My Rating: 5/5 (why not?)
NB: I know quite a lot of people have trouble with CB,
I don't know why or for what, but they simply do! Let me tell you just
this before you read my review of his latest book: I am a Tamil. In
Tamil we have a huge amount of literature for which we know nothing
about the authors, except their names in most of the cases. We don't
care, or may be, I DON'T CARE! I don't waste my time researching
(uselessly) about the origins of Thiruvalluvar, for example, the great author of the greatest work in any language, Thirukkural. It is even hypothesized that the Kural
might be an anthology, written by a set of authors. There are quite a
good amount of debates as well about the religious orientation of the
author. To me, all this seems illogical. For me, I see Thiruvalluvar
through with what I should see him, his work - the Thirukkural. He may
be a single person, or a group - I couldn't care less! For me, the one
who wrote the Thirukkural is Thiruvalluvar and I love and respect him a
lot (the same goes for the other hundred / thousand such unknown authors
of Tamil and Sanskrit!) So, for me CB is the author of this wonderful
book One Indian Girl or whoever might have contributed, I see CB through
the book, not the book through CB! Now for the review...
Very
few books have put me in a state of a beautiful paradox - that of
wanting the story to end as quickly as it could and at the same time
wishing it would last forever. That the story gains pace so rapidly and
engagingly makes me to want to get to the end and see what is there -
what happens to Radhika Mehta, in this case - but at the same
time make me feel a hole in my stomach that grows bigger with the
realization that the story is going to end, and I'll soon be not looking
at the life of a person I've came to know so well... One Indian Girl
did that magic for me!
Despite the book’s back
cover's claim that you'll hate the protagonist, Radhika Mehta, because
she earns a lot (damn lot, like half a million dollar a year! She
telling her anual compensation to her parents over phone and saying 'Of course it’s all legal, dad. What are you saying? I promise it’s legal. Goldman Sachs is a reputed firm'*
was such a beautiful moment!) and have had relationships and so on... I
could very well empathize with her and start caring for her. During the
initial chapters of the novel, the liberalist and conservationist in me
had huge arguments (just like Radhika and her mini-me do) but
towards the end I could not hear them any more! Not to forget the
feminists (and anti-pseudo-feminists) in me, they were in a lot of
confusion and were gone too at the end - they too must have got lost in
the story and its beauty like me, perhaps!
CB gives a very new perspective to feminism and it goes much deeper. I so much want to talk about Brijest Gulati, but am afraid I might ruin the read for you (if you will!)
The
end is one of the most beautiful that I have read. Couldn't be any
better (though it had the CB trade mark Bollywood touch in the scene
setting!)
If you have expected me to reproduce the story line just
short of the end, in the name of a review, sorry! That's not what I
do... But, let me tell you this: Me taking my time to sit, write and
post a review (or sort of!) is an expression of how much I liked the
story... It felt good - the feel good stuff.
Is it literature? May be or may not be... But, it made me feel good... And that's all is there to it, as far as I’m concerned!
Thank you CB, you haven't let me down (I pre-ordered the book!)
Thanks for reading. Do share your experience, if you have read the book.
PS: You wanna argue? You are welcome... But, kindly don't expect me to join, since I have other useful things to do... Thank you!
*Reproduced only as a quote, no copyright violation intended!
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