Half A Review

Some authors write books for their passion; some write books to spread awareness; some write books to educate; some write because of the readers; and then there is the last class of authors who write to make movies on their books. Well, there are also those who write books just to get criticized, not by the reviewers on the internet or the newspapers, but by people like me, or just me at least.

“Aage padhna hai toh padh, varna kat le.”

Now you know what I’m talking off. This massive 260 page manuscript begins and ends with a bang, like literally, the start because of the excitement and haste to review the book; and at the end ‘cause it ended when I didn’t want it to (way beyond what I wanted it to be).

So, because being mainstream is too mainstream, this book was born. Well yes, it did say the truth, at least a teeny tiny bit of it. Walk in Madhav, a basketball player hailing from Bihar, yes, in bold, italic and in quotes, just for the sake of emphasis. For two vulgar dialogues in the desi tongue; a show of poverty; a display of hordes of people; and a macabre look into the insight of the people there, and their mentalities. His skills in English would make Shakespeare cringe, and that was really expected, ‘cause he learnt it from a famous Indian author, Chetan Bhagat.

With his broken English, this lad manages to get admission into St. Stephens College, in Delhi, in sports quota (which I would like to talk about at length), manages to woo a unhappy rich “chick” (as is used numerous times in the book), and also persuades Bill Gates to sponsor his home-run school. Now, that’s why I is so weak in English, you no?

Enter English teacher, female basketball ace, with features enough to win Miss Universe, the daughter of a rich dad, Riya Somani. So, we know all the clothes she has, due to the bland descriptions of her beauty in each and every type of clothing, and then comes the catch. She does everything the rich way, especially the entrances into the college, (just a BMW), her parties, her dressing, her ideals, and almost the whole of her is a rich brat; but she hates the rich way of life. Now isn’t that so very interesting. Her dream is all the more rich, with her just playing a guitar in a small bar in New York (such a dork!).

Or maybe, that was done to spread a message that we must all listen to our hearts, and not to what others say. Like, really! Just like the Bihar jibe, or the sports quota use. That made me go WOW.

So, we have a rich girl, a normal or less-than-normal guy, and he falls for her, and then there’s the romance, and then…a new term is born- half girlfriend. Read the book to know more, but at your own risk, ‘cause bottom line, its Chetan TheScriptWriter Bhagat.

Continuing, he loves her, and then there’s a drama, there’s flashback, there’s a journal, just like there was a psychologist in another book, and there’s the present which comes back, and then a wild-goose chase, and the end, which was known from the moment Bhagat wrote the first word.

That’s all about the book, and the official review is done here. Now for some fun, and a deeper understanding on the book.

So this is another example of exemplary copying, and it couldn’t be called copying, as it is a new way of lifting altogether.

Scene 1

Guy walks in for recruitment, talks brashly with the recruiters, tells them the truth about his life, about how he wants to be happy, and then gets offered a job, which he happily says no to, and then heads back to his village.

Nobility, with a 3 Idiots-y shot. Well, I hadn’t seen it before.

Scene 2 States

Mother retorts rather angrily to her son, and ignores his friend, who he has brought without informing her. With the Bollywood-y drama and the Hindi dialogues said by every mother in Bollywood, this scene was so innovative.

So very original! At least not copied, because lifting from your own books isn’t termed as copying.

When my as-he-wanted-me-to-quote-him editor Anil read this review of mine, his first reaction was that the review was way too short, and somewhat not precise. He also gave me the title, and from there, it inspired in me a thought.

“This is a half review. And well, frankly, the book is such that it deserves a half review and not a word more.”

PS: Special thanks to Simran, who gave me the book for a day. But yes, no thank you for purchasing it. :P

PPS: The views in the review are just my own, and it is at your own risk to follow them and decide to not decide to read the book.