Rohit Shukla’s writing style might look unorthodox and even out of the box to many readers who will go through the novel Centripetal by him. Certainly, the novel has many uncommon factors that we usually don’t find in novels unless that’s written by some Samuel Beckett or Franz Kafka. And no doubt that one of them, Kafka, has inspired the author of Centripetal, Rohit Shukla, a lot! And we might find his imprints as a watermark on his debut English novel. Am I sounding excited? Well, maybe I am! 

Centripetal is the title of the novel that Rohit Shukla has written and it took about a day and a half to finish this. The novel was not so exciting in terms of the narrative but many layers of plot and the storyline with multi-angle perspective kept me on my toes all the time. Yes, it was necessary to take breaks in between so that I could gather what was going on in terms of the plot’s development. You might need to exert a little to understand how does it begin and what do things happen the way they happen in this novel. A challenge and a task… 

Mangal will be found many times in the course of the story and readers will surely get affiliated with his ambition to finish a book. He keeps trying but finds himself haunted by a certain character of his own fictional work. However, as time goes by, a reader might start to doubt whether Mangal’s story is a mere story or something greater than that. Niketan’s separation from his beloved Chahat makes him lonely and almost lunatic. He does his best to get back to Chahat and find her but he fails. However, towards the end, he does something great and does get back to his beloved, somehow. There are characters who have committed grave crimes in the past and that is also unfolded as the story reaches towards a seeming conclusion. 

About the conclusion, as the characters are sitting with their heads down, no one can argue whether it’s a definite conclusion or not. The author has kept his story open for interpretations and it can be construed from various angles. You can see it as a psychological novel or a weird twisted tale of imagination where things keep happening on their own and later get linked to an event before or after. It’s tough to find out what really happens all along if you are a reader who loves to read straight stories like those by the mythical authors of Aesop’s Fable or sweet love story Arabian Nights. 

On the slippery side of this work, it is evident that the plot could have been developed a little fairly and readers could have given something to hold on to. Monologues and flashbacks are nice but they break the rhythm at times and the developing connection with the novel is pushed away (deliberately?).

It is wise to read this novel just to give yourself a little jerk and get you up from a deep sleep or hibernation that the regular works of fiction might have brought to you. However, it is likely wise to stay away from this work because it might give you tough hours of calculations and conundrum that a weird story might have in store for you! What will you decide? If you accept the challenge to read this novel by Rohit Shukla, here is the link to but Centripetal from Amazon: 

Buy the novel now – click here to get a copy

Review by Sarthak for Featured Books