Book Review: The Long Road - Dr. Vivek Banerjee

Ever wondered that your life has been nothing but a journey? Ever thought how times, people and relationships change gradually (well, almost)? Ever realized that you’ve been on a long road where journey is the only destination? ‘The Long Road’ a debut novel by Dr. Vivek Banerjee talks about the same.

Sarika: Super confident. Ambitious. Unperturbed of the stereotypes. Work priorities first.

Rahul: Confident. Fun loving. Caring. Rich. Loves Sarika badly.

Hina: A quintessential small town girl with a very inferior family background. Ambitious.

Ranjiv: Rich. Rebel. On a quest to find his love.

Sagarika: A typical dusky Bengali beauty. Bright student. Ambitious.

What happens if you keep all these people in one big medical school? Sarika after her break up with Rahul comes to reputed medical college in Mumbai. Rahul, in order to get back Sarika in his life, prepares hard and gets admitted to the same college. Meanwhile, Hina, a girl who all her life and lived in an attic in a mosque fights her way to the medical college. Ranjiv, after fighting with his dad over his career, gets admitted to the same college. Sagarika after working super hard makes it to the medical college.

The initial premise of their relationships changes gradually as they spend time in the college together.  The medical studies, the people around them, their ambitions, family backgrounds, young impulsive attitude, and all the chutzpah to do something big, all these things play an important role in their lives and relationships.

The book clearly shows how vulnerable young doctors are; they are always unsure of what to do next! On one hand there lies the future in family and relationships, on the other hand lies the future in career and determinations. Both are equally important for a doctor; and so the decision making and proceeding with it is such a big task. Determination and mental stability is a must for a young doctor and it shows in their characters in ‘The Long Road’.

Talking about the writing style, Dr. Vivek Banerjee is completely an honest man. In the acknowledgement section he clearly states, this might be not the best book you read but he’ll be extremely happy if this book manages to make a special place in you. His style is fresh and pleasure to read. He is witty in some of his lines and humorous in some. Yes, both are different things. He also manages to raise your eyebrows in awe of some of his lines. And yes, of course, with near perfect vocab this book boasts of lesser printing mistakes and better grammar.

The story, well, is about doctors and so the terms related to medicine and surgery were bound to be present. Those of you, who are not familiar with these terms, might feel weird when everything related to these goes above your head. Looking at a positive side, if you try to read those scenes carefully, you might be able to learn many new things about what doctors do.

Also, I want to add, a little more character detailing and a little more description in the chapters would have made this book even more pleasurable. But, looking aside of all these points, this entire book, I breezed through the book and wore a broad smile while reading most of its parts. Kudos to Dr. Vivek (or more commonly known as ‘Ben’ in blogger world) for handling the story well.

All in all, a good book if you’re bored of engineering stories and want to learn something about doctors. Also, if you need a means to make you realize it’s not just a life you’re living, it’s a long road you’re travelling then you’d want to read this book.

Pros: Fantastic theme. Good writing style. Relatable characters, NOT an engineering premise and yes, love!

Cons:  A little less usage of medicinal and surgical terms, a little more character detailing and better descriptive scenes would have improved this book.

Overall: A Good Read. 3.5/5