Half Girl Friend by Chetan Bhagat

Half girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat is the story of Madhav Jha. He is the fateful prince from Dumraon, Bihar and is passionate about Basketball. He makes his way into the most prestigious English graduation course of the country, when he gets selected into St. Stephens College in Delhi University by using his eligibility from the sports quota. There he meets Riya, an uptown high class girl from Delhi, who comes from a family of means. They have drastic difference if you see the section of the society they come from, the basic thought process that they carry, the value system that they possess and the way in which they take decisions. However they click with each other for a lot of reasons, and ultimately the boy-girl saga that these protagonists engages into, forms almost eighty five percent of what this two sixty page book has to offer.

With the MRP of 176 (highest priced book by Chetan Bhagat), a break of almost four years from fiction novel writing (longest ever taken by the bestselling author), and much buzz about the exclusive distribution of this book using the e-commerce partnership of Flipkart, the book was sold in huge numbers right from the day of its release.

Apart from the story of Madhav and Riya, this book boldly makes an effort to touch upon larger themes like contrast of urban and rural mindset, class conflict, shallowness of the rich lifestyle, and most importantly the lingual slavery that our Hindi and regional language speaking masses have to be under English language. There are commentaries on a range of other social topics too, like always and author has made sincere efforts to be inclusive in touching upon various themes of contextual relevance to the youth of this country. Yes, there is sincerity in the choice of themes that are forming the background of the love story, but because of poor choices in execution, the book touches everything too dramatically and very much on the surface.

While quality of the Literature is something that is always criticized upon for Chetan’s books I nevertheless always refrain from talking about it because I understand the fact that Author has consciously always tried too hard to be the writer for the most ordinary Hinglish generation. This is a fact already much known to everyone, and perhaps also to Chetan who self mocks his works in a portion of the story where Riya when teaching Madhav, most basic English, asks her to read books of “that author who writes simplistic English”. I believe that the treatment of the story telling, even if it is trying to be common, should not be clichéd, repetitive, mundane because of the reason that it is trying to be “non literary”.

There are already movie rights, casting rumors for the same getting viral on the internet for this book, and it is not surprising but equally disappointing that Chetan has again over burdened his characters by cheesy dialogues, pushed over scenes, third grade movie screenplay around them.  Riya somani, who is mysterious, unapologetic for long, self enclosed in her complications could have been a much more vivid character if she was not trapped into the most repetitive descriptions that ever leading lady of Chetan’s books have to go through – the baby pink suits, the perfect eye brows, shiny lips, idiotic girl-boy replies in middle of complicated life traumas.  Madhav Jha is sincere, has a setting around him that he displays in splashes within the story, especially in the under confident moments, where he battles out fear of failures to emerge on top of situations, especially when he conquers the English Speech in front of Bill Gates. However he too is a Chetan Bhagat front man – and is forced upon to crack jokes at silliest of places, appear cute when he should have been better left alone to behave more realistically, use catchy heroic phrases when talking to himself, beat his own trumpet, describe girls in the most stereotypical ways – repeating a lot of what has already been said and heard by the readers, from the mouth of male protagonists of Chetan’s books.

The book is filmy to an extent that you can literally visualize a Swades, a wake up Sid, a Hum Tum and what not from popular Bollywood similar settings in between as its sub plots unfold.  There are online social networks, filled with popular praises yet for the book, because I think different target group and their own personal exposure would perhaps generate a much different response from them. There is a copy of this book around me, in every one’s hand and a lot of people who have started reading it are finding it entertaining so I guess the mass appeal that this phenomenally bankable author promises to deliver has been achieved again, but I feel he needs to regain the sincerity he once possessed in his story telling, and characterization of the simple people his books talk of. The book is predictable, repetitive and I am sure the next book that he would write, would bring better out of him. He is a writer who speaks for the generation he represents, and I certainly hope he does a better job out of it and remembers the roots of his own ideologies and not focus on numbers, and collections.

