Letters to My Ex by Nikita Singh (Book Review)

 

‘It feels like I’m on autopilot; I have no control over anything. The pain of losing you is so crippling that I can barely hold pieces of myself together. The slightest nudge could break me. But somehow, my possessed brain knows what I need. It’s telling me to stick to my choice, to stay away from you, to open a Word document and bleed on paper, to try to throw up all my jumbled thoughts in form of words, collect all disconnected facts, try to make sense of it all.’

-          Nikita Singh.

I’m a lover of romance novels; so, the title of the novel got me captivated at first glance. Skimming through the pages, I also realized that it’s a simple novel with over a hundred words.

Nikita Singh tells the story of two lovers, Nidhi and Abhay, who go through a rough patch in their relationship. Nidhi, unexpectedly, calls it all off and runs away on their engagement day with no reasonable explanation.

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Feeling dejected and guilty, she decides to write letters- she had no plan on sending- to her ex, recalling how their relationship started and blossomed…and trying to patch what could have gone wrong. She does so to relieve herself of the pain. Bleeding her emotions into words was a form of therapy for Nidhi.

After breaking the engagement with her lover of five years for no tangible reason, Nidhi sees every part of her life as a disappointment. She has broken the heart of the first person she ever fell in love with and her parents are disappointed in her for ending the engagement and putting shame on the family. She is troubled with choosing a career path and getting the right job…and the perfect colleagues! Afterwards, Nidhi and Abhay start conversing through text, emails, and then letters.

While ‘Letters to My Ex’ is a bit of a cliché, it addresses how two people, who love each other deeply, face turbulence in their relationship, separate and realize that they are incomplete without each other.

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Nikita Singh’s writing style is poetic. Her descriptions are also vivid. You can picture yourself in the shoes of the characters while you try to understand the reasons for their actions. She was able to express emotions of love, pain, guilt, jealousy, regret, and a host of others.

I like Abhay’s character. He is mature, smart, patient, and honest. Nidhi is, however, a dramatic and annoying character. Sometimes, I try to understand her point of view…then I realize that Nidhi doesn’t even understand herself. I also believe that what she did, leaving Abhay on their engagement day in front of friends and family is one of the worst things that could ever happen to someone.

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However, Nidhi has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I can understand a bit of her anxiety because of my familiarity with OCD in John Green’s ‘Turtles All the Way Down.’

Love is all that matters and Abhay and Nidhi’s relationship proves that!

Rating: 3/5

Letters to My Ex is a simple, yet, interesting read. It is a novel that can be completed in less than three days. I’d recommend the novel if you’re a sucker for romance, like me.