The Diary on the Fifth Floor by Raisha Lalwani | Book Review

Summary:

A woman leaves her infant at home but finds her on a busy street in an unexpected turn of events.
Another woman wakes up in a flight hours later, befuddled, in the strangest circumstance.

A fascinating tale of a twenty-five-year-old woman that takes hold of us from the moment she enters the fifth floor of a hospital; more precisely, the psychiatric ward. Visibly terrified, she clutches at her clothbound diary, caught in the horns of a terrible dilemma—whether or not to hand over the diary to the doctor. She fears that she will be declared insane if her tangled web of thoughts unspooling in dark mysterious stories is read by the dissecting eye of a doctor.

What does this diary contain? As the novel progresses, we are drawn into characters and stories that are toe-curling, strange and haunting in their raw intensity. What is the story of this woman? What secrets lie in the pages of her diary? And most importantly, what happens on the fifth floor?

Author:

Raisha Lalwani

Publisher:

Rupa Publications

Release date:

October 21st 2018

No. of Pages:

Paperback, 184 Pages

I honestly believe this book can help every woman grow. Personally, it has helped me focus on the one person who is the LAST to get my attention and effort, myself. It gives you permission to identify your negative thoughts but steers you away from ruminating. I love the way how the mental illness is described in the book

The novel starts with the protagonist visiting a Psychiatrist. The book has two main characters Savannah & Dr Berry, both of the characters are described very well. The author has wrote the book incredibly well. Her ability to take you into the world of his realistic characters is mesmerising. It's very gripping and moving page turner. I could barely put the book down and loved it from the first page to the last.

The book is the beautiful blend of fiction and self help. All the stories mentioned in the novel has a sorrowful ending. I wasn't very satisfied with the ending though, something just seemed incomplete.

My favorite quotes from the book:

"Everyone needs someone to lean on, and not being able to trust anyone long enough to take a bit of weight off your shoulders is a harsh way to grow up."

"The choices we make define the kind of people we then become. The main question here is: Do we like who we have become?"