Five Point Someone, by Chetan Bhagat

About the author:

Chetan Bhagat is one of India’s most known authors. He’s the author of five novels and a collection of essays. All five novels have either already been, or expected to be, made into movies.

Cover and blurb:

The cover is somewhat like a college notebook, and the book is subtitled what not to do at IIT. The cover talks of a college story, of three friends and the darker side of IIT.

My thoughts on the book:

Chetan Bhagat is one of those authors I’ve loved and hated. I guess not every book can be a super hit, but I’ve read four of his five novels, felt two was average, and two was way below par. I’ve this habit of not reading books in order. So when one of my friends saw that I’ve not read CB’s debut book, Five Point Someone, she gave me her copy and told me I have to read that. I decided to complete the set of CB novels and took it eagerly. I’d heard rave reviews of the book from most of my friends, and with the movie 3 Idiots being adapted from this one (loosely adapted, I might add), I thought it possibly couldn’t be worse than the two novels I’ve felt way below par.

Five Point Someone brings to us, the story of three friends and their life in IIT. These three friends are linked, not by common points, but how they don’t have much in common at all. It tells us of their studies, their friendship, their obstacles (including the teachers), the ragging and the revolt and many other aspects of college life that many of us might be able to relate to.

Is the book memorable? No. Not very. It’s a simply written simple story with not a lot of twists and turns etc. It’s a fast paced book which you might pick up on a journey and the plot keeps you occupied for a few hours, save you from boredom on that. There are various characters that you can step into the shoes of and possibly understand their life. You feel intrigued by the depth of friendship between the main trio, and you do wish for a happy ending to the novel, which does happen. This book however is not for those who are really in love with English (like me), and you wish it was narrated better. Looking at the plot more critically, the actions of the characters may not make sense at all, and you start banging your head as to why you took it up in the first place. (It’s something that has happened to me when I’ve read his other novels).

Want a book that’s a definite one-time read and has only enough to keep the imagination occupied for a few hours? Then perhaps this is a book you can try. Not one of my favorites, but not CB’s worst either.

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My rating: 2.5/5

Book Details:
Title: Five Point Someone
Author: Chetan Bhagat
ISBN: 9788129104595
Genre: Contemporary
Publishers: Rupa and Company
Price: INR. 95

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Reviewed by Leo

Shared with

1. Indian Quills Review Challenge at The Tales Pensieve

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It's kind of a funny story - Ned Vizzini

• Title : 'It's kind of a funny story'
• Author : Ned Vizzini
• Genre : Young Adult
• Length : 444 pages
• ISBN : 978-078685197-3
• Author's website : nedvizzini.com
• It's kind of a funny story movie IMDb

~ Back cover summary ~

Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed at life-which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job-Craig studies night and day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That's when things start to get crazy.

At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn't brilliant compared to the other kids; he's just average, and maybe not even that. He soon sees his once-perfect future crumbling away. The stress becomes unbearable and Craig stops eating and sleeping-until, one night, he nearly kills himself. 

Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, isolated from the crushing pressures of school and friends, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.

~ My Review ~

Craig Gilner's story, at the roots, is something almost everyone can relate to.. Sometimes you work your ass off for something and having achieved that, in the end, feels so ordinary.

It reminds me a bit, of John Green's writing although when the two of them co-wrote 'Will Grayson, Will Grayson' the end result is two distinct wonderful writings. 

~ The Merits ~

It doesn't treat a mental breakdown, the wanting to commit suicide or eating disorders with a surrounded air of stigma. In fact, this book kind of puts it into better light, the fact that everybody is messed up and just deal with things differently. The book is also not overly optimistic, conducting miraculous recoveries overnight and I'm thankful for that, because it makes the end so much more believable.

~ The demerits ~

Both the female leads in this novel, the ones who appear to be whole people, are treated by the protagonist often as just objects of his lust, and not affection. I didn't really get convinced that what he feels for them was more than just attraction, or a crush. Also, sex is hyped, boobs!!!! panties!!!!!

**

Overall, you do connect with the character and you realize that these things happen and it's alright to ask for help.The fact that the author himself has spent 5 days in an adult psychiatric certainly helps and that's what makes Craig's entire experience in the facility extremely believable, sheds a new light on the on-goings, the patients and the care taken and gathers understanding, not plain sympathy. The reactions of all his co-patients as he's leaving are beautifully put, especially Bobby's & Johnny's because that's what makes this book real.

