one night at a call centre

[Rujuta Salvi]

I finished Chetan Bhagat's one night at a call centre. Made for TP light reading, though he could have a future as a writer of self help and motivational books. Maybe he could also position his book as non-fiction.


Ruj

[smruti koppikar]

Hi Ruj

 

Please do tell us a little more about the book, its story, content, form, writing, language.....

 

Also what you appreciate and what you didn't....

 

Something like a book review

 

Thats the idea of such a googlegroup.

 

We have, I am sure, heard of and seen Chetan Bhagat and his stupendous "literary" success, huge advances, film rights, etc. But we may not have actually read his books. I, for one, am not spending money on a CB book, but anything you share about the book will help understand why he is such a big phenomenon of sorts.

 

 

Cheers

Smruti

[Rujuta Salvi]

Now you are making me think and write.. Mmm. need to sleep now.

[Suneet Salvi]

Do adult vMagazine count in your reading list

SSS

2009/4/1 Rujuta Salvi <rujut...@gmail.com>

[Rujuta Salvi]

I first read CB's five point something in the Geetanjali Express from Calcutta to while away the tedium of the journey 4 years ago. and then promptly gifted the book to my s-i-l's B-i-l who landed up visiting us from Calcutta almost immediately afterwards, as he was a IIT kanpur graduate and I thought he might identify with the characters. The book itself did not merit a permanent landing place in my overflowing bookshelf!!

 

As I said CB makes for a good light read. His characters speak in contemporary colloquial Indian English, which I guess the call centre and IIT crowd identify with, which probabaly was the main reason for his overwhelming success. I remember a joke which went like this-- It is relevant to this review.

 

A literature teacher was explaining to the class that the main essentials for a best seller plot are - Mystery, Sex, Royalty and Religion. He asks the class to come up with a short story with these ingredients. The shortest story was- "Oh my God. I am pregnant", said the Queen. 'Who done it?'

 

Well CB too, like this story ( and the Mahabharat ) manages to weave a plot using all these gimmicks; assuming that IIT graduates and call centre employees with their sudden increase in wealth are royalty.

 

This is not to denigrate CB. In One Night..... Most of the characters are stereotypes with shades of gray but he has manages to make them believable quite deftly considering that most of the action takes place in the span of a night. The story is written in the first person. I think I have liked the way he has written his plot with a few chapters going back into the past as his hero reminisces. One of the characters is particular is very vehement about his disgust with the system, which makes him accept a job which he dislikes, but which he needs to keep as he loves the good things in life. There is also a lot of America bashing - esp about the 90% of Americans who are dumb.

 

The God aspect appears in the last chapter when God talks to all the 6 protagonists and asks them to tell him what they really believe in. They are then forced to  dig deep into their conscience and come up with an answer. -- which is what most self help books make you do. Once they realise that they behave as their conscience dictates and then their lives stop being screwed up and they all live happily ever after.  Bullshit!!  But then CB has never claimed to have written a literary gem. He has written for his own pleasure and that his books have succeeded is icing on the cake for him. Maybe his next book will be on the recession-- almost sure to be since he is a banker!!

 

Since Smruti has asked me to do a book review I will give it 3 stars/ 5 . I had borrowed the book and no, this one too will not be found on my bookshelf!!!

 

 

On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 11:00 PM, smruti koppikar <smrutik...@gmail.com> wrote:

[smruti koppikar]

Rujuta, many thanks for the review. It's a good review, tells a bit about the book, gives opinions about it, suggests to readers whether it is worth picking up or not. I am beginning to believe that you were a closet reviewer in your pre-mom days.

 

And please accept honours for making this the first review on the group.

 

Who will volunteer next, with which book?

 

Should we draw up a list of books or essays or subjects that we would like to read? We could self-allocate them depending on our reading tastes and then write up a review for the group. Any takers?

 

And, SORRY, Suneet, no adult/porn material on this group.

 

Thanks all

Smruti

[Rujuta Salvi]

Thanks Smruti. No way was I a closet reviewer. I would read voraciously- even read Hemingway and Camus, becoz my Dad had them and I just needed something to read. But for me the plot was supreme.Therefore, my eventual fetish for reading whodunits- thanks partly to the excellent library in Sophia college. I think it was a few years ago while I was reading a Dick Francis that I started appreciating the the use of words too.  

 

Since our school has gone in for IGSCE, in the English paper, this system encourages you to read and exercise thought and express opinions on the subject matter. I find the approach that they take very fascinating. All our kids will become reviewers by default!!

 

BTW has anyone come across an American writer Katherine Hall Page? Another mystery writer but I've been able to source only one book.

 

Ruj

[Suneet Salvi]

Smruti,

I was referring to spiritual books [as Trisha says it's for adults], presently reading 3pages a day of Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev Inner Management.

SSS

2009/4/7 smruti koppikar <smrutik...@gmail.com>

[smruti koppikar]

Spiritual, anytime. Most welcome

 

When you said adult, I assumed the adult variety as we all know them to be...

 

Cheers

Smruti