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.

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.

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

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

Title : The Princess Diaries

Author : Meg Cabot

Genre : Young Adult / Chick-lit

Price : Rs 499

ISBN : 0061479934

Publisher : Harper Teen

Total no. of titles in the series : 17 (includes novels, novellas and companion books)

First Published : 2000

Summary : Mia Thermopolis has many things to worry about – a best friend who produces a TV show, and is stalked by a weird guy who has a fetish for shoes, the fact that her crush, the most popular boy in school, Josh Richter only has eyes for Lana Weinberger, her arch-enemy, and a mother who is dating her Algebra teacher – without having to find out that she is not Mia Thermopolis.

She is Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, the princess of Genovia. Her paternal grandmother, the Dowager Princess of Genovia arrives in New York to groom her into a proper princess who, Mia soon finds out, has to be everything that she is not.

Excerpt :

Lilly says Josh's synapses were probably misfiring that day, due to heatstroke or something. She said he probably thought I looked familiar but couldn't place my face without the cement block walls of Albert Einstein High behind me. Why else, she asked, would the most popular senior in high school say hey to me, Mia Thermopolis, a lowly freshman? But I know it wasn't heatstroke. The truth is, when he's away from Lana and all his jock friends, Josh is a totally different person. The kind of person who doesn't care if a girl is flat-chested or wears size-ten shoes. The kind of person who can see beyond all that into the depths of a girl's soul. I know because when I looked into his eyes that day at Bigelows, I saw the deeply sensitive person inside him, struggling to get out.

Lilly says I have an overactive imagination and a pathological need to invent drama in my life. She says the fact that I'm so upset about my mom and Mr. G is a classic example.

Sudeshna's take : The Princess Diaries is a humorous and engaging take on the life of a New York city high school student, but with a twist. While there are the regular challenges of school life that Mia has to deal with, the additional pressure of finding out that she is a princess plunges her into unknown territories, which becomes the life of the novel. The characters are well-built to add to a fast-paced plot, and there isn't a single dull page in the book. In fact, I finished it in one sitting.

The format makes the book easy to read, and teen-aged girls will adore this book once they get hold of it. Although the story may sound a bit off-landish at first, Ms Cabot has crafted the story so well that everything becomes more than believable.

It is one of those stories that you will want to read again and again. I'd say, do read it!

Rating : 4.5/5.0

Digital Fortress - Dan Brown

AUTHOR - Dan Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author of Thrillers. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and real life appearance covered conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into over 40 languages, and as of 2009, sold over 80 million copies..

BEST-SELLERS -

§ Digital Fortress, 1998

§ Angels & Demons, 2000

§ Deception Point, 2001

§ The Da Vinci Code, 2003

§ The Lost Symbol, 2009

SYNOPSIS – Dan Brown set his razor-sharp research and storytelling skills on the most powerful intelligence organization on earth--the National Security Agency (NSA), an ultra-secret, multibillion-dollar agency many times more powerful than the CIA. When the NSA's invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage...not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously complex that if released it would cripple U.S. intelligence. Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Susan Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself fighting not only for her country but for her life, and in the end, for the life of the man she loves. From the underground hallways of power to the skyscrapers of Tokyo to the towering cathedrals of Spain, a desperate race unfolds. It is a battle for survival--a crucial bid to destroy a creation of inconceivable genius...an impregnable code-writing formula that threatens to obliterate the post-cold war balance of power. Forever.

Quotes –

· “I It is said that in death, all things become clear; Ensei Tankado now knew it was true.”

· “ there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Strathmore loved his country.He was known to his colleagues as a patriot and a visionary...a decent man in a world of lies.”

· “ Every night the young Tankado stared down at the twisted fingers holding his daruma wish-doll and swore he'd have revenge - revenge against the country that had stolen his mother and shamed his father into abandoning him.”

· “He seemed to have an uncanny ability to see past the moral perplexities surrounding the NSA's difficult decisions and to act without remorse in the interest of the common good.”

· “ An algorithm that resists brute force will never become obsolete.”