~ Excerpt ~

"I'm not better, you know. The weight hasn't left my head. I feel how easily I could fall back into it, lie down and not eat, waste my time and curse wasting my time, look at my homework and freak out, and chill at Aaron's, look at Nia and be jealous again, take the subway home and hope it has an accident, go and get my bike and head to the Brooklyn bridge. All of that is still there. The only thing is, it's not an option now. It's just ... a possibility, like it's a possibility that I could turn to dust in the next instant and be disseminated throughout the universe as an omniscient consciousness. It's not a very likely possibility."

~ Final Verdict ~

2.5/5

It's not the funny funny, if that's what you're looking for but it makes for an intriguing read, although you might find it a bit too teenish at some points.

(2010 movie trailer)

[ Flipkart link, ebook download link]

Toke, by Jugal Mody

About the author:

Jugal Mody believes in fiction. Before handling web and social media for Filmfare and Tehelka, he worked in gaming. As a rule, he only writes to feel like a dog sticking its head out the window of a moving car. This is his first book.

Thoughts on the cover:

Witty, humorous portrayal of Lord Vishnu, which sets the tone for the novel itself.

From the blurb:

I’d pinch myself if Lord Vishnu appeared in front of me, regardless of if I was high or not. The blurb promises a delightfully humorous plot, fresh and appealing.

My review:

It was very unexpectedly that I received this book as a review copy from Indi-blogger. I think that it had been so long between the date of receipt and my applying for the book that I thought I wasn’t selected for reviewing the book at all.

So coming to the novel, what I found in this book was partially what I expected. It was a fresh plot. The protagonist is an Indian dude, not famous or known, just an average chap with a run-of-the-mill job and a sort-of dominant family who are disappointed in him. He wakes up one day to see a guy in a funny outfit who he recognizes as being similar to a god. (No, he doesn’t realize the name) Stuck in a crappy job, he falls asleep at his desk only to be sent home with a half-day pay cut as punishment. Instead, he heads off to his old college-mates’ place where he decides to quit his job, becomes high for the first time and falls asleep. He wakes up to find a talking crow that likes to get high too, and one later he finds to be the same funny looking God he saw before, Vishnu. He is informed that the fate of the world is in his hands, along with his friends. And thus begins the adventure.

We can relate to the characters, crazy yet so familiar to our own at times. The narration is crisp though a bit predictable. The story moves quickly, sometimes too quickly for my liking. Humor is there, but I feel that it gets a little mundane as the story goes on. If I were to read it a second time, I might not find it just as humorous. His portrayal of Lord Vishnu challenges mythology and our beliefs and it is fun to imagine God being such a casual person, one who we can hi-five and call dude.

Overall, this is a fun read, and I feel it is one-time read. A confident debut offering.

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My rating: 3 Stars

Book details:
Toke, by Jugal Mody
Harper Collins Publishing
ISBN 9789350293409
Rs. 160, 224 Pages

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Reviewed by Leo
Also shared with:

• First Reads at b00k r3vi3ws
• Indian Quills Review Challenge at The Tales Pensieve 
• Debut Indian Writers Month at The Tales Pensieve

This review is for a review copy of the book given to me by Indiblogger and HarperCollins. Thank you.

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F?@K KNOWS by Shailendra Singh

F?@K KNOWS

Author: Shailendra Singh

ISBN: 9788129123886

Binding: Paperback

Publisher: Rupa

Number of Pages: 234

Genre: Non-Fiction / Self- help

Language: English

Price: Rs. 195 (I received my copy from www.blogadda.com)

About the Book: 

What do you want from life? Are you on the right track? Are you truly happy? If your answer to these questions is ‘F?@k knows!’, then this book is for you. Find the answers to life’s most important questions with the help of uber-successful entrepreneur, Shailendra Singh, co-founder of Percept and inceptor of Sunburn. Told with sparkling, flavourful and in-your-face humour, this book will advise you on how to:

*Find yourself (Because you’re probably lost. Admit it.)

*Follow your heart (Because if you don’t then you’ll die unhappy, you stupid f?@ker.)

*Achieve your goals (You know you want to.)

*Live life like you give a f?@k (Because…why not?)

Candid and thoughtful, F?@k Knows will show you how to really live life on your own terms, to do what you want to do and not what you have to do just because your father said so!