I rate it a generous 2 on 5.

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.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

AUTHOR –  Prolific 19th century author, Charles Dickens is famous for his remarkable characters and mastery of prose in the telling of their lives. Loved for his invaluable contribution to classic English literature, his good, bad and comic characters and realistic portrayal of contemporary life in Victorian England continue to fascinate readers worldwide

SYNOPSIS – A Christmas Carol debuted in 1843 and has touched millions of hearts since. Cruel miser Ebeneezer Scrooge is at the center of the story. His idea of life is an outlook of hard end capitalism mixed with misanthropy; this is a story of his transformation from a cynical mean butcher minded money monger to an emotional replica of his younger self. When Scrooge is visited by his old partner, Jacob Marley, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to come, he learns eternal lessons of charity, kindness, and goodwill.

PULKIT SPEAKS – I first came across this story when it was served as a play in class 10^th. A shorter version of it was good enough to move my teenage self and the lessons it taught me has stayed with me ever since. I was also lucky enough to enact the play version next year in class 11^th and while playing central character of Scrooge on stage, I got a chance to go deeper into the mindset of this protagonist, which is one of the reason why this story in particular is etched so deep into my soul.

The story is divided in five chapters after a beautiful beginning preface by the great author.  Chapter 1 titled Marley’s ghost tactfully establishes the character of Ebeneezer Scrooge as a mean-spirited, miserly old man, while his clerk shivers he chooses not to pay for coal, makes mockery of his nephew who invites him for a Christmas party, reacts bitterly to charity seekers, and calls the entire festive spirit a humbug. Once the character building is done by action and statement pointers, the supernatural element seeps in the story and stars playing with the mental elements of thought process of the protagonists but also many readers who aspire to undermine kindness over success and money in life. Jacob Marley his old deceased friend and business partner who was equally shrewd and cruel visits him. His condition is terrible. As punishment for his greedy and self-serving life his spirit has been condemned to wander the Earth weighted down with heavy chains. He warns scrooge that unless he changes, he is bound to suffer the same fate. He also informs scrooge that in near future (same night in play version and successive nights in book), he would be visited by three more spirits and each of them would tell him important messages. Christmas ghosts of the Past, the Present and the Future who come to make him realize things he lost while becoming the man he is, things he is still losing while living the life he has and things he would end up with if he never changes. There are elements and intermediate stories in all these journeys, each pointing to the importance of virtues of life and how they are essential to have an honored loveable legacy post death. This is a beautiful story. A must read. If you attach your heart, which you would, It is bound to stay with you, probably till your last breath.

RATING – 4.5/5 – strongly recommended to be gifted to mean people around you and to children if you never want them to worship money over small happiness’s of life.

PRICE - Rs 80 on Rupa and co. from Flipkart

Also a very convenient online reading link for the same.  

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

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

AUTHOR – Gregory David Roberts is an Australian author. He is a former heroin addict and a convicted bank robber who escaped from Prison from his homeland and took refuge in India where he stayed for 10 years. He is being told to have gain the addiction to Drugs after a marriage break down and consequent lost custody of the daughter.  In his efforts to finance his drug habit, Roberts became known as the "Building Society Bandit, He escaped from Pentridge Prison in 1980. In 1990, Roberts was captured in Frankfurt after being caught smuggling heroin into the country. He was extradited to Australia and served a further six years in prison. During his second stay in Australian prison, Roberts began writing the novel Shantaram. The manuscript was destroyed by prison wardens, twice, while Roberts was writing it. The book is known to be a fiction clown autobiographical note. After living few years in Germany, France etc he came back to settle down in Mumbai where he set up charitable foundations to assist the city's poor with health care coverage. He was finally reunited with his daughter. He got engaged to Francoise Sturdza, who is the president of the Hope For India foundation.

