Book Title:
The book’s title – My Name Is Cinnamon is unique and interesting.

Book Cover:
The book’s cover image is a colourful cartoon of two young boys on a bike with people in and around the area looking at them. The cover image is absolutely chirpy and reminds the yesteryear’s Tinkle, Archie’s or such book covers. This is probably the third book with this kind of colourful cartoon-type cover in the year I read.

Plot:
It’s a fun book with small-town drama covered in a duvet of humour. The novel tells the tale of Roshan Rishikesh Paranjape, also known as Cinnamon. Cinnamon is a bright and cheerful adolescent who despises math but adores history. The routine occurrences in his life often create humour and take the readers on a nostalgic ride. But then his world transforms one day. The truth that he is an adopted kid turns his world upside down. And he insists on meeting his biological parents, to which his parents initially hesitate, but he finally travels to Nandurbar to visit his birth parents.

What happens next? Does Cinnamon meet his parents? Do they treat him well? Will he go back with his adoptive parents? Why is he facing issues in listening and seeing things?

My review:
Interestingly written with balanced emotions, a child’s life and his struggle to know his reality that questions his existence is quite emotional. The story reminded me of the famous Tamil movie directed by the ace director Maniratnam – titled – Amrutha, which talks about the story of a Srilankan refugee couple’s girl child who is adopted by a Chennai-based couple. Cinnamon and his character are as delicate as a flower with sensitive feelings.

Kudos to the author for writing this interesting story.

What I like:
1. A unique and heart-warming plotline
2. The humour quotient in the story is tickling and entertaining, with values attached.
3. The simple language and flow of the story.
4. The nicknames of the characters.
5. The cultural umbrella of places like Pune and Kolkata with their food dishes’ introduction to the readers is nice.

What I didn’t like:
1. Though the characters depict emotions correctly, a little more depth would have added beauty.
2. Some grammatical and editing mistakes acted as hiccups while reading the book in a flow.

Characters:
Including Cinnamon, other characters in his life are fascinating and fun-filled. Creating such characters and sustaining the same enthusiasm in his debut work takes a lot of writing prowess. Vikas has done a splendid job! Aditi’s character is realistic. It reminded me of someone I know.

Narration:
The narration in this unique plot stands on top. Many things are woven with significant intersections in the story. This is a very challenging and different type of narration because of some strong themes explained with finesse and ease.

Language & Grammar:
Simple language with easy vocabulary is used in the story. The language of the book is undoubtedly suitable for readers of any age, and thus, the book can be happily picked up by a teenager without any hesitation.

Link to buy the book: https://www.amazon.in/Name-Cinnamon-Vikas-Prakash-Joshi/dp/9394613188/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8