Book Review - You and Me and our Relationship

‘You and Me, and our Relationship is a decent self help book, but drags quite often

Genre: Self Help/ Non-Fiction

Publisher: Mahaveer Publishers

‘You and Me, and our Relationship’ is the first book (yes, not a novel) by Mr. Nikhil Mukhija. Nikhil, an engineering student, has picked up the concept of a self help book, in which he shares his philosophies and thus guides young people (mostly men) the ways to win in their love lives.

Well, the back cover synopsis says:-

This book is meant for:

* those dreaming of igniting the spark of love in the Girl or Guy of their dreams;
*those ‘turtle-ing’ (progressing but slow) around their relationship;
*those who are confused whether it's the right move, right pace or the right way to proceed; and
*those who are missing the charm in their relationship.

Offering an insight into Love, Crush, and Infatuation and with psychology assisting you. This book gives you an insight into how a person perceives love and what causes attraction between a girl and a guy. Love is a very delicate feeling and even a slight mistake can lead to misinterpretation and misunderstandings.

So it is better to read this book and be forearmed with the arsenal to shoot down any adversity that comes the way of your love life. In the era where packing matters more than the substance itself. It is neither a Fictional Story nor a Hypothesis. It is a theory that will rewrite the script of your love life forever.

“Enough of ‘be yourself’ cliché, now its time to be, what ‘they’ want you to be what ‘they’ want you to be.”

Now, the REVIEW... 

As a first time writer and at such a young age, Nikhil Mukhija has picked up a tough genre (a self help book), and has done a fairly decent job. The whole book is divided into 32 chapters, and in each chapter Nikhil has taken some really good real-life examples to prove his philosophies and points. I was surprised to see how well he has studied, or how well he knows the complexities in relationships (especially between young people/ teenagers). I was mighty surprised to see his understanding regarding fairer sex’s thought process. The one-liners, which he has sprinkled all over the book, are true and meaningful. Some of them will make you laugh at times, but they are meaningful as well. Some of my favourites are:-

“People approach us for our stature and stay with us for our nature.”

“Love may or may not be blind, but lust has 6x6 eyesight.”

“Running after a girl is like hunting for a tigress – either you tame her or you get tamed by her.”

“If you can’t be happy with what you have, you can’t be happier with what you wish to have.”

“Stages in a relationship – Mad for each other. Made for each other. Mad at each other. Mad because of each other.”

The best chapter of the book is undoubtedly the last chapter – “Suicide: Is she really worth it?” With the increasing suicide rate, due to heartbreaks, in our country, Nikhil has sent a strong message, and I hope people should read it, and understand it. Kudos to Nikhil! The good thing about this book is, you can start with any chapter, and read them in any order.  Overall, the book is well written (with less editing errors), and well explained (with enough examples).

Done with Appreciations...

Youngsters/Teenagers/School-College goers will surely admire this book, but this book can give a lot of headache to matured adults, who have seen enough of relationships in their lives. Most of the philosophies and fundamentals explained in this book will prove useless to them. Almost entire book is covered with the concept of “How to win a girl’s heart?”, and very rarely the emphasis has been made on “How to sustain a healthy relationship in the long run?” As a matured and avid reader myself, the book sometimes appeared to me something like “100 ways to win a girl!” I would have loved the book much more, if Nikhil had paid more attention on “How to sustain relationships?” But instead, the book teaches you TIPS/TRICKS to woo a girl. The major disadvantage of this book is its limited readership. As already said, this book is limited to young school-college teenagers, but I am also not sure if girls can learn any of these tips/tricks and apply them on boys. Few of the chapters, like the last one, are really good, but most of the chapters drag, and the reader tends to feel bored. As said earlier, it will depend on who the reader is. If you are a college going teenager, this is the perfect book for you. But, if you are a matured adult, and looking to find something in the book to save your relationship, you will be disappointed.

On the whole, Nikhil Mukhija’s ‘You and Me, and our Relationship’ is a decent self help book, but is limited for certain kind of readers. Though it is very well written, it drags at many places. Nikhil has a very good control over his language, and is one of the better writers that I have read in recent times. I am going with a 3 out of 5 stars for Nikhil Mukhija’s ‘You and Me, and our Relationship’

Verdict: A good self help book. Pick it up, especially if you are a teenager and want to learn how to woo your girl. Rest of the readers may feel disappointed.