisy chain in return for a piece of your mind." I slid the bracelet onto her arm.
She sat on the grass. Didn't move, didn't say anything, just looked at her daisy chain. Then she smiled and when she spoke her voice was soft. "Has anyone ever been mad at you for more than five minutes."
I looked at my watch. "Yes. You, from the o'clock this morning until now.” 

Where Rainbows End - Cecelia Ahern

AUTHOR - Cecelia Ahern is an Irish Novelist. In addition to publishing several novels, she has also contributed a number of short stories to various anthologies, for which all her royalties go to charity. In 2002, when Cecelia Ahern was twenty-one, she wrote her first novel, PS,I love you. Published in 2004, it was the number 1 bestseller in Ireland (for 19 weeks), the United Kingdom, U.S., Germany and Netherlands. Her books are published in forty-six countries and have collectively sold more than eleven million copies



BEST-SELLERS -

* PS, I Love You (2004)
* Where Rainbows End (2004) (titled Rosie Dunne or Love, Rosie in the U.S.A.)
* If You Could See Me Now (2005) (titled A Silver Lining in the U.S.A.)
* A Place Called Here (2006) (titled There's No Place Like Here in the U.S.A.)


SYNOPSIS - This story begins by introducing you to two young children who are the best of friends. Their names are Alex and Rosie. As they grow older it is obvious they are meant for each other and everyone seems to see this except for the most important ones, the ones who are meant for each other, Alex and Rosie. As the story goes on you find that many obstacles prevent them from the one destiny that they both long for. It seems as if they take turns wanting to tell the other they are in love and desperately want the other. In critical situations as well as heart breaking setbacks of life, they gradually continue to understand how much they love each other. In the second phase of the book, Rosie finds she is pregnant, after fate has caused Alex to be absent and in his place another man who she absolutely has no feelings for. She raises the child, facing day to day challenges of being a single mother. In the meanwhile Alex succeeds in becoming a great doctor, Alex finds himself in love at different points of his life and walks down the aisle twice, both times not with Rosie.But, years after, life brings them back together again, when they both lost hope. Will they be able to get over these past years and bring back the love they once felt?


QUOTES -

Our life is made up of time; our days are measured in hours, our pay measured by those hours, our knowledge is measured by years. We grab a quick few minutes in our busy day to have a coffee break. We rush back to our desks, we watch the clock, we live by appointments. And yet your time eventually runs out and you wonder in your heart of hearts if those seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and decades were being spent the best way

There’s no limit to what you can dream. You expect the unexpected, you believe in magic, in fairy tales, and in possibilities. Then you grow older and that innocence is shattered and somewhere along the way the reality of life gets in the way and you’re hit by the realization that you can’t be all you wanted to be

Well that’s the problem with paradise—nothing attracts a serpent quite like it.

Ever since people are kids they use their parents as some sort of measurement for how bad a situation is.

People who say it’s a long story mean it’s a stupid short one that they’re too embarrassed and couldn’t be bothered to tell..


A bit of ink on her skin doesn’t tarnish the goodness or dim the brightness that shines from her.



PULKIT SPEAKS -


Book with a heart. Spell bounding story of True love,soul mates, responsibilities of relations and missed opportunities in life!


This book is written in an interesting manner as it uses letters, notes, e-mails and instant messages to narrate the story of Rosie Dunne and the world around her. This book is innocent and natural at every step of the plot, It reiterates that fact of how our lives are primarily governed by our choices and how we can never eliminate the role of fate no matter how much we plan. A love story between the protagonists as the center plot, it is actually a series of love stories between key characters of the book - The love between Alex and Phil as brothers, Steph and Rosie as sisters, Katie and Rosie as daughter and her hard working single mother, Ruby and Rosie as best of friends, Casey and Rosie as teacher and student, to name a few, This is a book about life, About the love that we feel for so many people in life for their respective value.


Author successfully tells you so many deep things of life by using so many light characters as first person narratives, there by making you smile and think, all at the same time. On one page I found myself smiling at the sheer witty way with which Rosie and Ruby chatted, while on the other I found my eyes wet sharing the arduous pain and challenges that Rosie faced in her life at phases like losing her parents, or setback from a cheating husband. While Alex is a phenomenal person who is noble in all his thoughts and lives his life in an organized manner, Rosie is cute, silly-at-times, impulsive, more-natural in her thought process, completely sketched out from the soul of every hard working female that you meet in day today life. She is someone you know. Rosie Dunne is a worthy protagonist, complex enough to be compelling and ordinary enough to be believable.