Nimue Says :

I rarely pick self help books. I have read my share of books when in college and when I began working , and though I did not like many or could understand it all , the lessons make more sense now. Be it career , life , spirituality , relationships or other phase of life , there is always a book about it. I can recommend a few to some one who genuinely wants to read such books But I will think thrice before suggesting this one. and here is why :

I am not a fan of the word *fuck* ! however you write it , you will say it like that. And the maximum number of times i use this word is once a week to say "wtf"  ! And I do not know many people who say it either any more frequently.

I do not like anecdotes / incidents that refer to sex and related stuff. Neither do i gain any insight from such analogies .  Like the chapter : Orgasm as character study where the author tells about watching 2 of his friends having sex ( with some stranger ) and finding a character analogy based on way they f?@k. As much it is amusing as title , I was not impressed. This was not according to my taste. Plus , such mentions make sure I am not giving this book to anyone below 18.

The author did everything according to his dad , struggled to make an empire , earned millions , suffered a heart attack and that's when he realizes he has not actually lived his life. That he has been doing it all wrong. It happens. But any way you tell this story , It remains the same. The story ( or parts of it) are mentioned many times in the book which kind of become a contrast to the stuff you want or hope to gain from this book. If other's stories inspired , we don't need such books at all. We all need to be convinced that we can make our own success stories.

Having said this , I will still tell you to try this books for some parts like - "And then ? and then and then" ; "Few of my favorite things" ; The cheesecake experiment ( If that can keep few people away from casual sex) ; Mind as technology ; Stop thinking , start doing ..

The author has some really nice ideas and some easy to digest philosophies. Some of the analogies , the examples and the incidents he sketches in the book are funny and wise beyond my age for sure. He has a good flow in his narration and doesn't sound preachy but he does sound some one *trying* too hard to be casual. The overdose of F?@K as a verb ( or adverb) might put you off. Not to mention you can not pass this book to just anyone. Not to my bro or mother for sure I know.

Confession : I read 120+ pages complete and then 7-8 chapters in random but then I was turned off by the one of chapter. . And then I only finished the chapter name and the subtitles ; which are good enough to get the context and gyaan in straightforward manner.

I rate this 2.5/5

Swarnali Speaks :

I am not into non-fiction books, especially self help ones. Never been a fan of them. But when Shailendra Singh's  F?@K Knows came in for Blogadda's reviews, the title (very obviously) and the excerpt really intrigued me and I decided to give it a shot. Well, the book didn't change anything (if at all self help stuff are meant to do so) but reading it sure was fun.

For starters, the cover isn't quite interesting as I would have liked it. But the red lettering on the yellow cover pretty much stand out for themselves (the title is an attraction magnet in itself and instantly piques the readers' interest :P).Imagine my condition when I get the book from my dad who had opened the package and is handing me the book with a very curious and doubtful expression. :P

If you are somebody who is not comfortable using the "F" word or hearing people use it liberally, then you might consider staying away from it. The book is generously doused with the word and the author makes it a point that it serves the purpose it is being used for, to keep the readers' interest alive. Using expletives,simple words and a colloquial tone in the first person instantly draws the readers attention as the narrator takes them into his trust as he narrates his journey and how he failed and then succeeded. 

Listening to somebody's real story is more believable than hear people preaching about things. I think that is what makes this book different. The author does not tell you anything more than what you might already know. But it is the presentation of the book, the narration that makes the read really enjoyable. The tongue in cheek humor coupled with witty refrains and epigrams are what make the book.

The ideas get a little repetitive after a while but I think it is because the author does it to drive the idea deeper into the readers head (remember the repetitive lines of nursery rhymes? the author does the same here, in a funnier manner). The book might not transform you view of the world or switch on that bulb in your head (like those Mentos ads say "dimag ki batti jala de") but it sure will keep you entertained as you flip through the pages.

Rating : 3/5

This review is a part of the biggest Book Reviews Program. for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Till The Last Breath... Durjoy Datta

Till the last breath by Durjoy Datta tells the story of life from the window of awaiting death round the corner scenario using four central characters and chapters swinging around their lives in separate and mixed narratives. The book its own set of highs and lows just like the life of people it talks of.

From everything that Durjoy has offered in the past, TTLB is the kind of story you would least expect from him. Unlike his immensely successful Deb and Avantika trilogy, TTLB’s central theme is not revolving around relationships, lust, infatuation and modern day college couple’s lives, instead it talks of something much more serious than that – terminal illness and change of life as a consequence of it.