SYNOPSIS –. Its  a big novel that you would find standing out from the crowd on the shelf and demanding some strange kind of attention of its own. The book, Shantaram, begins with the entry of a man bearing a New Zealand passport that identifies him as ‘Lindsay’ into downtown Mumbai (Bombay). He is actually an escaped convict from Australia, who flees to a strange land to lose himself and start his life all over again. He finds a friend and a Guide in Prabhakar who leads him to Coloba. Prabaker's tour of the real Bombay leads Lin into the dark underbelly of the city. He witnesses the slave market and visits the hashish den of the Standing Babas. Having grown very close to Lin, Prabaker invites him to visit his home village of Sundar. Lin agrees and they arrive after a cramped and adventurous journey by train and cart. At the village Lin relaxes into the seasonal rhythms. He finds a profound inner-peace and as a result the villagers dub him Shantaram, which means "man of peace." Meanwhile, Lin meets another person who also changes his life, a beautiful woman named Karla, a Swiss-American who seems to have a lot of friends in the expatriate community. He falls in love with her, but is not sure if his love is returned.

Lin’s search for a new life leads him into war, murder, betrayals, and more intrigue. His life, he now finds, is being manipulated by two people- Khader Khan (The suburban cross cultural, intellectual criminal chief and Jehadi pathan) and the beautiful, enigmatic, and dangerous Karla.

PULKIT SPEAKS -

Several years ago I read this book and I can still feel that in today life – a part of it lives in me. This is an incredible tale of self discovery told in the most entertaining manner.

The writer himself continues to call Shantaram as fiction, but looking back at the life that he had lived, one can be sure that he had to be there to write such a detailed account of the prison, Standing Babas, fire racing through the slums, the wounds that forces him to become an unofficial medic, his criminal role in India, among another dozen stories. 

Shantaram is a book that you would want to read, irrespective of what class of books you like. It is an engrossing page turner, and I wish that you are not led down by the presumption of its 930 page size.

The narrative value of this book can be considered to be of the highest class possible. This is fiction literature at its very best.  The protagonist Named ''Linbaba'' by Prabaker, the amiable taxi driver who becomes his sidekick, he acquires a hut in a slum, where he earns his neighbors' respect by opening a makeshift clinic and learning Hindi and Marathi. Hundred pages into the book and you feel that you have known this man for years, and it seems that he is sitting right there in your room whispering his tale and escapades to you. Nearly everything about Bombay agrees with the philosophical fugitive, for whom every new experience is like a new depth in the spiritual understanding and philosophical learning of life.

He finds a father figure in a gurulike local mafia boss, an Afghan named Khader, and a lover in a mysterious Swiss woman who inspires the most memorable of the novel's many metaphoric interludes. She comes out of text – as a persona – you keep thinking about. He works as a counterfeiter and smuggler within Khader's criminal empire, ultimately abandoning a budding career as a Bollywood agent and joining a holy warfare in Afghanistan. Khader comes out as a skillful, intriguing and thought provoking criminal chief – who works with gun and speaks of morality and metaphysics. There is a genuine sense of storytelling about this book, the character sketching, the descriptiveness and the passion for the feeling about life and the journey of protagonist.

Sometimes a big story is its own best reward. I feel lucky to have come across this book. It changed something in me forever. Something I am yet to know and understand – after all these years.

RATING – 5/5.    Shantaram is not just a book; it is a sojourn, a spiritual journey into life that shows that even the most complex and powerful systems have at their core a simple and beautiful pattern. Shantaram reinforces one’s belief in life and how it is absolute in itself.

It makes you want to live more. It makes you want to explore. It makes you want to fall and then rise again. I salute the book – None I can think of to compare this one with. You are missing a part of yourself if you have not read this one yet.

PRICE - Rs 419

On Flipkart.

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.