Pulkit Speaks –

Unputdownable is the word for this one. Now for those of you who have not come across Dan Brown’s books yet, I can tell you from my experiences that there are only two shades to it – either you will fall in love with them or you will end up feeling that they are just plainly overrated. I belong to the class of people who thinks that he is unarguably the best in the business in his genre. He writes books that enlightens you as well as entertain you at the same time. Digital fortress is just plain delight and a master read that runs at its amazing neck breaking pace and makes you turn pages one after the other, till the time you have read it all. The technical concepts and algorithms about system security and how they solve the problems in the book till the very last moment can actually double your interest to know about the field of cryptography. Yes at various stages of the book, it would be predictable but that is no reason not to appreciate the creatively engrossing and brain engaging plotline of the book which is almost a ten on ten pointer. In my personal opinion this is Dan Brown’s not only first one but the best one too, closely followed by Angels and Demons, Deception point being third. I found the lost symbol to be a little over lengthy. Let me know what you felt about his books if you have read them in the comments section.

Rating – 4.5 / 5. You will not regret spending on this one!

Price – 299

Original Language: English Publisher: St. Martin's Press Country: U.S.A. Publication Date: 1 January 1998 ISBN: 0312263120 Page Count: 431

PS – Apologies for the irregularity on the blog from my side. It’s not intentional but forcefull. The new schedule in the job is just too stressful at the moment . Shall try to post and stay interactive with all you guys soon. Came to Kanpur for a day at home and managed time to post this. How is everyone doing by the way? Let there be comments! : )

The Doomsday Conspiracy - Sidney Sheldon

AUTHOR - SIDNEY SHELDON

BEST-SELLERS - The Stars Shine Down, Master of the Game, The Sands of Time, Rage of Angels and many more. (all time 6th most selling fiction writer)

SYNOPSIS - The protagonist of the story is Robert Bellamy, a man hired by the NSA to locate the several bus passengers in Switzerland who had accidentally seen a weather balloon with some top secret equipment (later on identified as a UFO) collapsing in the woods. As Robert locates the passengers one by one, they are mysteriously killed. Each murder has been meticulously staged to appear as an accident. Robert's marriage also dissolves, as his wife, starved for attention by Robert, marries a rich business tycoon Monte Banks.
As Commander Robert Bellamy of US naval is in the verge of completion of his mission, he learns that he is being hunted by an unknown lethal force. Robert runs escaping from the attackers from Washington to Zurich, Rome and Paris. As the story unfolds to reveal Bellamy's past - why the women he loves cannot return his love, why his most beloved friends become his deadly enemies. Bellamy finally learns that the investigation ends in the place where he had started it...with an incredible conclusion.

PULKIT SPEAKS -

A 5 Star entertainer;

It was early days in my quest of buying every book I am planning to read to create a collection of my own, when I had a chance to get this title. Previous to it, I had been using libraries and have extensively been exposed to books like Da Vinci Code etc, who all focuses on the theme of an international thriller. In such books, the settings and facts are hard researched and they are interlinked and connected to each other with fiction plot and characters. The basic idea is to entertain the readers in a manner that they partially believe that such a set of events can/might actually take place. Sidney Sheldon's first book that I ever read was The Doomsday Conspiracy, It belonged to the same theme and It managed to catch my fancy and served me as a great entertainer from start to end. It was fast, had a tremendous pace, a hanging on the edge adventure smart plot; It was hard to put down even for once.

The journey of the lead protagonist makes you fall in love with the way he displays his expertise in hunting people down in the first part of the book. In a dramatic manner, the hunter i.e. the lead becomes the hunted, for the second phase of the book. In all his runaways he manages to baffle those who are chasing him, and my god I love the ways in which he does that. Engaging and entertaining, the book holds you from your collar, till the whole saga and mystery is sorted out. The one lose hold, I personally felt was the way in which final element of aliens seems begging and a bit unexplained on certain notes. Nevertheless, this book is well worth the money spend, and I recommend this to everyone who loves entertainer thrillers. This is a must read for you people, trust me on this. The afternote will surely leave you thinking and smiling.

PS - This came after Sidney had already written half of his works and they have all been published and appreciated well. Already a bestseller, he managed to explore the avenue of Sci-Fi for the first and the last time and did it in his usual classy way. It left so deep impact on people who read it, that Writers line Dan Brown after the release of his own first book "The digital fortress" publicly confessed Sidney's Doomsday Conspiracy to be the biggest influence in their set of thriller sci-fi writing style.

