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BOOK REVIEW: THE DIARY ON THE FIFTH FLOOR

THE DIARY ON THE FIFTH FLOOR



AUTHOR: RAISHA LALWANI

PUBLISHER: RUPA PUBLICATIONS INDIA

GENRE: REALISTIC FICTION 
  
PUBLICATION DATE: 21st OCTOBER, 2018

FORMAT: PAPERBACK

PAGES COUNT: 167

GOODREADS RATING: 4.13/5 (104 Ratings)

MY RATING: 4/5
  
" The choices we make define the kind
   Of people we then become.

  The main question here is:
  Do we like who we have become?"

BLURB:
A woman leaves her infant at home but finds her on a busy street in an unexpected turn of events.
Another woman wakes up in a flight hours later, befuddled, in the strangest circumstance.
 

A fascinating tale of a twenty-five-year-old woman that takes hold of us from the moment she enters the fifth floor of a hospital; more precisely, the psychiatric ward. Visibly terrified, she clutches at her clothbound diary, caught in the horns of a terrible dilemma—whether or not to hand over the diary to the doctor. She fears that she will be declared insane if her tangled web of thoughts unspooling in dark mysterious stories is read by the dissecting eye of a doctor.

What does this diary contain? As the novel progresses, we are drawn into characters and stories that are toe-curling, strange, and haunting in their raw intensity. What is the story of this woman? What secrets lie in the pages of her diary? And most importantly, what happens on the fifth floor?


MY REVIEW:
The story starts with a woman who is visiting a psychiatrist, Dr Rama Berry in the fifth floor of an hospital. She doesn't want the doctor to know her true identity and so she introduced herself as Sairah Khanna who is there on her sister Savannah's behalf.

She gave the doctor a diary where Savannah has jotted down all the incidents that was disturbing her, which she felt the doctor can refer to and thus help her sister.

Now what does this diary contain? And why is this woman hiding her identity? To know more, read the novel.

'The Diary On The Fifth Floor', barring a few chapters, has been written in an epistolary format i.e in the form of diary entries. After reading the blurb, I thought that it will be a sort of a psychological thriller, but I was wrong. It is basically a collection of short stories. Each of the entries speak a different story and has a touch with reality. Some of the chapters really touched my heart and made me ponder, ''how inhuman can a human be?"

The writing style was simple and beautiful, and the narration was impeccable. While reading, I found myself empathizing with the protagonist. I could relate to her anger and emotions. Also, I liked the character of Dr Rama Berry. Her personality fascinated me and also the way she handled the protagonist throughout the novel. Only thing I feel could have been better is the ending!

All in all, 'The Diary on the Fifth Floor' was a nice read. If you want to take a break from your usual reads and read something different, then I would recommend you to read this one!

To buy a copy of this book, click on the link here


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 Hindustani  classical music and having graduated from Delhi University, she got her master’s degree in International Business. 

Having lived in Mumbai, Jaipur, Delhi and Dubai, Raisha is well-travelled, with exposure to different cities and cultures. Her need to pen things down has resulted in her debut novel, 'The Diary on the Fifth Floor'. A fine line between fact and fiction, the book is a collection of short  hard-hitting stories in the form of diary entries. 


*I received a copy of the book from Vinfluencers in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.*


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