Wattpad Book Reviews

Review #1: My Name Is Raquel

Review #1: My Name Is Raquel: 

*Status: Completed*

Everyone seems to have their own way in expressing their thoughts and emotions; some write, some sing, some fight, and some even give up to the doors of suicide. Mentalities differ along with the way people express their own; especially when it comes to writers.

Writers, with all respect to people with different talents, are of the strongest. They don’t just throw out words randomly and stumble over their words. They are true artists, artists of words and thoughts. They don’t just draw what’s on their mind, no, they give you the chance to draw the variant threads and colors of life. My favorite portraits happen to be those that teach you a moral about life and those that express the excruciating pain that were trapped in this writers little beating muscle.

I never was a fan of online reading; I was always the type that preferred to feel the book in my hands as I flip over its pages, admiring the ink that flew as words.  However, in my recent join to wattpad, I stumbled over few stories that I fell in love with, but one carved it’s words in my mind; My Name Is Raquel.

My Name Is Raquel, or as its readers call it MNIR, is a story based on real life events; for those who might’ve thought some details might’ve been exaggerated, I’d like to state that I myself have witnessed such, and I would like to confirm the reality that’s been put in this book. This book is the definition of divine art. It’s simple yet beautiful; yes, Beautiful. The way this young writer, Nour Zheiry, starts every chapter differently (once description of something vague and at other times events/flashbacks/etc…), and the way she describes each emotion – guiding the readers to understand their own. Not to mention, her provocative style, where she triggers the readers senses and feelings; whether happiness, jealousy, anger, despair, sorrow, sadness, and pain. Ah, pain. The way she describes it [or as “Zayn” describes it]: “Pain. Oh God. There are many types like you said, some bring pleasure, some bring happiness, some make you feel alive, and the last makes you feel like you just want to die.” Yes, that’s exactly what pain is. How accurate and beautiful is this? As I’d like to add that, unlike other romance books, MNIR’s drama and romance are not exaggerated. They are genuine and sincere; definitely not cheesy or stupid.

Moving on from the way she writes, let’s take a moment to discuss the characters; specifically I want to shed the light on the usage for the character of Zayn Malik. This is not a fan-fiction. If it was so, then she would’ve kept the details about him as they are in reality. For example, in reality, Zayn has three sisters, his mother is Trisha, and his father is Yaser. Whereas, in MNIR, Zayn has a brother that died in a car accident, in the name of Lawrence, and his parent’s names are Tamara and Ahmed. In addition to the fact that wattpad classified it as nonfiction. Personally, I think the use of his character was quiet smart in fact. It was her first story to ever publish online, and the way I see it is that Zayn was one of the main reasons that this story got this quick notice; this statement itself clarifies how she used the character wisely. “I needed his tattoos, his looks, his religion, and his name to match my character; no other name seemed to suit him more. But of course, when I publish the book I will change his name”, Nour said.

I admired the social messages that she is trying to deliver; for e.g. not to judge a person by the titles that society gave him/her, not to give up on hope no matter how harsh life gets, not to give up on true love, and finally to understand one another and communicate in a civilized manner.  

To finalize this, it’s the only story (in addition to Illegal, which I’ll write a review about when it’s done) that I will reread over and over again, which never happened in my entire life – truth be told. No matter how much I get captivated by a book, I wouldn’t read it again. However, “My Name Is Raquel” is not just a journey; it’s a roller-coaster ride that I’d like to be a part of frequently in my life.