By Kevin Mallik

Truce is a lovely book with some amazing yet strong teen characters. The author is a teen blogger and reader from India and it is quite evident in her work. The theme and age of the novel reflects much about the teen author Risha Chaurasia. “Truce” is a powerful word in maintaining peace in life. So, the title is not only objective but also subjective as the characters are named in accordance with the title…how…TRUCE – Tiya, Ron, Udit, Cayra, and Edi. These five characters are in the main light. There are some other auxiliary characters as well that put some catalytic efforts to nudge the plot, but these five hold the cynosure.

In a sense, it’s a book of five people. The author has mixed them with different personality traits and family backdrop. Life seems cakewalk for them from a distance, but as one takes a close look, it’s way different than many could have thought. Ron and Cayra are filthy rich. They are so occupied with social responsibilities that it is hard to believe that with money can someone remain so humble. Ron is also a soccer star along with Udit. Cayra is tied to her busy schedule as she owns a world-renowned fashion brand. Udit was doing well in soccer until he meets with a deadly infectious disease.

If talking about setbacks, all have their share…but Udit’s looked more. Tiya is like a girl from middle-class family with passion for music but right at the beginning one of her close friends robs her share of happiness. What is that…? Edi is without parents. His parents run away when he was a kid, now staying with an octogenarian fragile grandmother. His life is on the tenterhooks, much unstable than others.

The book can be better understood if and only one goes through all characters. Five teens from diverse backdrop feel one common punch: lack of true friendship. Thus, when they all get connected, automatically an invincible group is formed. After that their struggle to remain best friends begins. One by one, all friends face problems in life. For instance, Udit is diagnosed with a muscle disease; as a result he has to leave football and turns away from his girlfriend Val, who is good friend of Tiya. On the other hand, Ron invests some big money with Cayra…but soon something awful happens. Edi’s grandmother goes invalid, in a hospital. Be it any age, problems are everywhere, but the way these guy help each other in adverse time is really inspiring.

Our View on the Cover:

At a first glance, the cover of the book is as energetic as the characters inside. Clearly, the cover indicates that the book is about some young people. There are five teenagers on the cover, two girls and three young boys. From colour combination to font placement, all looks in sync with the overall theme of the book. It is a good cover – nothing less, nothing overdone.

Characters:

Could be guessed from the cover – the novel features the life story of five teenagers. They are in an alphabetic order: Tiya, Ron, Udit, Cayra, and Edi. The characters are balanced with respect to family, aspirations, attitude, and burden of responsibilities. All characters have been sketched well. They are alone first, and when the connected, they look all set for lifetime friendship. Self-discovery and true friendship bind and concern them. Ron and Cayra are like celebrities, while Tiya and Udit are as ambitious as others but they have some constraints of time, Edi is a poor orphan. Their diversity pricks interest in the story.

Writing Style:

Risha has kept the book floating by adding ironies and conflict of nature. The book is easy to read and follow up with all characters. Language is cool, especially in the dialogue form. Many teenagers and adult guys will find this book highly relatable. Often books based on teenage characters are full of child-parent fight, madness, and rebel elements. Well this is different – a positive story awaits you.

Who can Read:

The novel is contemporary in its essence and stance. It can be put under general fiction, thus, it is readable by any reader. It is that novel that comes up with no pre-labeled tag. However, teens and their parents will find the book more close to their hearts and every day events.

Our Final Verdict:

The author has focused solely on teens than anything else. Had there been some coverage on their family diversity and surrounding, it could have been more contrasting novel for young guys. Through characters like Adam and Destiny, the author tried to show that in friendship not everything is gold that glitters. For a true friendship to have survived long, it needs to go through the test of time and quirk of fate. For teens, it is a meaningful novel that lay emphasis on career goals, aspirations, family allegiance, and finding right set of true friends at the right time. The biggest message in the book is self-discovery and effects of being in a good companionship.