Most of the book is set around the events and turbulence of thoughts experienced in room 509 of GKL hospital where two patients Dushyant Roy and Pihu Malhotra finds themselves facing death. The doctors operating them – Armaan Kashyap and Zarah Mirza are both young, charming and successful in their different ways but as they work on case of Pihu and Dushyant, they find each other facing their respective past demons and get their own lives permanently altered in the process.

I will talk about separate characters and book as a whole in the course of this review further. Dushyant roy is a spoiled young muscular boy, he is an addict and has self destroyed himself while taking substance abuse as a support after things have gone wrong in the course of his life. His jaded girlfriend Kajal Khurana and his past visions of a dysfunctional college life romance with and around her is used to show a picture of why Dushyant is where he is. Their story is written in easy college narrative, using typical Durjoy phrases and slangs of campus life. Insights of Dushyant become predictable and irritatingly repetitive at many instances as there are many drag portions featuring his life and Kajal’s post their separation. Durjoy is less innovative and offers no new substance using their college era narrative in major part of the book and sometime the sudden change of emotions experienced by both of them, donot appear believable. They are too radical and fluctuating if you ask me.

Zarah Mirza, working under Armaan treats Dushyant. There are descriptions about her skin and appearance at various instances and she appears to be cut across as the most visually delightful person in the book. In the first half there are unanswered questions around her immense hatred for men, but those are answered in some predictable ways. Even her sudden too much liking for Dushyant and her possessiveness for him when Kajal re-enters Dushyant’s life is not written in much detailed way. Someone who was brutalized by drunk men cannot solely have a soft change of heart for another drunkard on mere possibility of his painful association with a jaded lover. The entire concept of their liking for each other is too shallow and could have been rewritten in much better ways.

Pihu Malhotra is a medical student. She is too good to face the painful and merciless disease that she gets at a ridiculously young age. She is a bright light in the otherwise dark setting of the first half of book (The second half has everyone bright, who was grey or even pitch dark in the first one – weird!!)

Pihu is my favorite character in the book, irrespective of how cliché her flirting text with operating Doctor Armaan appears to be, there is a heart to it in the right place. She is cute, funny, optimistic and stands for the courageous aspect of facing death in the book. The description of her ways of winking like a child, flirting like an amateur, desire to experience love once before death is all written in simple yet beautiful way. She is a charmer and with her letter at the end of the book, would find place in a soft corner of your heart – much after the book gets over.

Armaan Kashyap is half well cooked and half stale. I could not help but notice how he borrows his first name from a lead character of a hit hindi soap “Dil Mil Gaye”(Armaan Malik, I guess was the name of the doctor there) and how his initial behavior of rudeness and physical build reminds of of Dr. Rahul Mehra in first episodes of Sanjivni on star plus, when in 2004 – Gaurav Chanana used to play his character.

Armaan Kashyap is brilliant and successful, as quoted again and again but he shows too much fluctuation in both his acts as a doctor and a coworker with respects of his scenes with Pihu and Zarah. He is boringly rude and predictably funny and charming in other parts.

One of the key problems of the book is repetition of texts and phrases as well as lack of originality in the inner plots, while a heartwarming ambition on the over all message – much of which is delivered only by one of the four major characters. In the middle somewhere you get sick of repetitive introductions while writer switches between life of these four and again and again tells us the same things about them in the initial lines of each chapter named over them. The concept is crisp and has been followed by master storytellers of commercial fiction like Sidney Sheldon but Durjoy though ambitious, fails to leave much impact in the style he chose because of the maximized things he tries to express using minimal internal visions and subplots.  Apart from  Pihu, all other characters have somewhat friction stricken relationship with their parents and considerable time has been time to how grateful life can be if your parents love you, something that starkly shapes why Pihu is different from Armaan, Dushyant, and Zarah – and has lesser mood swings and aggressive impulses. For a writer whose mass following is in 18-23 aged readers of young college going crowd is huge, that is an appreciable point to touch in the story which continuously remains close to subject of satisfactory and unsatisfactory diversion of death.

I would give a 3 on 5 to Till The Last Breath by Durjoy Datta -  2 and a half of this is for Pihu Malhotra and her explanations of life and death and half of which is for Durjoy for attempting a change in theme.  I expect better things to come from the popular author in days to follow. He is a young publisher of himself and can experience or experiment change in betting upon him again on a different pitch of a story in future again.

WHAT YOUNG INDIA WANTS - Chetan Bhagat

AUTHOR - Chetan Bhagat is the author of five novels, all of which have gone on to become bestsellers. In addition, Chetan is a motivational speaker and columnist. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine and one of the world’s 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company, USA.

