HOP: Scrotum Scrolls by Kartik Iyengar

Since with this book and because of A Lot of Pages, I become a bona fide reviewer, I will be reviewing this novel a little differently than the ones I have already did for website.

About the Author: This is Kartik Iyengar’s second book in the series of HOP (HORN OK PLEASE) and he is an avid traveler which can be seen through the book he has written and the places he has written about. He doesn’t write books but Blooks.

About The Book: This is the sequel to his first book of HOP series and describes the adventures or misadventures of Chief Redbull, Derek, Goose, Hound and their SUV, Motor mouth. The book is about two alien races, one the Scrotum Heads who want to save the earth and evil Helga who wants to wipe the humanity from the face of the earth. It is upto these four and their SUV to save the world. In doing so, they will find their destinies, which is entwined with their ability to save humanity before 21^st December 2012. Will they save the world? Will they find their destiny? These are the questions which will be answered either in the epilogue or so Chief Redbull says.

My Review:

I have not read the first book but most of the characters and the back stories were explained. There are essentially four main characters and the story revolves around them, so you don’t find too much of confusion with the story. It is the run of mill, save the earth story from aliens but the only difference is that only Indians and that too “MORONS” can save the world. This become was a welcome break from all the sappy romances that we read today.

HOP is one novel that takes some time to build a rapport with the readers but once you are into it, there is no escaping. I liked the fact that there was no romance or female presence in the novel. It is about friendship and it stayed there. The narration is done in first person and in the voice of Chief Redbull and it hinder sometimes to understand why a certain character behaves other than the Chief but other than that the book or the blook is a fun ride.

There are secret codes, objects to find and places to travel. There is so much going in the book but it is all explained and told in a way that I never once felt that it was a mess or had trouble understanding what is going on. Although I might have gone without all the slang but then the title in itself is well, a word that is not for polite company or said out loud, regardless the book charmed me in finishing it and waiting for the next book. Read the book for its innovative writing, Indians saving the world and a lesson in astrology. Kartik Iyengar gives you a taste for the extra-terrestrial with the Indian Masala.

P.S. Both about the author and about the book have been written by me. It’s my perception of both the author and the book.

Review of Love is Vodka, One Shot Ain’t Enough By Amit Shankar

Alcohol has never been my cup of tea or a glass or even a shot.  So I lose the analogy of why one shot ain’t enough. But then as I started reading the book and the characters were introduced, I realised that most of the book is like Vodka, there is the high you get and the hangover that follows.

The book is about a young teenage girl, Moon (I loved the name as it was different and stuck with me even after I have finished reading the book). She is a daughter of an Indian mother and French father. Her father soon left as he already had a family in France and his wife was ill. Moon has his presence only through Facebook and the gifts her sends.

Her mother is the one she wants the love of but Moon’s mother is too busy to notice. There are string of boys and men coming in her life and giving her a taste of love. From being an intern in an Ad-agency to being a model and then face of a mass protest, she does it all but love is the only thing she wants. 

Amit Shankar has chosen a female protagonist to tell his story of teenage romances and how much love is wanted in our lives but is it that easy or it is always enough. Moon’s boyfriends and her choices in boy friends always leave you with a sense of why? Why she chooses them apart from the character of Devil, her boss in the Ad-agency and her mother’s boyfriends, most of her boyfriends have the typical teenager written all over. Her romance with the guys she meet and the stories they create, get convoluted as Moon jumps from one romance to other.  

Coming back to the review, the book is a travel read. If you are looking for just something to pass your time as you go on your journey. It may not leave you with a high but it will be no hangover either. The portrayal of the main character Moon is praise worthy and the story of romance between the devil and her are the highlights of the book. It is a good effort by a serious writer to enter the world of click-lit but it could have been more.  

Meri Aankhon Mein Mohbbat Ke Manjar Hain by Dinesh Gupta

Poetry is the exact opposite of writing novels. What poet says in a few stanzas, an author has to say in thousand words! Because of this reason poetry becomes much difficult to master and also difficult to deliver that pleases people. Dinesh Gupta, with his debut novel tries to do so.

He is a poet who describes the beauty in his own way.  It might not only be for a beloved but can be the beauty of anything or anyone. As the description at the back says that the book contains poems, shayris, articles and songs on topics other than “Love”, I went on reading it. There were some lines that captivated me and some which made me move ahead.

I love romantic songs and most of us do. The way words flow and make us remember of the past or the present. It is rightly said when you are happy you enjoy the music, when you are said you understand the lyrics. The same goes for the poet and writer, Dinesh Gupta. He is cut from the same cloth; he loves to read romantic poetry. His favourite is Kumar Vishwas and his admiration can be seen through the book.