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 Rage of Angels - Sidney Sheldon

AUTHOR - Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 – January 30, 2007) was an Academy Award-winning American writer. His TV works spanned a 20-year period during which he created The Patty Duke Show (1963–66), I Dream of Jeannie (1965–70) and Hart to Hart (1979–84), but he became most famous after he turned 50 and began writing best-selling novels such as Master of the Game (1982), The Other Side of Midnight (1973) and Rage of Angels (1980). He is the sixth best selling writer of all time.

SYNOPSIS – At the heart of Rage of Angels stands the woman who is Sheldon’s one of most unforgettable creation…

Jennifer Parker is brilliant, beautiful and indomitable – the most glamorous lawyer in and one of the most successful.

Her life is shadowed by two men. Both of them powerful and both drawn irresistibly to her.

A worldwide bestseller first published in 1980, this novel tells the story of a successful lawyer who is loved by two men, one a politician, the other, a mafia don.

Pulkit Speaks – Enough twists and turns to keep you turning pages of it

Rage of Angels is the story of Jennifer Parker and how her life progresses as she faces ups and downs. Like most of Sidney’s books, a female protagonist, strongly and clearly sketched lies at the core of this one too.

She is powerful and solitary, self made and at the same time vulnerable to emotional trauma, danger and love. She has a fiction charm and at the same time appears to be believable, someone whom you might have come across in life may be. As you see her struggle in life and rising from the ashes, falling in love and making mistakes, coming to age and choosing wisdom… you cannot help but connect to her. With every turning page, you wish to know her more and see what life has to offer to her next.

The plot moves on something like this - Jennifer Garner's life as an attorney takes an unexpected turn when she is wrongly accused and framed of being involved with the Mafia headed by Micheal Moretti ( a character that would at times remind you of The Godfather’s Micheal corleone, specially at places where mob mates addresses him as Mikey). She makes powerful enemies in her helplessness to prove her innocence. Adam Warner who helps her in those times for reasons explained well in the book and who is running for the senator's position (later destined to become the President of United States) brings the love quotient to the proceedings. He meets her in unexpected times and finds himself attracted to the self motivated, moralistic and gullible shades of her persona. Their passion, uncomfort towards each other, discreet side of their affair (because of him being already married) is written in a seductive and engrossing manner – something which defines the categorical shade of Sidney’s pen as always visible in most of his works. Their love suffers a fate they had not planned from a person they completely misunderstood while placing their trust. Then the story takes a turn in which you find yourself closely following Jennifer, and how she makes decisions that are humane and not heroic, she chooses people that are needed and not necessarily which are right. That believable, realistic part of her thought processes is what makes her a memorable gem. In trying to save life of someone she love, Jennifer finds herself getting involved in the unlawful dealings of the Mafia and Moretti himself. This begins a love triangle that sweeps across America's political and organized crime landscape as Jennifer, Adam, and Michael rise to become the most powerful figures in the country.

Sheldon is a master of plot twists, complications, and the emotional ups and downs of people's lives. "Rage of Angels" is one of his rare stories that does not have an expected end, which can be circumstantially happy or sad but leave you with an unknown feeling. it's a fascinating journey into the complexities of crime and punishment, politics, and corruption. Sheldon masterfully portrays the brilliant legal strategies that make Jennifer Parker come to life as a fully believable criminal defense lawyer.

Rating – 4/ 5 This is the story of Jennifer Parker and her dreams of becoming a lawyer and the reality of dreams lost.

In the book she encounters the love of two men both who killed her dreams in their own ways. Enjoyed reading this one and I am hopeful you would too, if plot interests your taste.