SYNOPSIS - The book is based on Chetan Bhagat’s newspaper columns, and influences drawn from his career as a speaker. He by the medium of it tries to incite discussions and viewpoints on various issues that concern the current political and social center-stage in the country. He also tries to propose solutions to some of them, while summarizing them from his own view point. He narrates the various essays and articles in the book, by speaking on behalf of his readership class which has a majority percentage of youth in it.

PULKIT SPEAKS – the first non-fiction book from the bestselling author, has a catchy cover and a title worthy enough to be a case study for search engine optimization stuff on the Internet. It is subdivided into three parts, dealing with society, politics and youth, respectively, one at a time. It features two short stories to lighten up the summarized conclusion. My favorite portion of the book though, remains the very first chapter of it. “My journey”, an open letter – displays the varied emotions and introspections of the author, as  he talks about his life, his dreams, his achievements, his failures and his fears. By the simplistic narrative that he uses to share his journey so far, and talking about the frustrations that most of the readers can immediately relate to, he creates an environment of the kind – where anyone ageing between 13-27 would feel the pull to continue reading the rest of the book.

The social commentary covered in the section “Our society” focuses on the common ways with which things happen in our country and the pattern we follow to react to them. It ambitiously compares that pattern to reaction/thinking mechanism of people staying in other parts of the world and tries to impact a psychological change of thought process of the readers. It has an easy expression and tries to bring down every social taboo to black and white picture of the kind, where right things and wrong things appear obvious and clear.  Author intends to form layers in the mind of young readers where they develop a moral consciousness and open-minded approach towards things. He expresses most of his frustration here and suggests optimistic change of policies-which would work to make things better, according to him. Irrespective of how you view them, shallow or deep, some of talks here make sense.

The next section titled “Our Politics” – is rather a leap of reach from the author. He here tries to talk about policy making/proposes changes in the functionality and addresses everything – from foreign policy, reservation politics to economic framework, from defense strategy to trust-deficient of the constitutional bodies. The book would make sense in this part to someone, who is completely out of touch from the English newspaper and news channels. Irrespective of how virtuous some of his recommendations are, you can’t help but point out the shallowness that many of them carry. It is obvious that if you try to widen the scope of your talks to such complex and stretched apart topics of national interest, all in the periphery of mere 35 small hand book pages, at some point of time – you are bound to appear “talking on the surface”. I feel that here he doesn’t even delve enough into any particular issue, before proposing an over simplistic solution to the same and moving onto the next one.

Essays here sometimes talk high school level approach. Somebody who is not well read or not even minutely interested in political science dynamics might him them amusing and “hard hitting” but for others, it has little to offer.

In the third section “Our Youth”, Chetan plays on his forte.

He talks of education system, aspirations that every young student has, dreams of the common youth class, their anger towards things and how they, if given the right grooming, can be instrumental to the big change that we need in society and politics. It features, his famous internet-circulated speech titled “sparks”, which is nothing less than awesome. He in other chapters talks of critical need of Basic English for everyone who wants decent employment, gap between higher education and working-class-grooming, outdated curriculum of school level education and wrong approach of reward that we follow in our grading mechanism. Everywhere he suggests good points on the table. Talks genuinely about all the things that majority of youth of this country wants to say. He impresses them and simultaneously represents them. “Letter to Bapu from generation next on his birthday” and “open letter to Sonia Gandhi from young India” has cynicism, honesty and heart at the right places. Save us from ‘lerds’ is perhaps a rebound from him to those who talk about issues, complicatedly but never proposes solutions – he has taken a pinch at think tanks of the society, the one you see often on television talk shows on prime time. I feel he has a point even in that - A good one. “Can engineers be touchy feely” is the last chapter of this section. It is nothing of substance and may me is merely put to lighten up the mood of the whole thing.

The “Two stories”

“Of Ducks and crocodiles” has a metaphorical critical approach and appears apt to the current political scene.

“The cut off” is a beautiful short story about a boy who tops his school but could not land up to a decent college of his choice. It is a must must read for all parents and children - Realistic, funny and with the right lesson.

RATING – (3 + 0.5)/5.    