Back to his book and the poems he has written. It is divided into five parts: Romance, Patriotism, India against Corruption, Problems that plague our Society and Dreams. All have poems ranging from few lines to 3-page long poems.

It is a nice experience to read poems from a person who is from the similar age group and understands what the youth wants. All his poems are worth reading one time but one that is the most praised and loved poem of his is ‘Diya Antim Aas Ka’ and I realized why it was so. The poem describes the last few minutes of a dying solider, how he feels about his impending death and with courage he faces it, for his country.

Apart from this I liked “Main Anna Bol Raha hun’, which was a poem under the category of India against corruption. Since the book was a Hindi poetry book, it is special for me. The time when I see all of us vying to be modern and which leads our inclination towards English, it is good to see people still wanting to write in Hindi and giving books worth reading.

I will give the book three stars for the poems, and one star for the courage of the author for being different.

My Moonlit Pilgrimage by Sasiprabha Ps

These are the times when internet has taken over everything. From the way we shop to way we meet people. Everything is online and so is love. The feeling that we all want to conquer and win over and have a happy endinge live in our love lives, Sasiprabha takes the notion of virtual love and find the essence of it spiritually, to write her first book.

This book is about a girl’s journey that falls in love with a guy she meets online. The book is in two parts. The first part where the girl learns to love someone and how their love develops over the course of time and in the second half where her lover betrays her and she seeks the true meaning of love by going back to all the memories.

Coming to the novel, Sasiprabha has tried to capture the spiritual and true meaning of love. She has given a novel which is poetic in both the narrative as well as the crux of the novel. Since the novel is not very lengthy, it can be completed in a short duration of time but given the way the author has written the novel, you can take time to appreciate the poetry and the way she has written the description of the scenes that take place between the lead characters.

Sasiprabha is from Kerala and the book too is based from the city she belongs. The beauty of the city and the love between the protagonists have been penned with much adroitness. The fact that she is a motivational speaker and has been well versed with the classics is seen with the way she has written her novel and the poetry the marks the beginning and the end.

With debut novel, like Sasiprabha’s My Moonlit Pilgrimage at a young age is that they have some inherent flaws that are evident from the way the story has been told.  Here also, there is ambiguity in the narration when the author fails to provide the distinction of the genders. Also the novel although has a poetic narration, sometimes it leaves you with a sense that it is poetry collection rather being a novel.

The novel could have been better in terms of the presentation of the story. The prose is worth reading but the dialogues and the story flows,

sometimes leaves the reader feeling confused. Read the book for its beautiful poetry and a love story that might be modern but also has an ethereal touch to it.

Oops! I fell in for Don’s Daughter: Piyush Naik

Writing about your college life has become a trend that very few newcomers break. They all have their eyes on the goal to sell as many copies as they can. Very few of them do try to change the fact that romance not only happens in colleges but schools, offices and what not. Piyush Naik has written a novel that is set against the backdrop of school and how sparks fly.

Oops! I fell in for Don’s Daughter is about a young lad, Piyansh Nigam who joins tuition to cure his ailing Math and bring pride to his family by scoring good marks. As nothing goes as planned, he too looks at a girl and falls in love madly. Luck can never be on the sides of the lovers and he too faces competition and also a chance of serious trouble as the girl’s father is a Don.

The story is about how he woos the girl, makes friends, loses friends and at the end if he does get the girl. The book is not thick and can be completed in 4-5 hours. It can be your traveling

companion if you don’t like thick books. Personally the book was that for me. I took it in the metro and read it for the fun I missed after leaving school and the friends that I will never meet.

Piyush has written a story that has essentially friendship as its protagonist. There is a group of around 6 people and all are couple. They enjoy, hang out and make the best of their school days. The problems are also of today’s youth—parents scanning through phones and asking endless questions, the report card carrying your test scores that can never be made public and what not.

He gets the school part right, what troubles me is the way the story goes from being a romantic comedy to a emotional one in a span of seconds. I would have liked a more fluid transition. The characters motivation sometimes seems unreal and you just don’t get it why he would that or this. Some of the quotes about love or school at large are funny and memorable.

The only drawback of the story is that the language is amateurish and also that Piyush Naik is still a kid. Most of the novel seems like a teenage diary where endless scribbling has been done to justify the story. Even though with the flaws Piyush Naik gives a novel which is funny, at times romantic but mostly it is about school and how much better the life was back then.