Adulting by Neharika Gupta

 

There was a time when I used to relish escapist urban chick lit works by Indian Authors. The likes of Advaita Kala, Ahmed Faiyas, and Durjoy Dutta came to my rescue whenever I used to suffer from reader's block. For that matter, I had even enjoyed the then-teen sensation Kavya Vishwanathan's How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, got wild, and got a life (which incidentally was pulled off the shelves due to plagiarism charges).

I picked up Adulting by Neharika Guptha, expecting it to be an entertaining young urban chick lit. The cover was somewhat attractive, and the blurb promised a 'Bold, unapologetic story of love and self-discovery, heartache, and book launches. Harper Collins had put faith in a debutant Indian author was another bait for picking up this one. Also, it's cool to get indulged in reading about rich people's problems once in a while, right?

The principal characters are Aisha, a famous blogger; Ruhi, a publishing consultant and Tejas, a budding author. The snail-paced plot tries to trace their lives, ambitions, and love life.

With bland, unlikeable characters, tedious scenes, and an unimaginative setting, Adulting suffers from pacing issues and a flimsy plot. The writer herself seems confused about the core theme of the book, and the narrative drags aimlessly, trying to fit in so many themes topically, parenting,  the cut-throat world of trade publishing, urban love, and body issues with none managing to leave any kind of impression with the hapless reader. Pages and Pages of boring text ensue, and even the love triangle involving Ruhi-Tejas-Aisha comes a cropper. The insipid journal entries by Aisha only serve to add to the boredom. The track involving the writer, Litracy Publishing House and the writer's block also comes across as half baked and monotonous and the reader never gets to sympathise with the predicaments of Tejas.

On the whole, I picked up this one expecting to read a fun, Indian Chick-lit after a long time. Sad that I couldn't even finish this one published by Harper Collins.Also, I don't think I will pick up an Indian Chick-lit any time in the near future, again!

Ps- Why the title, by the way?

-nikhimenon

Bombay Rains, Bombay Girls by Anirban Bose

About the author:

A doctor by profession, Anirban Bose is the author of the book Bombay Rains Bombay Girls and the short story collection Mice in Men. Other than writing, he is passionate about guitars, cricket and music. He is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine and Nephrology at the University of Rochester.

Cover and blurb:

The cover shows nuances of a city and college life. The back cover suggests such a theme, a small-town boy’s venture to the big bad city to study medicine, and the college life that follows.

My thoughts on the book:

Do you remember the first day of your college life? I remember mine. It was difficult for me to talk to other classmates, except for the ones sitting on the same bench as I was. I was from the city, and my college had more number of small town students, who probably knew each other too. But I could feel the same difficulty for them to start a conversation with me as well. That way, it was easy for me to understand this awkwardness, the one the protagonist Adi feels when he goes to Mumbai for studying medicine. This book is about his experiences, starting from how their taxi driver gets beaten up when they (Adi and his father) first visit Mumbai to get him settled in to the new life. His life goes through the mostly expected nuances in college life like getting caught not paying attention in class, solving that dilemma and thereby finding himself more popular, the popularity increasing etc. It has heartbreak and new love, new friendships. It also has a lot of decisions, and some that he takes that defines who he is. It has politics and helplessness, even a murder. So…a lot of little things.

The pace of the book is quite quick. The font is easily readable, and quite nice to read as well in this size. I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint what makes this book good. It has a good mix of emotions, and a plot that a medical student may understand more than me perhaps. It engages the reader for sure, so the narration is quite good. The viewpoints in narration were something that confused me to a little extent. And yes, a little predictable. I guess the part that felt the most natural was the nervousness that Adi feels in the initial chapters.

Overall, an ordinary book. Nothing too good, nothing too bad. Quite decent.

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My rating: 2.5 / 5

Book Details:
Title: Bombay Rains, Bombay Girls
Author: Anirban Bose
ISBN: 9788172236830
Genre: Fiction
Publishers: Harper Collins India
Price: INR. 195

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Reviewed by Leo

Shared with

1. Indian Quills Review Challenge at The Tales Pensieve

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A Devil is Waiting by Jack Higgins

There are certain characters that are quite well known in crime fiction. It's Jack Reacher for Lee Child, Alex Cross for James Patterson, Shane Schofield for Matthew Reilly and Cotton Malone for Steve Berry. In the same way, it's Sean Dillon that is the principal character of action thriller series books authored by Jack Higgins. I'm quite a fan of the character, that no-nonsense, ruthless, carefree killer who is a protector of justice and part of the Prime Minister's personal army, so to speak.