It is very easy for someone who sells at the rate that Chetan does to continue doing what he does the best – write a coffee table rom-com, yet he sincerely tries to fulfill the responsibility he has as a youth icon and utilizes his reach by spreading the right message across with the medium of “what young India wants”. He might be lacking in grammar skills, his style of writing might be shallow and lucid, but what is important is that this book has its heart at the right place. I am sure he ended the book with immense satisfaction personally. He is merely trying to generate ideas, incite a view point towards certain things, an approach which is correct morally. I would suggest everyone between the age of 13-23 to give it a try. For others, a much real portrayal of issues in India is put up in Mark Tully’s India in slow motion.

PRICE - Rs 140/- Kanpur Railway station. On printed price

If It's Not Forever! It's not love - Durjoy Datta And Nikita Singh

AUTHORS - 

Nikita Singh

Nikita Singh was born in the city of Patna and was brought up in Indore, in Madhya Pradesh. She is pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy and writing is a hobby of hers that has accidentally bloomed. Nikita constantly interacts with her fans to get their feedback regarding her work.

Bestsellers by Nikita Singh are:

Love @ Facebook, Accidentally in Love

Durjoy Datta

Durjoy Datta is the author of five bestsellers. All his books have sold more than a million copies over the last three years and he was the third highest bestselling author in India in the year 2011. He is considered to be one of the youngest and prolific writers in India. He is an alumnus of DCE and is presently studying management at MDI, Gurgaon.

Ohh Yes, I am Single. And So is My Girlfriend!, Of Course I Love You, Till I Find Someone Else, She Broke Up, I didn't. You Were My Crush!, Now That You're Rich! Are other bestsellers under his name

SYNOPSIS –If It's Not Forever. It's Not Love. is a gripping tale of Deb, Shrey and Avantika's mission to put together pieces of a diary written by a man who lost his life in the Delhi blasts. What continues is a series of adventures that leads them into a path of self-discovery and realization.

Pulkit Speaks – give it a try – If you like to read books from this section of the shelf. You can gift this to your girl and make her smile.

This is the sixth book by the Durjoy, and has all the elements that one can expect from a Durjoy Datta novel. Those who do read him (I guess they are millions judging by the number of them being sold) know precisely what I am talking when I say ‘his stuff of writing’.

In all such books there is a scope to point out specific mistakes and fallacies but I will try to judge this one solely on the basis of the outer idea.

It is the story of Deb, a writer cum publisher, whose life takes a dramatic turn when he miraculously escapes a powerful blast in New Delhi. He escapes unhurt, but he is emotionally weakened. He finds himself facing internal fears that he never knew existed in his persona. (Now since it’s a Durjoy Datta book – his world is of the kind – that when the guy is sleepless and his girl is concerned about him not finding enough sleep, she is considerate enough to tire him in bed in an effort to make him sleep somehow so that he does not end up spending the sleepless night thinking about the blast – ah! The fantasy world).  He realizes that life is too short, and one should not shy away from confessing his/her true feelings. Still scarred and haunted by the tragic incident, he visits the blast site and finds a half-burnt diary – a diary written by someone, with initials RD, who, possibly, died in the blast. The major plot of the story starts from here. 

Deb takes up the responsibility and a journey, to convey the ‘final’ words of RD to his true love, Ragini.  Avantika - Deb’s true love, Shrey – Deb’s best friend, and Tiya – Shrey’s girl friend join him on this journey to unravel the unsolved and unspoken love story, closely finding the meaning from that story in learning lessons in their own life. Side by side there is a story involving Deb and Avantika and the challenges that they are facing as their relationship age – the fears that even a confident girl like Avantika can end up thinking, watching herself change into a women from a girl and the role that a boyfriend like Deb can play to redefine compatibility and love (read sex).

The highlight is this book – Is the simplicity of that diary script. It is amateurish and that’s what makes it closer to the reality that we know.  It scores on the dimension of the innocence and straightforwardness involved in Ritam’s narration of the Ragani era.

Negative, which I felt, is too much reference about sex, in the first half of the book (when the present time of Durjoy and Shrey is being talked about). It, momentarily, diverts the reader. This part puts the book on a downslide because of genuine lack of humor and sometimes it appear as a horny narration of a boy telling how many times he and his friend ends up making out with their girls in the day. The character of Shrey unlike his first book (OILY) – lacks the element of surprise about him (though the effort has been made to do so – but words and substance have been disappointing in this regard)

The Idea and the central theme – of the entire diary story chase are relatively new and interesting and it has material idea to make it to a major flick adaptation. There are good moments about this one – enough that you can give it a try and the end lesson – good enough that you can gift this one to a teenage girl or guy that you know (girls of any age – would love this one – unless they are intellectual enough to deny that they don’t believe in love of the kind written in the book – which obviously would be a lie)

Rating – 3/ 5  

For teens, for those in long term relationship, for those rediscovering life in regards to love, for girls hoping to have a boy friend like Deb, for people who are yet to discover erotic text written in love making scenes of Sidney Sheldon, for those who likes to believe that there is love (the hopeless romantic junta), for those who are looking for a cheap but memorable gift for their emotional girlfriends.

