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What's Good About Falling
Indian tennis star Arya Ashok is twenty-seven and ranked among the world's top ten players. But she's dogged by a breathing disorder, and a Grand Slam title remains elusive. Leading international media have dubbed her the game's most famous quarter-finalist . Only twenty-five, Arvind Ram is the biggest new name in world cricket. After a difficult childhood, with little love and even less money, the fast bowler is enjoying great success on the field. When the dashing Arvind woos Arya at Wimbledon, an unlikely romance blossoms, sparking media coverage across continents. But while Arya is beginning to tire of life on the go, Arvind's reign at the top has only just begun. With their careers and lives moving in different directions, can their love win this match?
328 pages, Paperback
Published January 10, 2019
About the author
Prajwal Hegde
5 books6 followersPrajwal Hegde has been working with The Times of India since 2005, covering a number of sports. Prajwal lives in Bengaluru with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 14, 2019
Name- What's Good About Falling
Written by- Prajwal Hegde
Published by- HarperCollins
Pages- 313
Genre- Fiction (Romance)
Review-
What's Good About Falling is not just any love story. It is the story of Arya Ashok, the Indian tennis star and Arvind Ram, India's successful fast bowler.
With sports being their first love Arya and Arvind begins a beautiful journey based on their mutual attraction towards each other. They fell in love with the concept of love itself but as reality hits them hard it rocks their relationship to the core.
With Indians being romance lovers, romance is a genre which most Indian writers choose. But Arya and Arvind's story stands among them as a refreshing love story in the backdrop of Sports. There are lots of references to Cricket matches and Tennis. The picturesque locations including London is a bonus. The narration was simple yet surreal.
Amongst these the author addressed some very crucial issues other than the complexities of love and relationships. One of them being age difference, with Arya being two years older than Arvind. Another most vital issue addressed was the difference in class. While Arya belonged to a rich family, Arvind had to struggle his entire childhood to make his dreams come true. These worked like wonders in this story.
I am glad this book explored romance in a different way.
Written by- Prajwal Hegde
Published by- HarperCollins
Pages- 313
Genre- Fiction (Romance)
Review-
What's Good About Falling is not just any love story. It is the story of Arya Ashok, the Indian tennis star and Arvind Ram, India's successful fast bowler.
With sports being their first love Arya and Arvind begins a beautiful journey based on their mutual attraction towards each other. They fell in love with the concept of love itself but as reality hits them hard it rocks their relationship to the core.
With Indians being romance lovers, romance is a genre which most Indian writers choose. But Arya and Arvind's story stands among them as a refreshing love story in the backdrop of Sports. There are lots of references to Cricket matches and Tennis. The picturesque locations including London is a bonus. The narration was simple yet surreal.
Amongst these the author addressed some very crucial issues other than the complexities of love and relationships. One of them being age difference, with Arya being two years older than Arvind. Another most vital issue addressed was the difference in class. While Arya belonged to a rich family, Arvind had to struggle his entire childhood to make his dreams come true. These worked like wonders in this story.
I am glad this book explored romance in a different way.
January 28, 2019
Initially I was hesitant to write about this book because I outed it as a basic love story. Then I looked into the life of the author who happens to be TOI’s tennis editor. It intrigued me and I started reading it. The protagonist is Arya Ashok who is a tennis player, a very good one at that. But she happens to have a part of her that she has hidden from everyone eventually losing on some greater titles in the tennis world. One fine day after a match at Wimbledon she is greeted and subsequently wooed by the very charming cricket player Arvind Ram, the fast bowler of the Indian cricket team and that too at the first meeting itself.Though skeptical at first due to Arvind’s playboy nature as portrayed by the media, she soon learns that the media couldn’t be more wrong.
Everything seems to be smooth sailing in their relationship at first, but eventually Arvind’s continuous “nagging” about her workout ethics and diet, starts annoying Arya. But they ultimately make up. But after a disastrous match against Pakistan, Arvind starts to second guess his relationship with Arya, and finally breaks off with her. The story then takes us through their lives after that event and leaves us questioning whether Arvind would get back with Arya.
I loved how the characters in the story evolve. They are portrayed as regular human beings than being “perfect”. They both make mistakes, get angry but they rectify it as well. The book is fast paced, doesn’t get boring even at one point. And I loved how flawlessly the author has merged two different sports in one love story. Another factor that helps the story stay interesting is how detailed the description of the matches are, be it tennis or cricket. But mostly tennis since the author herself has much experience in that field.
