Book Review #49: The Last Bloom

Name: The Last Bloom
Author: Poulomi Sengupta
No. of Pages: 396
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Frog Books (An Imprint of Leadstart Publishing Pvt. Ltd.)
Price: Rs. 375/-
Published in: 2016

How did I get it? From BecomeShakespeare.com (Wordit Content Design and Editing Services)

THE BLURB SAYS:
'The Last Bloom' is a story of Priya, her dreams, aspirations and struggles to fit into her new college life and its politics. Priya was ecstatic, as she was admitted to her dream college. All her visions of adventurous rock climbing trips, long night jollification with bosom friends, class bunking in lieu of movie shows, tasting lip smacking street side delicacies with classmates-a new exciting world would now unfold before her! But college is different from Priya's idyllic dreams. In an environment as opposed to that of school, exposed to an educational system, which is controlled by political unions, will naive Priya be able to survive without any political protection? Caught between the college hero Suvo's charming words and her acrid tussles with conceited college dropout Vivek, will immature Priya be able to differentiate between cajoling false comrades and brutally honest well-wishers? Often degraded by the skittish Shweta and saved by the blunt rebellious Aashi, will Priya be able to identify her friends and stand up for them, against fierce opposition? As Priya undertakes her journey of self-discovery, will she succumb to her deep-seated fears and insecurities or will she survive the ultimate test of time?
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Poulomi Sengupta is an alumna of IIT Kharagpur. Presently working in Mumbai, she loves her share of kickboxing and a colourful dose of oil painting to brighten the apparently mundane life.

MY THOUGHTS:
Priya has enrolled in her dream university and aspires to get quality education. But her expectations are shattered when she experiences that the students are more interested in politics than education. Being one of a handful of students who boycotts the boycott to attend classes, she is sidelined and looked down upon. Also, she is disliked by most of her classmates who had their education in vernacular medium unlike her English medium education.

The author tries to address various issues like;
-Survival in an environment of politics without being attached to any political group
-Does student politics really help students or does it hamper quality education
-The need of student politics
-Why do students really join political parties?
-Flaws in our education system
-Pros and cons of vernacular medium of education
-Feminism

I felt the author tried to talk too many things at one go. The plot had potential but the flow of writing lacks maturity. The author has a good repository of words, but the beauty of their usage is lost in the average writing style.

The incidents in Priya's student life are also very boringly depicted, topics are explained and discussed beyond necessity. A bit of philosophy is thrown here and there, and actually becomes overbearing. I feel it could have been a much better read.

I give "The Last Bloom

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