PS – I had a different cover of this book, but chose to pick a display image of this one. Needed to catch your eye: D

My Friend Sancho - Amit Varma

AUTHOR – Amit Varma is a writer based in Mumbai. He has worked in advertising, television and journalism, and has written for publications like The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. He was a Managing Editor of Cricinfo India. He also writes the popular blog, India Uncut,which won the Best Indiblog Award at the Indibloggies in 2005. In October 2007, Varma won the 2007 Bastiat Prize for Journalism, which aims to honour writers “whose work cleverly and wittily promotes the institutions of the free society. In 2008, his first novel, My friend, Sancho was one of the novels nominated to the longlist for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2008

SYNOPSIS – When crime reporter Abir Ganguly is called out by the police to cover a routine arrest one night, the last thing he expects is a shootout. But bullets are fired, and a man is dead. There is ambiguity about what led to the shootout and was it needed at the first place or not.

Abir is left with the responsibility of reaching the depth of the question whether the cops screwed up? Abir's boss,not knowing that he was at the scene if the crume, wants him to file a story about the victim. For this, he must meet Muneeza, aka Sancho, the dead man's teenage daughter. Over the next few days, an unlikely friendship forms between the glib, wisecracking 'armchair cynic' and the simple girl who 'travels on buses'.

Can their fragile relationship survive the circumstances that brought them together? More importantly, can it survive the machinations of the jealous lizard that shares Abir's flat?

PULKIT SPEAKS –

The story is written in first person, that of protagonist Abir Ganguly narration, which at almost all places in the book is no less than sheer brilliance. The novel revolves around his experience as he goes about doing research for a sensational news story that involved the shooting of an innocent Muslim by the Mumbai Police, and his subsequent meetings with Muneeza, the daughter of the deceased. Muneeza's nickname was 'Sancho', which explains the title of the book. It is a character-centric book, in which the trials and twists in the screenplay does not come from the basic Story, but from the character's motivations and catharsis.

The book interestingly unfolds a number of sub-plots, as the reader knows the protagonist and people around him in more depth but sadly in the end the story fails to deliver anything substantial to wrap the central plot-line. The amazing part is that even though nothing much happens all through the book, it still holds your attention because it fulfills the basic premise when you decide to pick a book - it entertains you and that too, to the very fullest. The romance between Abir and Muneeza has a fresh feel of innocence. The author never portrays it as a full fledged love at first place and neither speaks of it as an inter-religion or a caste issue, and that partial understanding or deepness makes the instances between them adorable, cute and so memorable. The moments of introspection and procrastination have been written with a deeply entertaining narrative that makes you cringe with embarrassment at times too since you may have experienced them yourself at some point of time in your life.

What is excellent in the book is the contemporary relative humor and an adorable charm of being wacky and sarcastic at almost all places and situations in the narrative. There are punch lines every now and then and too many similar references of cow, politics and pet animals just like it had always been on his blog. My Friend Sancho is strictly R-rated; it has the fun being able to read the minds of someone without any censorship.

Engaging dialogues, crackling wisecracks, and long food-for-thought passages, the book always keeps you on the edge of your seat, with a grin on your face. All the characters are grey, even Inspector Thombre who has kills Muneeza's father by mistake is portrayed to be sympathetic, citing his low case upbringing. It is pretty evident that the author doesn't want to take sides and let readers decide what is right and wrong in the characters. That reminds me of a memorable part of the book, One of the most delightful speech in the book, given by a policeman about “the beast called the Government” – while speaking in bullet points. It is a fantastic libertarian speech, and it is even more fantastic that it is delivered by the possibly corrupt inspector.

The low down of the book is the sudden end leaving you unfulfilled about the climax of the story that have captured your fascination by this time. The book hurries you. For instance, Muneeza's character was still growing on me when the book ended. There was also an indication of sequel in the way it ended but I don’t think that would be the case, It is just one of those books which leaves you with smiling memories and imaginative ends from your own perspective. I would also point out the good job he does in limiting the number of lines given to the lizard – he does it in a way such that it appears as if the lizard represents the narrator’s conscience.