This book however wasn't one of my favorites, so to speak. This is the first book that I've picked up where a main character is missing. On checking, I found she had been killed in a previous book that I missed. Guess the dialogue from the series Castle comes to mind. Perhaps the author got bored of the character. Maybe Hannah Bernstien started to become a little predictable to him. It was sort of a repetitive character, with Dillon's affection for her and her affection for the rules dominating almost every novel's plot and character sketch. That being said, the new characters of Daniel Holley and Sara Gideon were quite interesting. The war background, the similarity in character to Dillon and the love angle between the two new characters was quite nice to read.

The villains Mullah Ali Selim and the Frenchman Henri Legrande were ruthless too, the former especially. The action shifts from the USA to London to Pakistan, and then to Persia etc. much like a Jack Higgins novel usually does. The old known and loved characters like Roper, Ferguson, Blake, Lacey and Parry, all return and play their parts seamlessly. It's a thriller alright!

Did I love it? Yes, I did. Not the best, but it's got quality. Here's to more of Sean Dillon and his antics.

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Book Details:
Title: A Devil is Waiting
Author: Jack Higgins
ISBN: 9780007479870
Genre: Action Thriller
Publishers: Harper Collins
Price: INR 299

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Reviewed by Leo

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Open - Andre Agassi

Open, though its a popular book about world's best tennis player but I first got to hear about it from Delhi Book Club's Facebook group. The book's cover as you can see features Andre Agassi. His eyes look as if they are dying to tell hundreds of stories and he does that in his autobiography. I got this book as a birthday gift from one of my twitter friends, Renu ( @Thodi_c_crazy ) with two other books, thanks to Uread.com ! :P 

Open opens with a shocking fact about Agassi, that he actually hated tennis, why ? Well, you would know about it in the first 2 chapters of the book. It was a heart breaking fact for me. I remember, when he used to play, my dad used to stick to TV during the matches and he used to pray Agassi's style of playing tennis like anything also when he got retired, dad stopped watching tennis! :) 

The book opens with Agassi gearing up for the last match of his career. In extreme pain and myriad of thoughts occupying his mind, his journey from his hotel room to the court, he explains it with such intricate details that you are instantly hooked to the book. His style of writing and the way he has expressed what used to feel in those times makes you feel sad about him. Though, I like one of the quote from the book which I would like to share here 

"Stop Thinking and Start Doing, If You Are Thinking Too Much, You Are Not Doing Anything"

 which is the rule I follow in my own life. I don't think much. I believe in doing and learning ! :) 

Also, the book teaches you a lot about life. Agassi, despite of  hating the game of tennis, seeing its highs and lows, still marvels at it. That is something I really admire about him. His rage, his attitude and his thought process is something that is forever etched on my mind after reading this. Extremely focussed in his own way, fighting with his mind and heart constantly, he achieved what his father had always wanted. I really don't know how to put this across, but I think one must read this book just to understand that how is it like hating something that you do for a living and still excel at it. 

Agassi's journey with people around him and how he treasured and dealt with them is something to look out for. The way his brother supported him, his mother, always calm and composed took care of him, his friend Perri, his coaches, his opponents and many other people, he has given all the details about each and every one of them. I absolutely loved this book and I might read it again in future. Also, I have made a pact with myself that weekends would be kept for biographies and autobiographies. They teach you a lot and give you thousands of thoughts to introspect on. Open is a MUST READ for all those people who love tennis and Andre Agassi. Pick this book as soon as possible.

Book Source : Personal Copy
Publisher : Harper Collins
Genre : Autobiography
ISBN : 978-0-00-741679-0 

Jack Is Back In Corporate Carnival - P.G. Bhaskar

Another book dedicated to corporate culture, and I quite liked it. Jack Is Back In Corporate Carnival is a light read and definitely one of the funniest books that I have read in recent times. We cannot call it as a sequel, but yes its the book two of Jack Patel's series penned down by P G Bhaskar after his first book, the bestseller, Jack Patel's Dubai Dreams. The book has an interesting cover and also I liked the way it is printed, it endorses a flip page animation effect with the man coming down with the help of a parachute as the book progresses.

