Rapescars... They Never Heal - Book Review

Rapescars… They never heal…

By Gaurav Sharma

Review By Ila Garg

Rapescars… They Never Heal… is a novel by the author Gaurav Sharma, earlier known for his debut book Love @ Air Force which was brought out by Blackbuck Publications. Petals Publishers has associated with Jimmyeric Films & Media for the cover design of this book. The book has a very appropriate cover page. The newspaper cutting displayed on the cover enhances the look. Indeed, a captivating cover! The concept of the cover itself is so compelling that one would be tempted to pick this book.

Gaurav Sharma, is a Mathematics teacher by profession and a writer by passion. He contributed a poem in The Essence of Eternal Happiness which is a collection of poems from 29 poets from 6 countries. He claims, lunacy for his dreams has helped him being a published writer. As a writer, he doesn’t want to be just a storyteller but yearns to create a stir.

The blurb of Rapescars… They Never Heal… reads as, ‘A girl is raped! Her parents insist to report. Police tries to scuttle the case. Her father’s influence works! Doctor, the fourth man, sees her bare. The defence lawyer encounters with obnoxious questions.

As if, she had inveigled the innocent boys…

As if, she’s the one accused and her violators are seeking justice against her...

She feels & experiences being raped in public again. Her lawyer manages to seek conviction!

Akriti wins the case but refuses her culprit to have imprisonment.

Why does she do this?

What does she decide then?

Is this the decision of ‘her’ or ‘raped mind’?

RAPESCARS is the voice of a rape survivor who thrives to stand against the violation of her persona...’

The author dedicates the book to all girls. In his own words -

“For all the daughters of the land

who braved the beast in men

and refused to be a victim

but chose to be a survivor…”

Initial impressions of the book from the title, tagline, cover, and the blurb – It’s not a mainstream plot. On the contrary, this novel offers a different story to read. A simple love story concluding in a tragedy! It talks about not just a rape, but the scars that it leaves behind; the unceasing fear, the tumult, and the shivers of brutality!

Beginning with a deep etching Prologue, wherein the author describes how the girl regains consciousness after being raped, what does she feel, and how she reacts. This description is so precise yet sounds harshly real. This is the story of Akriti and Raman, who went to college in the same university special bus. I liked the way the author kept in mind the small little details. He aptly writes from the girl’s point of view and narrates how she feels when she has a crush on a guy, how she takes hours to decide what outfit she should wear the next day and what accessories would she match them with and how would she style her hair.

The story that looks like a typical romance at the beginning, soon takes a turn when Raman begins to make faster moves and evades the questions of marriage. More often, he takes her in an empty apartment for their ‘secret dates’. He was desperate to cross the limits. They were going too far in the relationship too early.

The lodging of complaint, medical examination scenes and the courtroom trials were quite realist in narration. The chapter titles were interesting so was the style of writing. A few punctuation errors and the bad proofreading made the reading a little unpleasant for me but on the whole, I loved the narrative.

The 152 page book has a prologue and 30 chapters and is undoubtedly appealing. The book has sheer realism which is the USP according to me. The narrative skills of the author are indeed commendable and as he used a girl as the mouthpiece, this book really becomes special. The language and pace is comfortable.

Things that should not be left unnoticed are the words from her parents. The anger and helplessness is apparent in their dialogues. It is interesting to note that even after winning the case, she lets the culprits go scot-free.

'Yay' Factors: Theme and its execution.

'Nay' Factors: Few proofreading errors.

Message for readers: "Being born with a vagina makes you a Girl, but to reiterate that you are a human, you need a VOICE."

Rating: 3.75/5

This (Unbiased) book review is a part of "The Readers Cosmos Book Review Program". To get free books log on to thereaderscosmos.blogspot.com. Thanks Nimi Vashi for giving me the opportunity to read such a nice book!

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