The Diary on the Fifth Floor | Book Review

The Diary on the Fifth Floor

Author: Raisha Lalwani

Pages: 184

Publisher: Rupa Publication

          ‘The Diary on the Fifth Floor’ by Raisha Lalwani is a fascinating tale of a twenty five year old woman who is dealing with some sort of problem when she decides to see the doctor more precisely a psychiatrist. With constant emails to the doctor she finally manages to get an appointment and she arrives at the doctor’s place. The story begins when she enters the doctor’s clinic on the fifth floor of a hospital. The woman informs the doctor that she is here for her sister and that her sister is behaving weirdly these days and is not being herself. She is terrified to open up in front of the doctor and hence is constantly creating a web of lies. The woman is carrying a blue diary with her and tells the doctor that it is her sister’s diary where she makes her daily entry of events that she has experienced or heard of. But the doctor confronts her and tells her to accept that it is not her sister that she is talking of but herself. At that moment she is in a dilemma if she should hand over the diary to the doctor or not. She has a fear that the people might not understand her and will declare her insane if the doctor gets to read her diary. But the doctor’s calm demeanour makes her feel comfortable and she finally hands over her diary to the doctor. What does this diary contain? What is the story of this woman? What secrets lie in the pages of her diary? And the most important question what happens on the fifth floor? To know more read The Diary on the Fifth Floor.

My Thoughts:

I loved the writing style of the author. It would surely get to the heart of the readers. She has handled the most important issues that we are currently facing. The book shows us how insensitive people have become in today’s time. They have become self-centered and don’t care about what is happening in other’s life. Through her book the author has indirectly asked us many questions, such as:

1.   When did people become so insensitive towards others?

2.   Why is it that we have become self-centered and not think what other people might feel or get hurt due to our behaviour?

3.   Why do we judge people and not look how are we behaving to them?  

The characters are well constructed. I loved the protagonist the values that she hold and the way she is disturbed with the world around her and the insensitiveness of the people towards others.  The doctor too is very poised and is determined to answer every question that the woman has and never loses her calm. The characters are relatable.

I really loved the book and the concept of the book. It is basically a collection of story and a glimpse at the real life situation how people truly behave and how the world the used to be previously and what the world and the people living in it have now become. I would surely recommend this book to all who are looking to read something fiction but at the same time cover the real life situations that we all go through or experience.

My Rating: 5/5

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by VInfluencer in exchange for my honest review.