Jack Is Back In Corporate Carnival opens with Jack and Kitch, both the friends joining a new job in Dubai only, Adriann Abott bank. Peggy is still their boss and she is the reason why both of them are there. Kitch is married to Galiya and Jack to Mina, Kitch is a father of two year old Olga who keeps appearing and disappearing in the story. There is too much travelling that both Jack and Kitch have to do to tap in new clients for their bank. The new account holders invest millions of money on Jack's recommendation, for which Jack travels to many places in Africa. There are holidays, witty discussions, super hilarious events and what keeps Jack, Kitch, Peggy and the other teammates on their toes.

P G Bhaskar's writing is something to lookout for. The book is an absolute page turner. It keeps cracking you up and also keeps you on your toes. The way the whole story has been narrated is simply awesome. Spread over 20 chapters and 305 pages, the book is a rollicking roller coaster ride. If are you looking for something that's funny and interesting at the same time, pick this one up. You'd love it.

Book Source : Harper Collins India

Genre : Fiction

ISBN : 978-93-5029-351-5

Don't Hire The Best - Abhijit Bhaduri

Ever since I have started taking reading seriously, I am reading whatever is coming my way. I am not saying no to anything and thats the best part about it. The most unexpected readings are becoming my favourites and latest addition in the list is the book Don't Hire The Best by Abhijit Bhaduri. Its a 184 page book, very well written, supplied with examples and also theories and solutions to everything related to recruitment. 

Abhijit who has led HR teams at Microsoft, PepsiCo, Colgate, Tata Steel in India, South East Asia and US has made sure that the book stays simple and easily understandable to everyone who reads it. Initially, I thought I would drop the book in midway but that didn't happen. In fact, I finished in the book in two sittings. 

In the whole book, Abhijit focuses on one and only thing, Don't hire the best, hire the RIGHT person for the job. He has tried to explain the concept from various examples, situations and theories. The book is divided into three sections with some 4-5 chapters each. I would definitely like to share the name of the chapters here because that will give the reader of this post a vague idea about the whole book

1. The Role of a Leader

2. Hiring "The Best"

3. What I Learnt and how ?

4. Boss, What's the secret sauce?

5. Hiring Leaders Needs a Different Approach.

6. Interviewers' Mistakes

7. Building a Success Profile

8. Personality and "Fit"

9. Personality : The 'Bright Side'

10. Personality : The 'Dark Side'

11. Organisational Fit : Value and Motivations

12. Values and Organisational Culture

13. Conclusion

So, if you are into recruitment business, this book is a must for you. Its not that heavy sort of reading that would take ages to finish. It presents you with key points for being a great recruiter and understand the value of recruiting the right person for the job. Even if you are an entrepreneur, this book will surely open your eyes about setting up a right team for the business you do.  Give this book a try, I strongly recommend it to all the HR people at least. 

Book Source : HarperCollins India

Genre : Non-Fiction

ISBN : 978-93-5029-433-8

Cutting Chai and Maska Pao - Digantika Mitra, Priya Sheth, Mithila Mehta

Mumbai, the business capital of India, the city of dream, a city that never sleeps and the list goes on and on.  I have been to the city once and being a true Delhiwallah at heart, I actually loved Mumbai. Call me a traitor or whatever. It was in the last week of June that I went to Mumbai this year and experienced the city in my own way. Met people both from real and online world, roamed around a lot, walked a lot, took services of taxis and auto rickshaws, lived in a posh area, ate at a roadside stall, I did it all in mere 10 days, the most interesting part of the whole trip was, I blogged the experience daily here at www.mumbaisaga.blogspot.in 

Ever since I came back, I couldn't get over Mumbai, I am still not over with the city and eagerly waiting for my next trip. I have been reading about the city and things to do there from quite some time now. Cutting chai and maska pao happened to me while I was surfing Harper Collins website and thought, I must give it a shot and I got it yesterday. I thought, I would skip reviewing this book on ALOP but couldn't resist it. I think, a person who loves Mumbai should definitely give this book a read. 

Cutting Chai and Maska Pao is an intelligent and interesting take on the city. It is a small book with 100 pages and somehow perfectly sums up the entire city with colourful pictures and sharp observations with witty writeups. The writers of the book, the three gorgeous ladies, took a project quite seriously and it turned out to be a beautiful little handbook. 

The authors of the book have picked up approx 65 words that are famous in Mumbai and have arranged them alphabetically in this book. What makes this book interesting is, the pictures and the information shared about each world. Right from slangs, to the street food and some places, the book has it all that Mumbai can be identified with. 

I am surely taking this book along with me on my next trip to Mumbai. I am going to all the places and trying all that which has been mentioned in this book. Its a sort of bucket list and one must try to tick off each and every thing mentioned in this little handbook with creativity at its best. 