Love Cocktail by Upendra Sahani

Life is complicated and throws dozens of questions that don't necessarily have answers. There are dozens of paths that people can take, but no navigators to show them the right one. This is what the protagonists, Razik, Rohan, Rahul, and Raj, discover through the course of this book.


They face the quintessential clash between friendship, love, and career.


Things get even murkier when friends start betraying each other and love-lives don’t move ahead exactly as planned. When love starts being dictated by money and everything else fall apart, these four friends team up together to set everything right.






The book opens in a interesting way , where you meet the friends - R4 gang ! and immediately you are drawn into their lives, their ideologies, dreams and hopes. If one is governed by love for a girl , one is ruled by hatred for girls. One is dedicated to a girh he hasn't met after school while politics is all our central character and narrator is passionate about. Love, Money, Cricket and Politics - things that we Indian love to adore and talk about .. All this and more is in this book. Once you begin reading , you want to finish it soon to know what happen next. It touches you at times if you can draw parallel at even one event / incident from your college times. The frustrations , comments  and attitudes are so damn nostalgic. The story sure gets a lot of credit for keeping the interest levels intact even with few dips. But I do have some issues with the writing. The book needs a little editing. Some of the lines can be get rid of. They added a block to my reading flow but it might just be my  understanding. Also some of the events in the book could be cut short. Again the feeking that the debate , some fights were rather long. A book must leave few things for the reader's own interpretation. And last .. I wish the end was a little different . No politics , no cricket , no love ( sort of ) in the end !




It seems , Life took over everything for the four guys like with most of us.

Rating: 3/5

ISBN:  9381511886
ISBN-13:  9789381511886, 978-9381511886
Binding:  Paperback
Publisher:  Readworthy
Number of Pages:  248
Price : 149/-

Those Small Lil Things... In Life and Love - Rahul Saini

AUTHOR - Rahul Saini is an Indian author of contemporary fiction. His books have strong comic tones and present up-beat stories that portray the fun loving, free spirited and outgoing character of today’s Indian youth. His first book ‘Those Small Lil’ Things in Life and Love’, which was essentially a boy’s tale about growing up and his relationship with girls through the years, was published in 2008 and made it to several bestsellers’ list across the nation. He believes that today's youth likes fast paced stories which are either larger than life or which they can relate to. He avoids using themes like sex and sleaze to please the masses.

His novels have numerous references to many movies and T.V. Shows

SYNOPSIS – Have you ever known a guy who would gift her girlfriend soap? Well, say hello to Raj, a young architect, who is a huge film buff and believes that life, is full of ‘filmy angles’. He hates his job and has an almost evil boss. He has a shoddy love life, is heart broken and feels that he is the loneliest person on the face of this earth.

It’s a story connecting all those small little incidents in one’s life that one never forgets.

It’s a journey through growing up. A journey from love, to out of it. Through joy, sadness and anger. About childhood friendship blooming into love. About the one you love not loving you back. About friends making each other happy, and about friends making each other sad – about friends fighting. It’s about being completely sure about things, and at the same time, being utterly unsure about them. It’s about school, college and professional life. It’s a lot about the heart, and its desires.

It’s a story about finding it tough to adjust at times, and then missing it later when they are over.

Pulkit Speaks – A simple story about simple joys of life, which in end are most important of them all

I went to receive my father from railway station as he was coming back to Kanpur, returning from a conference. His train was late and I decided to pass my time giving cursory looks to books. Those were the days, when this entire college-time-romance or u can call them coffee-table-timepass books were emerging on the scene after Chetan has already shown the commercial potential of that segment. This book has the kind of cover, that is bound to catch your eye and among all shirsti titles present with the carter, I picked up this one solely for this reason(judge me if u like)

Its a light hearted story overall...which deals with common experiences threaded together with a emotion called "Love", As the title suggests to be so. Now before I go further into the review, I would like to say that If you're a grammar Nazi or one of those people who can't bear it when punctuation goes wrong, you probably want to stay away from it. To be honest, it's not really a… novel. It's more like an extended version of a Chicken Soup story. basically tells a simple, happy and playful story of the thoughts of the protagonist wherein while on some moments you'd nod your intellect to agree with his thoughts while sometimes yearn to dive into the pages and literally slap him when it becomes repetitive and slow in some phases. However to an extent I can say that I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who wants to read some fun prose, light hearted simplistic narration (Life in itself is very serious sometimes, and even nonsensical as it may sound to literary greats, these books too can serve as a stressbuster to some)

This book is divided into three parts. It is mostly a parallel story between protagonists present and his subconscious recalling of sweet reminiscences from past.