RATING - 4.5/5. I personally loved this. Already having read all international larger than life thrillers of writers like Dan Brown etc, I expected this book not to surprise me in ways that it managed to did. The first book that I read of Sidney's, I became a fanatic fan convert of his work that very day. This is a master entertainers for those who are willing to explore the adventure of thriller novel. Power packed, fast and great time pass.

PRICE - Paid 250 Rs to get the same after a session of bargaining at National Book Depot, Kanpur.

PPS - Awesome layout FL, the look of the blog is professional know. Great pleasure being a part of it. Take care and god bless!

Veronika Decides To Die - Paulo Coelho

AUTHOR - PAULO COELHO

BEST-SELLERS - The Alchemist, Brida, The Winner Stands Alone

SYNOPSIS - Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything -- youth and beauty, boyfriends and a loving family, a fulfilling job. But something is missing in her life. So, one cold November morning, she takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up. But she does -- at a mental hospital where she is told that she has only days to live. Inspired by events in Coelho's own life, Veronika Decides to Die questions the meaning of madness and celebrates individuals who do not fit into patterns society considers to be normal. Bold and illuminating, it is a dazzling portrait of a young woman at the crossroads of despair and liberation, and a poetic, exuberant appreciation of each day as a renewed opportunity.

QUOTES -

• “There is always a gap between intention and action.”

• “Nothing in this world happens by chance.”

• “God knows the past, the present and the future. In that case, he had placed her in this world with the full knowledge that she would end up killing herself, and he would no longer shocked by her actions.”

• “In adolescence she thought it was too early to choose, now in youth she was convinced it was too late to change.”

• “'If God exists, and I truly don't believe he does, he will know that there are limits to human understanding. He was the one who created this confusion in which there is poverty, injustice, greed and loneliness. He doubtless had the best of intentions. but the results have proved disastrous; if God exists, He will be generous with those creatures who chose to leave this Earth early, and he might even apologize for having made us spend time here.'”

• “Everyone is indeed crazy, but the craziest are the ones who don't know they're crazy; they just keep repeating what others tell them to.”

• “we lived together like fish in an aquarium, contended because someone threw us food when we needed it, and as we could, whenever we wanted to, see the world outside through the glass”

• “An awareness of death encourages to live more intensely.”

• “Stay insane, but behave like normal people. Run the risk of being different, but learn to do so without attracting attention. Allow the real “I” to reveal itself. It’s what you are, not what others make of you.”

• “A schizophrenic is a person who already has a natural tendency to absent himself from this world.”

PULKIT SPEAKS -

A Novel of Redemption;

I read this book almost an year back, when it was recommended to me by my soul sister. She had been increasingly getting worried about me in those days, due to my severe mood swings and emotional outbursts on status updates and blog posts. On being pushed rigorously for the same, I purchased a copy of it. It was a slow starter, I had read alchemist by the same author previously and thus I managed to held on to the plot of this one and the writing style which soon gathered momentum, and took the reader i.e. me to a journey of self discovery and answers. Each character is unique and fresh, Dealing with dilemmas of life which are common to almost all of us, and within the course of the book, they get answers to those dilemmas, simultaneously answering our own set of personal riddles.
The writer successfully manages to set up an analogy between regularity and sadness. It establishes the connect of love and compromise, as well as madness and liberation in the most amazing of manners. This book near its end, hits you hard with slaps of reality and truth right on your face, and reminds you of the life that is present in every moment going by right at this point of your life. Spritual in many ways, and enlighteningly fascinating in others, This is a master read for all those who think a lot and analyze life way too much. Every such reader can derive a lot of new things out of every page and every line. Brilliant and thought provoking, I am glad I read it, at the right time and thus enjoyed it the most that can be.

RATING - 4/5 - Strictly recommended for people who ponder more at day today basis on the meaning of life, A must read for people suffering with depression/Insomnia and mood swings, I guess that included 90 percent of online community of ours ;)

PRICE - $10.17 , Online purchase from Amazon