Smita Bhattacharya's "He Knew A Firefly"

Title: Fly Away Firefly

“He Knew A Firefly” by Smita Bhattacharya

Reviewed by K. Royce

5/7/16

10:00 a.m.

Akshara possessed a gift that no one should ever have. A gift that allowed her to experience the most vivid dreams, but the downside, she, as well as those around her were at risk. Several major events took place in Akshara’s life in which she blamed herself for and she swore to never allow herself to get close to anyone ever again. But that all changed when she met Olivier. Things appeared to be going great, but her dreams started becoming more realistic and she was faced with making a choice: stay with Olivier and be happy or be alone in order to keep her friends and loved ones safe.

The recap mentioned above gives some readers the impression that this book was more interesting than it really was. Unfortunately, the story was slow and extremely difficult to understand. The chapters jumped from character to character and at sometimes, the reader had to make it halfway through a chapter to realize if the events taking place were in the past, present or future. And lastly, there was the issue with dialect. He Knew A Firefly, was set in India for the majority of the story, and often times during character conversations Indian dialect and jargon was tossed into the story; this made it impossible for someone who does not speak the language to know what was being said.

I took a few extra days on this review to truly figure out, why I did not like this story?  And more importantly, I wanted this to be honest and offer a fair review. I loved the author’s writing style - the language, when it was English, was beautiful; the descriptions of emotions felt by the characters and the characters themselves were very developed and expressed wonderfully. However, there was not enough action with the characters. Even if this story was supposed to mimic life, which is perfectly fine, there still was not enough taking place to keep the story moving. The book lulled in some spots and came to a complete stop in others.

I give it 2 out of 5 stars.

Enjoy!

K. Royce