Part one deals with the childhood of the lead character, his initial challenges of school as it began and first interaction and crushes into the co-ed life.

Second part is the journey towards the end of the school life. This was my favorite portion of the book! Certain incidences that takes place between Neelhans and Raj, as well as between Rushi and Raj are memorable and genuinely cute. I had a very fun school life, with numerous instances written in the book that took me back in the memory lane and left me missing those times. Last flashback part is the story of Raj in the corridors of his college life. The author has a sincere effort to take his readers back into their memories of the good times of childhood and adolescence gone by while using protagonist’s story as a directive push. Alongside the flashback phases of Raj, the book states protagonist’s current life at work and home, and tries to scribble office humor and frustrations of dealing with a rough boss.

Excellent read for a teen who has recently started reading books. I again mention Seasoned readers many find it amateur and kiddish. The relationships described are very simple and life does seem quite simple from the book's point of view and that to me appeared to be the beauty of it.

It is a simple tale and depending on which category of reader class u belongs to, it might give you something to muse about for the evening. This book is very much recommended for teens who have hopelessly not been able to profess their love to the ones they love.

Rating – 3/ 5

You can give it a try and have a good time reading it. Judge it on the basis of what it tries to promise and not as a work of some serious literature and you are sure to have a smile sometimes while reading it. I appreciate the debut effort of Rahul in trying to be sincere with the kind of stuff he was trying to tell in this book and to the target reader class which is losing innocence very quickly these days.

PS – There is a new cover to this book now. All in white background, it has a very sweet positive personal feel about it. It contains small-small pictures, all arranged in a collage – connecting life of the author, cute indeed.

The Magician's Apprentice by Trudi Canvan

Trudi Canvan is one of my favorite author in fantasy genre. Yes, She is one of the few authors whose books i read even without any thought ! and with such strong female characters, who inspire and impress you always. I still remember the characters from her previous books.

This is one of her stand alone books ( she has written 2 series before this and another is in progress) , which also won the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel.



In the remote village of Mandryn, Tessia serves as assistant to her father, the village Healer. Her mother would rather she found a husband. But her life is about to take a very unexpected turn.

When the advances of a visiting Sachakan mage get violent, Tessia unconsciously taps unknown reserves of magic to defend herself. Lord Dakon, the local magician, takes Tessia under his wing as an apprentice. 

The long hours of study and self-discipline also offer more opportunities than she had ever hoped for, and an exciting new world opens up to her. There are fine clothes and servants - and, to Tessia's delight - regular trips to the great city of Imardin.

But along with the excitement and privilege, Tessia is about to discover that her magical gifts bring with them a great deal of responsibility. For great danger looms on the horizon for Tessia and her world.

Lord Dakon is almost like a father figure to Tessia and his another apprentice Jayan, who initially doesn't want Tessia around since it might delay his training. Also Tessia being a natural magician is supposed to be stronger too. But Tessia's heart is set more on healing than magic and its really good to see how she learns to mix both her passion and skills. Together , three of them make a trip to the capital city of Kyralia , Imardin. The trip which is meant to discuss turns unexpectedly into one long journey back from the city to chasing the attacking Sachkans from one village to next as they leave a trail of bodies and plunder wherever they cross.

Along this is the story of Stara, daughter of a Sachkan magician who is called home to be married off to  someone for political benefits and to get a heir for the family. Her wedding , her slave and the friends she makes make an interesting read. Also commendable is the journey she is forced to take for her safety and of her friends.

The plot is much simple but as interesting as it could be. It was a pleasure reading of magic , its origin , its powers and limitations in such details. That's one thing i like in Trudi's books - the details , the imaginative life style , the cities and structure of society. All is so much believable that it feels like you are reading of another country in this world.

There are wonderful lessons to be learned while you go along the tale - friendship , courage , equality , honesty , passion , skills , learning and most importantly to have faith in yourself and your people.




Rating : 3/5