Book Source : Harper Collins

Genre : Non Fiction

ISBN : 978-93-5029-111-5

The Long Walk Home - Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

 Title : The Long Walk Home

 Author : Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

 Publisher : Harper Collins 

 Pages : 270

 Genre : Fiction

 ISBN : 978-81-7223-828-5

My long lost hobby was resurrected by The Taj Conspiracy, Manreet's latest book. Yes, reading has been a hobby since childhood, but I could never really develop it. Too many factors came into play, but lets not get there. I was lucky to meet Manreet at one of the blogger's meet organised by Westland Books when she was in Delhi for the launch of her book. It was my first ever rendezvous with an author and that experience is something I am never going to forget in my life. In that bloggers meet, Manreet shared the story behind The Long Walk Home also and how Gulzar sahab liked the book and wrote four lines to summarise the book. The excitement was clearly visible in the author's eyes.

That's when I decided to pick this book and read it and I read it last night again, because it is one of my favourite books. The way it has been written makes me want to read this book again and again. The plot, the narration, the structure of the book is something very fresh. If someone wants to learn how characters are developed in a story, then this book is a must read. And all the Gulzar Sahab fans, they must not miss out on reading this one because he himself liked it which pushed him to write and summarised the book in his own signature style, the four lines I am posting here

Yeh faasle teri galiyon ke humse tay na huey

hazaar baar rukey hum hazaar baar chaley

na jaane kaun si mitti watan ki mitti thi

nazar mein dhool, jigar mein liye ghubaar chaley

                                                                                                              - Gulzar

So, summarises the whole book and Manreet was overwhelmed when she read these lines for us that day.

The book swings between present and past, more in the year 1984, the year of sikh riots in India. Also the protagonist of the book Baksh travels down the memory lane when he used to live in the border town of Ferozepur, Punjab. He was a lawyer and have sailed through some of the harsh and circumstantial realities of the life. From pre partition India of 1947, to the post independence era, the India Pakistan war and last but not the least, which is still a major issue in our country, religious extremism. Baksh had seen it all. While he takes his last walk before he reaches hospital in search of a doctor, all these memories haunt him, makes him think about his family, faith, fundamentalism and misguided passions.

Also, the Bhalla family tree given at the first page of the book must be understood before you start reading the book.It would be slightly tough for you to read this one if you don't understand the family structure. Also, the book touched my emotional side, which is not easy. The way riot scenes have been described would send shivers down your spine. You feel disgusted and helpless. As Manreet has experienced all these times herself, the way she has narrated the scenes becomes more realistic. The book is definitely not a light read, at least for me it wasn't. Also, the relationship of Baksh with all his family members have been told so beautifully that would instantly connect you to the story.

I strongly recommend you to read this one. It is a fine piece of writing w.r.t. whatever knowledge about writing I have.  I have already read it thrice and I am sure I am going to read it again and again. :)

The Liberals - Hindol Sengupta

 Title : The Liberals

 Author : Hindol Sengupta

 Publisher : Harper Collins

 Pages : 310

 ISBN - 978-93-5029-143-6

 Genre - Non Fiction

"The Liberals", I never thought I would read this title. When you think about the title, it feels like it would be all about politics and stuff, economic development, liberalisation, this and that and what not. But, the book turned out to be something else. Hindol Sengupta, the author, has successfully managed to floor me with his wit and writing style.

The Liberals, is about the middle class of India. In the beginning of the book, the author describes the types of middle class we have in India. I would like to quote the terms here moddhobitto which means Middle Class, uchcho moddhobitto, means upper middle class and nimno moddhobitto means lower middle class. The description about all these three classes had me in splits.

The book has 26 chapters and moves between Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Each chapter is unique in its own way and ensures that you laugh while reading it and also think about a certain points being raised in it. There are two chapters on Pakistan also, giving a whole new dimension to the book. The book deals with some harsh and poignant realities of life and makes you think about them. The author, who is 31, has shared his personal story in an impressive way and I am glad I read this book.

The language of the book is easy and familiar and you would instantly connect to it. After chapter 2, which is based in Mumbai and the author takes a walk in Dharavi, supposedly Asia's biggest slum area with a MNS worker, that book comes very interesting and you will be hooked to it.

While reading it, you would identify yourself with some situations (At least, I did) and that's what makes it more interesting. If you think, you belong to the middle class of India. Then I would definitely suggest you to read this one. You will like it for sure.

(Review asked by HarperCollins India)