RATING – 3.5/5 (with a Thump up)

Overall, I found the novel to be an enjoyable read. At 217 pages in relatively large size text, it would interest the casual readers also who can't keep their attention long enough to complete a book. I was able to complete it in a single sitting of four hours on a train journey in which I ended up startling my fellow passengers many a time with laughter. If you are cynical and also find yourself every now and then thinking too deep about small-small things in day to day life, then this one is surely for u! As for me, I am now waiting for Amit Varma’s next book venture; he is a rock star when it comes to entertaining narration, a skill that even some of the most sold out young writers of our country lack.

Price – 195 (Purchased from National Book depot in Kanpur Mall Road)

Publisher: Hachette India

You were my crush.... till you said you love me

AUTHOR - Durjoy Datta is bestselling author of five books, Of Course I Love You! (2008), Now That You're Rich! (2009), She Broke Up, I Didn't! (2010), Ohh Yes, I Am Single! (2011) and You Were My Crush! (2011). All these books have enjoyed prolonged stays on various bestseller lists including and especially the Flipkart.

All his books are apparently (as written in its texts time and again) inspired from real life incidents.

From the cover stats, His books have sold a total of 1,000,000 copies till date making him one of the highest selling Indian authors till date and also One of the youngest and the most prolific authors in the newly emerged coffee table paperback Indian fiction scene.

Durjoy is a mechanical engineer from Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) and did his management from MDI, Gurgaon in 2011, he now co-owns a publishing house with other writers of similar genre like Sachin Garg of the “I’m not 24, I’ve been 19 for 5 years” fame.

Orvana Ghai is the co-author of this book

SYNOPSIS – Durjoy Datta's fifth book highlights itself as a true story based on his misunderstood brother - Benoy Roy. People say a lot of things about Benoy.

'I love him, but I don't want him to drive a Bentley,' his mom says, Or used to say. She is dead now. He drives a Bentley.

'He is a stranger to me. I haven't seen him since he was eight. I receive his credit card bills though,' his dad says.

'He should stop drinking,' his maid says.

'...stop bribing professors,' his best buddy, Eshaan advises him.

'Good for nothing, brat!' his best friend, Diya says.

'I never want to see you again. Stop stalking me or I will let my boyfriend know,' the love of his life says.

'You're the best,' his brother, Deb claims.

Between all this, who is the real Benoy?

This story is about him picking up the pieces of his life and trying to find a meaning out of it. A big car, a big house, does it solve anything? Why is that despite having everything, he has nothing?

You Were My Crush! is Durjoy's fifth book.

Pulkit Speaks – Nothing new to offer.

In the mid-end of last decade, when Indian Fiction scene started gaining popularity with the rise of Chetan Bhagat jonour of first person light hearted narrative, one of writers that emerged to be a highly loved person of that style was Durjoy. I have been closely following his rise right from the start of his writing career and have read all his works so far. Love them or hate them, but you can’t deny the fact that he sells, and sells big time.

This is his fifth book, as I have mentioned in the synopsis, it also is a Flipkart bestseller, and have great reviews there. Saying all that, I personally felt that this book is among all his titles, the most predictable, boring and substance less. After the days of “Of Course I love you… till I find someone better”, and “Now That you are rich… Let’s fall in love”, Durjoy’s ability to bring something fresh on the table have constantly been on a low down. His last three books, including the one I am reviewing this time have failed to bring on my face a fresh story, that has characters not resembling his first two titles.

In third and fourth book, he almost re-narrated the first two in more elaboration and yet succeeded in selling so many copies, which shows that he does have a fan base, which reads his work irrespective of the originality of Idea and storyline base that it offers.

