The Coffee and The Cola by Kapil Muzumdar is a type of book that adds new flavourism in your life. The way the author has juggled with first person and third person narrative is exceptional. The concepts of Coffee and The Cola makes it appreciable.

The cover of the book is average and has some artistic spots of brown coffee as if someone splashed the coffee or a water colour paint similar to coffee. The cover is related to the title but doesnt gives us any clue about the thought process of the author.

The title is unique and a person like me whose addicted to coffee is instantly in love with it. We surely some clue about it. As slowly the title and cover starts making sense to me.

The book has two plots which gets merged in the end. This concept of main plot and sub plot is slightly tricky as at times things get against the author but kuddos to the author as everything falls at right place. The story has a narrator who is author himself but he narrates about a dear one, protagonist, Rahul and about his life. Radha’s character has traits of coffee while Nora’s character has traits of Cola. All these combined together makes an interesting combination. Surely, the readers get bit confused with these cola and coffee concept but as you start reading you fell in love with the book. I must suggest that do grab a coffee while reading it.eh!

The characters are equally intriguing and binds the interest of the readers. The way the narrator talks about Rahul and his life story is impeccable. Rahul’s character is complex as he seems confused while deciding like what he wants in life. Radha or Nora? Both seems perfect. If Radha believes in eternal love then Nora believes in intimacy, physical love. Rahul is seen juggling between the two types of love. Whom he choose is the rest of the story and you better grab this book to know about it.

Radha is categorised as Coffee and Nora is categorised as Cola. Both serve as a foil to each other. THey both have their set of stories with Rahul and Rahul is the lead which links them to each other somewhere. Radha is ambitious and career oriented while the latter believes in enjoying life, partying and making love. These contrasting characters makes the plot construction strong.

The style of writing is poignant. The use of backstory, flashback and flash forward makes the book glow inceredibly. The author has even included himself in the story which makes sense when the author uses first person narrative blended with third person narrative style. The descriptions remain impersonal. The use of epistolar concept can also be noticed. The unique concept of stating the behaviour of coffee and cola in every chapter at the start. Also, some of the questions dance in my mind.

Was this story an account of author’s encounter or was it solely focussed on Rahul? And the question might sound spoiler so I will keep it preserved. I can generalise by saying that Meera’s character was mysterious. Although, the cover made sense according to its motive but I feel it could have been more better which might have attracted quick attention. I would surely recommend this book to the readers who are looking for unique concepts of writing.

Grab your copies from : http://www.amazon.in/Coffee-Cola-Ordinary-Narrative-Extraordinary/dp/1946048917/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484288596&sr=8-1&keywords=the+coffee+and+the+cola