What the books lacks for me is that futile get-together attempts are summarized too quickly,a boy named Toby in life of katie too obviously reminiscent of Rosie's childhood correspondence with Alex which makes his role in the book predictable a 100 pages before it ends with his surprize entry, overly serious long-winded paragraphs unnaturally quoted in chatrooms etc and a few off the drift e-mails, which makes u wonder if people in this book ever talk in person or just text write everything. The book still charms you immensely by the depth of its story. Time and again it takes you in memory lanes of life,love and friendship moments, of how they and only they are important and nothing else, circumstances just come and go, but true feelings, bonds and relations stand the test of times. This book is deeply touching at parts and it wins your heart way too quickly, after the initial pages you just find yourself smiling and crying, drifting with Rosie in her naturally-written,poignant beautiful adorable journey of life.


RATING - 4/5. If you love your family, if you ever had a crush on your school or college friend, if you like sharing things with people, if u like revisiting the memories, if you are a dreamer, this one is for you!

PRICE - Rs 250.

Paperback edition - 2007

HarperCollins Publications

purchased from a book shop in GIP mall,Noida


PS - Thanks To My dear sister, Arpita for the recommendation. Loved it!

The Gift- Cecelia Ahern

[review on request]

Author- Cecelia Ahern

Best seller: P.S I love you..

Synopsis: From the book

People, like houses, hold their secrets. Sometimes the secrets inhabit them, and sometimes people inhabit their secrets. They wrap their arms tight to hug them close, twist their lying tongues around the truth. But, like gravy left overnight, the truth is a thin layer of film that forms and covers the surface. The truth prevails, rises above all else. It squirms and wriggles inside, grows until the swollen tongue can‘t wrap itself around the lie any longer, until the time comes when it needs to spit the words out and send truth flying through the air and crashing into the world like…well, like a frozen dead bird through a living room window. Truth and time always work alongside each other.

This story is about people, secrets, and time. About people who, not unlike wrapped parcels, cover themselves with layers and layers until they present themselves to the right ones who can unwrap them and see inside. Until that happens they lie under a tree, being poked and prodded by unwelcome hands. Sometimes you have to give yourself to somebody in order to see who you are. Sometimes you have to let that person unravel things to get to the core.

This is a story about people who find out who they are. About people who are unraveled and whose cores are revealed to all who count. And those who count are finally revealed to them. Just in time.

Excerpts:

LOU SUFFERN ALWAYS HAD TWO places to be at one time. When asleep, he dreamed. In between dreams, he ran through the events of the previous day while making plans for the next, so when he was awakened by his alarm at six a.m. every day, he never felt very rested. When in the shower, he rehearsed presentations, often while responding, one hand outside the shower curtain, to e-mails on his BlackBerry. While eating breakfast he read the newspaper, and when being told rambling stories by his five-year-old daughter, he listened to the morning news. When his thirteen-month-old son demonstrated a new skill each day, Lou‘s face displayed interest, his mind feeling the exact opposite. When kissing his wife good-bye, he was usually thinking of someone else altogether.

Maithili Speaks:

When I heard of this book I thought, "Ok its by Cecelia Ahern so it must be about romance ( we still are under P. S I love effect when it comes to Cecelia Ahern) and its only 165 pages on pdf so I will review it quick!

    I was in for a surprise and yes what a Gift!!

Lou the workaholic who who is proud of his ability to juggle things one fine day chats up with a  homeless Gabriel or Gabe as he is called and stumbles upon the clever planning going on behind his back by his friend cum rival at the office- Alfred. Both Lou and Alfred and coveting the position of their sick superior and trying to earn brownie points from their boss Mr Patterson. 

     The observant shoe watcher gives him clues and Lou finds  a striking resemblance with Gabe. He finds himself offering Gabe a job in mailroom. 

    
  Lou's family life is almost non-existent as he continuously mails and texts away on his blackberry while his wife is trying to steal a little bit of his attention. He is deaf to his months old son's crying  and his 5 year old daughter's constant pleas for him to come to watch her play. He efficiently hands over the responsibility to arrange for his father's 70th birthday to his secretary Angela who doesn't even know his father! He missed dinners with family, makes promises he is isn't willing to keep, cheats his children..His only defense for his neglect of familial commitments is "work can fire me, family can't" and you feel like slapping him left right!!

     
Work is where he is the perfect guy. The man of the moment.. (never mind his escapades with girls from every department and his on going tad bit sleaze with his secretary). 

     But with Gabe in the office premises, things begin to change. Lou is left wondering how Gabe manages to reach places in a jiffy and is almost intimidated  by the liking his boss has taken to Gabe. Gabe wins hearts and miraculously is present at more than one place! 

     Soon Gabe gives off his secret to Lou and Lou discovers a truth he had been blind to.. It was the gift Gabe gave him.. 

     At the end of it you feel sorry for Lou and his family but there is also a positive side to it.. If I tell that then I will spoil the fun for you people.. So I would say it is definitely a good read with a strong message at the end..

Rating: 4.7 on 5

Price : INR 250

E-Book Link - THE GIFT

P.S| This was our first book request. Thank you SMITA for allowing us the pleasure of reviewing this wonderful book. Hope we have done justice to your questions. Keep Reading Us and Keep Requesting Reviews