The writing style was swift, language was easy, though there were a few grammatical mistakes here and there. The story was very interesting. Would definitely recommend for a quick read.
Everything seems to be smooth sailing in their relationship at first, but eventually Arvind’s continuous “nagging” about her workout ethics and diet, starts annoying Arya. But they ultimately make up. But after a disastrous match against Pakistan, Arvind starts to second guess his relationship with Arya, and finally breaks off with her. The story then takes us through their lives after that event and leaves us questioning whether Arvind would get back with Arya.
I loved how the characters in the story evolve. They are portrayed as regular human beings than being “perfect”. They both make mistakes, get angry but they rectify it as well. The book is fast paced, doesn’t get boring even at one point. And I loved how flawlessly the author has merged two different sports in one love story. Another factor that helps the story stay interesting is how detailed the description of the matches are, be it tennis or cricket. But mostly tennis since the author herself has much experience in that field.
The writing style was swift, language was easy, though there were a few grammatical mistakes here and there. The story was very interesting. Would definitely recommend for a quick read.
July 23, 2019
I have waited a while to get my hands on the hard copy of this book.
What's Good About Falling - is an allowance for every reader to take a sneak peak of what happens beyond the sports in a sportsman's life.
The cover-page of the novel says most of the story. The publication being Harper Collins, my expectations of copy editing and grammatical snippets and cover page build was much greater than what it is.
Prajwal is a passionate TOI Tennis Editor, she breathes the essence of good sports. Her association with the sports and the sportsmen helped her build a detailed story line which I will give her as kudos. Not only tennis, she has walked beyond her comfort ground to detail cricket as a sport and a cricketer as well.
The story is an almost predictable one, it is about 2 young kids with similar career falling in and out of love and finally a grand comeback. That would be like most fictions. What went different here was the details of an orthodox household, day to day life of the each person who has walked into this novel. The feeling of a player, a woman, a man, a mother, a father, a coach - everyone has their own story that comes together throughout the novel.
The novel describes 2 human being behind fame and publicity, the actions that cannot be taken back, those moments of sportsman and the reasons behind an action followed by social media trolling.
The story has been knitted very nicely with easy and colloquial language.
Overall, this is a 4.5 from me. I would definitely want to read Prajwal's next authored.
My Review Link:- https://sohni-basu.blogspot.com/2019/...
What's Good About Falling - is an allowance for every reader to take a sneak peak of what happens beyond the sports in a sportsman's life.
The cover-page of the novel says most of the story. The publication being Harper Collins, my expectations of copy editing and grammatical snippets and cover page build was much greater than what it is.
Prajwal is a passionate TOI Tennis Editor, she breathes the essence of good sports. Her association with the sports and the sportsmen helped her build a detailed story line which I will give her as kudos. Not only tennis, she has walked beyond her comfort ground to detail cricket as a sport and a cricketer as well.
The story is an almost predictable one, it is about 2 young kids with similar career falling in and out of love and finally a grand comeback. That would be like most fictions. What went different here was the details of an orthodox household, day to day life of the each person who has walked into this novel. The feeling of a player, a woman, a man, a mother, a father, a coach - everyone has their own story that comes together throughout the novel.
The novel describes 2 human being behind fame and publicity, the actions that cannot be taken back, those moments of sportsman and the reasons behind an action followed by social media trolling.
The story has been knitted very nicely with easy and colloquial language.
Overall, this is a 4.5 from me. I would definitely want to read Prajwal's next authored.
My Review Link:- https://sohni-basu.blogspot.com/2019/...
May 15, 2019
My Take:
I love reading stories, where the process of falling in love is explored in detail, with love and patience. That's what I feel is called building the story. The interesting, point being here the guy falls in love with the girl's character and her game, not her physical appearance which is rare in these days.
Arya Ashok is a tennis star, famous and a pro. She has it all, name, fame, hard work and family support. Arvind Ram is a cricketer, who has had a difficult time and struggled hard to reach the place where he is now, famous, successful and rich. Both are headstrong, passionate about their game. What happens when their worlds clash?? Love or game? If they had to make a choice between the passion for the game or love, what would they choose? Read the book to find out.
