The Purgatory of Half- Forgotten Riddles REVIEW! #22

Name of the book- The Purgatory of Half-Forgotten Riddles

Name of the author- John A. Raju

Story of the book-

This story is about a writer Peter who, according to him has failed in his life. Peter is a struggling author and he starts to write down a journal which contains all of his past- happy and sad memories ad well as some mysteries. He lived with aunt Helen and his father in Winstorville. His mother died when he was very small and he never became close to his father as his father couldn’t overcome his incident. Alex was his childhood best friend and they did everything together. Then one day, Alice came to Winstorville to settle down with her family and became their good friend. SO, now, the group turned from two to three. Peter had a crush on Alice but he never confessed his feelings because he was shy and too afraid of rejection. They went to school together and decided to go to the same college. Alex and Peter took English and Alice took History as their graduating subject. Everything was going well but at the end of his graduation, Peter’s father died. He found a note from his father that justified that it was a suicide and not an accident. On that day only. Alice left him and he was broken. Peter moved away from Alex as well and finally, all the people who were close to him till then were removed from his life suddenly. He became very lonely and started concentrating on his career and his aspiration of becoming a writer.

So, what happened after this? How the circumstances changed and he started feeling that he failed in his life? Will he be able to solve all the half- forgotten riddles?

Read the book to know more.

My review-

This is the story of Peter who one day devours in his half- forgotten past and starts writing his journey so far so that he can solve some of the riddles that changed his life forever. Peter was old and he thought that he failed in his life because he never became and author- which he thought that he could become easily. He struggled but still failed every time. This was his last attempt.

I couldn’t love the main character but couldn’t hate him completely as well. I loved how he believed in reality more than the fairytale things like “love at first sight”. The author beautifully explained how physically beautiful people get more significance in real life than others. Peter used to get a guilty pleasure when he showed people down and was afraid of rejections. These are the things that I didn’t like about him. Alex was my favorite character and I loved how he was loyal to his friends and blended in every situation. Alice was a very insignificant in the story whose silhouette was there but presence was not. So, I didn’t care about her.

The author did a good job by portraying all the characters but since his main character was Peter, the other characters were shadowed away and they needed some development. However, the reality checks that the author does throughout the whole story is amazing and people can actually learn about the harsh realities from this book. This book will inspire the readers to read more and write more. The book may seem boring in some parts who are not used to reading self-help or nonfiction books. The main plot twist comes at the end of the book that blew my mind. I loved the ending!

Overall, it was a very unique story and the path of self-discovery of the main character was amazing to read. I recommend this book to people who have some affinity towards self help with a blend of fiction in it.

Cover of the book-

The cover has a pen and from the Nib all the thoughts are flowing which has huge significance in the story. The cover is very creative.

Rating for the book- 4⭐/5⭐
Rating for the cover- 3⭐/5⭐

Favourite lines from the book-

Often it is hard to thank people who are very close to you- the people you tend to take for granted, because they love you so much that showing gratitude to them feels superficial; you kind of know that they understand how you feel.

Gratitude is a shooting star- burns bright but lasts fleetingly.

People get used to pain, son. It is happiness that we can never get enough of.

There really are no plot holes in life. Even when things don’t make sense and yet they happen, there would be some cause for it.

People are increasingly not honest with themselves. Why would they then find it necessary with others, apart from a desire for self- preservation or perpetuation?

Thank you to the author for providing me the review copy and best wishes to him!

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Thank you!