The third and fourth titles, still had more moments of fun as compared to this one. This book clearly shows how it has been rushed into publication and lacks the Durjoy Magic that his initial books had. Benoy Roy’s character has nothing new to offer, he has no shades that have not been displayed by Deb in some portion or another in past titles. His dad is almost too perfect to be true and you can almost predict 100 pages in advance to the end, how eventually he will fix everything in the same manner that he eventually fixes it. At times, its over flattery and attention for his charm, that makes it a little boring. His best buddy Eshaan is almost a side kick, that has no shade of his own, he fails to leave any impression on the mind of the reader and is almost never present in the story. Same tragedies have struck to Deb and Avantika, they are there, god knows why? And yet never there in any of the plot or main script scenes doing anything noticeable, the sheer presence less existence of those two is something that’s almost disturbing for someone like me, who have read so much about them in the past from his pen. Either those two should have not been a part of this at all, or they should have been given more backbone than what they eventually got. Diya, initially appears as a strong confident ambitious and composed girl who gradually become a close friend of Benoy, but after the entry of her super gorgeous sister Naina in the story, she is nothing but a name being mentioned once in a while after every few pages, just to remind readers that she is there and will suffer big mishaps just to connect dots of Benoy’s love life in the end. Their parents, in the story almost have no opinions of their own. They are confused and right from start to end, appears to be dependent on mercy of others wisdom to see the obvious. Naina’s fiancée is almost a ruthless mean greedy boy, one can wonder over the course of entire story what she might have initially seen in him, considering she is smart and beautiful and not so stupid and he is dull boring and almost a bastard. He is just black and have not even a shade of grey and there hardly is a line where he shows any charm that can make us believe that Diya and Naina’s parents were indeed in their senses when they agreed to marry their rose petal young daughter to him. I mean just because he showed up at their door and accepted a relationship with her, cannot be any substance full reason to accept him as a son in law, considering the asshole he is in the whole of book.

The girl Naina, plainly comes out of fantasies, too good to be true like most of the leading ladies of Durjoy’s books, she too is smart, witty, confident, cute, charming and almost a sex goddess in bed. The love between her and Benoy, happens too easily and almost reaches its climax of success abruptly in the same manner. Their chats and sms’es being the only cheesy lines that can make one smile, this book otherwise suffers from so much lack of humor that by the time story drags to the accident of Diya and the frenzy surrounding it, one seem to have lost all interest in the core plot of Benoy’s life. The case might be that something which appeared fresh in the life of Deb in earlier novels is now nothing more than a repetitive overdose of predictable sex and boring conversations when u talk of this one.

I feel let down, by this one more so, because I was looking forward to see the independent writing of Durjoy, a person who already has a market base and could have experimented more in himself, especially since he was also the publisher of this one. But to one of his regular readers in me, he failed to deliver on grounds of not only story(unlike past two), but also as a fun-read, something his books are otherwise. The title is more interesting then the book. I have purposefully not said anything about Orvana Ghai’s writing because I am still waiting to read her, in any non collaborative write up.

Rating – 2 on 5. (Those 2 are for the cute chats and sms'es exchanged between Naina and Benoy in a few pages,somewhere in between). I restate despite being his critic from last two years, This writer is capable of far more then what he delivered this time again. A big let down and waste of 100 bucks. Looking forward to read him again, when he comes up with yet another title in the end of Feb. A book that, according to him, is his personal hard worked project.

Price – 100 Rs

Publisher – Grapevine

Purchased from CP, New Delhi

PS – Admin talk – right at the start of this year, in Admin address, FL talked about how we are planning to make the website, more and more colorful, interactive and engaging for your experience.

For this, we will be coming up with reading challenges, book review targets, games, personal Get Together events for Readers and writers of this page, Authors Interviews that would feature many bestselling writers from Indian Fiction scene especially and something for which we are planning to Hire a reporting interviewer too, Book giveaways would be there like always, once in a while to bring a smile on your face… and many more other exciting things.

All your suggestions are welcomed in regards to the same. A constant feedback will keep us make sure, that we are on the right path. And by right path, I mean, the path that u want us to tread on.

So mail at alotofpages@gmail.com or contact us on Twitter or Facebook to make sure that u let us know, everything that’s in your mind. We shall answer every mail or message received, that’s a promise that I make in our endeavourer to keep this medium as interactive as it can be.