Looped - Book Review

Looped
By Munmun Singh Nagpal
Review By Ila Garg

Looped, a novel by Munmun Singh Nagpal, is published by BeingShakespeare.com. The cover is very neat and eye-pleasing. The soothing tinge of blue forms the backdrop and gives a perception of a sky with clouds. A silhouette of a cat sitting on a branch of a tree adds to the mystic sense of the cover. Further, the red-brown leaves hint at autumn season.

The blurb reads as, “Toby Sezoe, the newly appointed time traveller finds himself falling in love with a woman. The only problem is that the woman lived on the same spot centuries ago. Luckily enough, the woman can't see him when he travels back in time to her because he is only present there as waveform, but he doesn't know what the future (or past), has in store for him. Assisted by the man who built the time machine himself, for reasons unknown to any one person, will he be able to bridge this gap of time between the past and present? The tale of a true enthusiast, a hardcore romantic and a loyal fan. An uncanny description of the future. An enthralling epilogue, binding all the elements together and introducing the idea that we are all characters of the same play, puppets bound by the same thread. A fascinating turn of events, reinforcing the laws of time but defying the concept of time as a whole.”

Toby Sezoe is the protagonist of the story. He is a time-traveller. During one of his expeditions in time, he falls in love with a girl. However, the twist in the tale is that this girl named Lisa is from the past. Subsequently, he travels back and forth in time to see her. When he travels in the past, he travels in the form of a waveform and remains invisible for the people in past. The whole plot is then centred on this amazingly unusual love story. It’s a sci-fi tale and will appeal to such readers a lot.

The descriptions in the book are quite uninteresting and fall flat. The language is simple and easy to comprehend. Nowhere will a reader feel any disconnect as the tale finds its grip just after a few pages. However, the obvious grammatical errors really marred the reading experience for me. It was a major put-off. I wish the author would have consulted a good editor for the book. The characters fail to impress as they are stagnant and fail to progress as the novel progresses.

The conversation between Toby and Lisa about future is something to reflect on. The non-sci-fi readers might find it a little dull and too much of information-based story. But the chapters on picturesque descriptions of Egyptian pyramids and dolphins add to the appeal and interest.
Who is Toby Sezoe, how he falls for this girl from the past, how he tries to finally see her and impress her with the help of the owner of the time machine, what’s the future of his love story are some of the many reasons why you will keep turning the pages to find out what happens in Looped.

Further, this 210-page book is good enough to read during travelling. I especially loved how the author has managed to connect and present and the past in the book. Though the concept of time travel is age-old but the execution is fresh. It’s an overall recommended book.

Ratings: 3/5

Buying Link: Amazon

P.S. - I got the book from Cyclops Literary Services in exchange of an honest review.