The leads are beautifully etched. So are their behavior, pattern ,insecurities, the finer details related to sport are very well written.A closer look at what goes in the mind of a sportsperson, how they deal with the pressures, insecurities,the role of the media and social media is incorporated well in the story. The narration is smooth and keeps u intrigued. You get attached to the characters and understand where the story is moving. The insecurities and the confrontation of their emotions are handled delicately. The book keeps you hooked till the end.
Rating:
I would rate this 4.8/5 as it is one of the finer works in the romance cum sport fiction that I have read. This one is going to stay with me for a long time
I love reading stories, where the process of falling in love is explored in detail, with love and patience. That's what I feel is called building the story. The interesting, point being here the guy falls in love with the girl's character and her game, not her physical appearance which is rare in these days.
Arya Ashok is a tennis star, famous and a pro. She has it all, name, fame, hard work and family support. Arvind Ram is a cricketer, who has had a difficult time and struggled hard to reach the place where he is now, famous, successful and rich. Both are headstrong, passionate about their game. What happens when their worlds clash?? Love or game? If they had to make a choice between the passion for the game or love, what would they choose? Read the book to find out.
The leads are beautifully etched. So are their behavior, pattern ,insecurities, the finer details related to sport are very well written.A closer look at what goes in the mind of a sportsperson, how they deal with the pressures, insecurities,the role of the media and social media is incorporated well in the story. The narration is smooth and keeps u intrigued. You get attached to the characters and understand where the story is moving. The insecurities and the confrontation of their emotions are handled delicately. The book keeps you hooked till the end.
Rating:
I would rate this 4.8/5 as it is one of the finer works in the romance cum sport fiction that I have read. This one is going to stay with me for a long time
March 8, 2019
This book did not do it for me. It was neither properly a good romantic book.. nor a good sports fiction.. I think it will be popular in teenagers. Read it because Sania Mirza recommended it.. but turned out to be meh. it was as if Virat Kohli married Sania Mirza. Not Authentic At All!!!!
February 1, 2019
Initially I was hesitant to write about this book because I outed it as a basic love story. Then I looked into the life of the author who happens to be TOI’s tennis editor. It intrigued me and I started reading it. The protagonist is Arya Ashok who is a tennis player, a very good one at that. But she happens to have a part of her that she has hidden from everyone eventually losing on some greater titles in the tennis world. One fine day after a match at Wimbledon she is greeted and subsequently wooed by the very charming cricket player Arvind Ram, the fast bowler of the Indian cricket team and that too at the first meeting itself.Though skeptical at first due to Arvind’s playboy nature as portrayed by the media, she soon learns that the media couldn’t be more wrong.
Everything seems to be smooth sailing in their relationship at first, but eventually Arvind’s continuous “nagging” about her workout ethics and diet, starts annoying Arya. But they ultimately make up. But after a disastrous match against Pakistan, Arvind starts to second guess his relationship with Arya, and finally breaks off with her. The story then takes us through their lives after that event and leaves us questioning whether Arvind would get back with Arya.
I loved how the characters in the story evolve. They are portrayed as regular human beings than being “perfect”. They both make mistakes, get angry but they rectify it as well. The book is fast paced, doesn’t get boring even at one point. And I loved how flawlessly the author has merged two different sports in one love story. Another factor that helps the story stay interesting is how detailed the description of the matches are, be it tennis or cricket. But mostly tennis since the author herself has much experience in that field.
The writing style was swift, language was easy, though there were a few grammatical mistakes here and there. The story was very interesting. Would definitely recommend for a quick read.
Cover ratings : 2/5
Overall ratings : 4/5
Everything seems to be smooth sailing in their relationship at first, but eventually Arvind’s continuous “nagging” about her workout ethics and diet, starts annoying Arya. But they ultimately make up. But after a disastrous match against Pakistan, Arvind starts to second guess his relationship with Arya, and finally breaks off with her. The story then takes us through their lives after that event and leaves us questioning whether Arvind would get back with Arya.
I loved how the characters in the story evolve. They are portrayed as regular human beings than being “perfect”. They both make mistakes, get angry but they rectify it as well. The book is fast paced, doesn’t get boring even at one point. And I loved how flawlessly the author has merged two different sports in one love story. Another factor that helps the story stay interesting is how detailed the description of the matches are, be it tennis or cricket. But mostly tennis since the author herself has much experience in that field.
The writing style was swift, language was easy, though there were a few grammatical mistakes here and there. The story was very interesting. Would definitely recommend for a quick read.
Cover ratings : 2/5
Overall ratings : 4/5
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews