20 November, 2011

Sachin Garg's Take On Not Being Twenty Four


Name: I’m Not Twenty Four
Author: Sachin Garg
ISBN: 978-81-922226-2-2
Publishers: Grapevine India Publishers Pvt. Ltd
Genre: Romance

‘I’m Not Twenty Four… I’ve Been Nineteen For Five Years’ is Sachin Garg’s second book. I have to admit that I haven’t read the first one and therefore I read this one with no expectations or preconceived notions, whatsoever.

The story is about a city brat, Saumya Kapoor, who finds herself in no-man’s land and deprived of her daily coffee. She leaves behind all that she holds dear, because of a mistake, and goes to Toranagallu only to discover a larger purpose to her life and true love aka Shubrodeep Shyamchaudhry, the sexy globe-trotting Bengali.

The cover appeals to me for I’m a HUGE fan of pumps but it does give the book a misguided image of being a chick-lit which it is not. I like the book’s dedication and the fact that there’s a story behind the cover illustration as well. Also, the portrayal of Shubro throughout the book ranges from intriguing to endearing to inspiring. There are references to blogs and blogging which I personally loved and the Move-On Theory is genius for I would love to implement something like that in my life.
And there end the good points.

The initial introduction itself made me cringe with its blatant similarity to C-Bag’s way of introducing his lead character, you know, where Bhagat tells us how he met the character, how they told him the story and the events that transpired. And unfortunately for Mr. Garg, I read Revolution 2020 a couple of days back which made the stark likeness even more apparent to me. Negative points for that.

Secondly, I personally believe that men and women don’t understand each other all that well and therefore, attempting to write a story from the other gender’s perspective should be undertaken with utmost caution. Parts where the girls go lingerie shopping and the descriptions of the men and the kiss between Malappa and Saumya are places which I, without any writing experience whatsoever, could have dealt with better for the sole reason that I’m female. I can’t help but feel that the author would have done better if he’d written the story in third person or even from his own perspective.

Saumya comes across as an airhead throughout the book; what with her shopping obsessions, packing suits and stilettos to for a village posting and even wearing shorts for a temple visit. I don’t know any women who are THAT blonde. At least, not ones who get through B-School. Also, she seems very shallow, from frequent references to skin color and statements about not talking to people with accents. I need slightly more solid reasons to dislike a person, let alone a guy.

The story is unbelievable in parts for I don’t think that a manager pushing his employee into a furnace and killing him would go unreported or uninquired. Nor would a newbie employee who faints at the drop of a hat will suddenly develop riot-controlling skills. And the way the romance between Saumya and Shubhro has been dealt with is abominable; like I said, it needs a woman’s touch.

The language is less than ordinary; I do not see the verbal flair that is required for an exquisite story-telling experience. And the phrases are unimaginative –“chewing gum chewing self” would be the prime example. Do not even get me started on the grammar and punctuation mistakes. If it’s a blog or just a feature story, I’d understand; but this kind of editing in a full-fledged novel is just not permissible.

The only parts that I enjoyed reading were the blog-excerpts which reveal Shubro’s real story and initial part where she screws with the interviewers heads.
I give it a 3/10. 

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

P.S: Thank you for all the comments on the last post and no, I'm not back yet; this was an obligation, hence the post.

15 comments:

  1. I liked Shubro's character in the book but I thought he was too much of a hippie. Not realistic at places, the book. I'd give it a 5.5

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  2. Nice review...the books these days are more or less like CB's works! Where is the imagination, peoples! :P :D Sad, this wasn't your comeback! :( Miss you here!

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  3. It sounds like a decent book overall, with the title and cover image giving off a different impression of what it's like inside.

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  4. just how long do we have to wait for your awesomeness to be back??? :-(
    cmon already......it's been close to a week now.....btw,u and spiff writing the review on the same book???both for the blogadda thingy??

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  5. I like your leave your comment post. :-) Sparing myself the guilt with this comment. :-)

    This isn't the kind of book I would pick up. But you make me want to read it anyway..

    Obligations.. Hope it isn't too much of a bother..

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  6. Get back then!
    Book reviews nahi...PeeVee reviews chahiye:-)

    Hope the break is doing some good!:-)

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  7. why are so many young Indian Authors writing about what not shit and getting there books published? My friend read this story written by a sixteen year old with some full fledged romance and fantasy! We both rolled laughing at the innocence and the dumbness of these publishers who seem to running a campaign "You can get published too"

    WHAT the hell is with that titles? Contradiction on cover page has become a fancy!

    Anyway, there is still a crowd which will read and clap their hands to novels of this genre. :)

    Good day!

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  8. Enough book reviews already. Get back to your kickass posts.

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  9. Not my kinda novel.. yet after reading the your review I am thinking to give it a try..!!!

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  10. I heard it was a drag, im glad i read your post here. I never knew its so easy to get a book published, with the amount of rubbish on shelves these days

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  11. Books such as this and Bhagat Chetan's make me want to throw up! I doubt the men who pen down really understand "women"!! :|

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  12. judging by the score, this is the book equivalent of Ra.One? :D

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  13. @ Cяystal, I liked him too but don't you think the romance could have been more romantic or atleast a little more solid?

    @ MSM, makes me wish Enid Blyton would just keep writing and writing so much that other authors will disappear or something-_-
    I know, wishful thinking.

    @ Mark, from what I know of you from your blog, I'd say that you'll want to kill the author before you get halfway through:D

    @ Rahul, yep same BlogAdda thingy:P
    And I'll be back very soon:D

    @ Zeba, thanks:)
    I'm not sure I was clear when I said it isn't up to the mark.

    @ Suruchi, your wish is my command milady:)
    Break didn't do MUCH good, unfortunately.

    @ Sameera, 16 year old? Dayummm-_-
    Is it that easy to get published these days?

    Exactly, but this was one of the slightly more justifies ones for he provides an explanation.

    @ Atrocious Scribblings, oimacoming, oimacoming:P

    @ Madhulika, erm, I don't recommend it though as I said in the post.

    @ A grain of sand, now THAT's a blessing I like, thank you:)

    @ Menachery, read your own stories they are wayyyy better than this:)

    @ Chintan, I SWEAR TO GOD, you should read this, I'm sure only you'd understand what I meant when I said men and women don't understand each other that much-_-

    @ Sushmit, nope, I would have rated Ra.One better:P

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  14. What did you expect with a title such as this!! :D

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Whatchu thinkin'?