Respectful MS ians , I am hoping all is well with health and wealth , With Gods blessings and respectful parents blessing I am writing out this review about this person called Anurag Mathur’s Book , he is also an Indian you know !!! ( This para is written in typical Gopal Style so please excuse !!! )
Browsing through Crossroads on a lazy ’’Manic Monday’’ evening after sipping Irish Coffee in Barista, I came across this quaint looking book in a heap , checking it I found it was priced a modest Rs 95 and I had heard mention of this book somewhere so I decided to add to my collection , which was zilch till date !!! Published in 1991 , this is Anurag Mathur’s First book and having being born and educated in India then having pursued his higher studies at Oklahoma , he was the best choice for writing a novel of an Indian youth’s travails in America.
Gist of the Story
This book starts with a letter written by Gopal to his parents and brother from America, where he has gone to pursue his diploma in Chemical Engineering. The letter starts off this laugh riot of a book , the letter is written in Indian English being extremely humorous. It describes his obnoxious thoughts about the US of A and the terrible culture shock which he is subjected to. The story line is not very great but the way in which its written is brilliant. Each detail has been explained very sweetly . He has taken care that the protagonist is not depicted as a buffoon instead he is a helpless Indian boy from a small Town in Madhya Pradesh who struggles to cope with the American Culture.
He meets an American Randy ( no prizes for guessing what he thinks when he first hears this name !!! ) , who is flabbergasted at hearing that he is still a virgin and sets upon the task to search for a girlfriend for our dear Gopal. Instances of Gopal washing his own clothes when washing machines are available in the apartment and him drinking tons of coca cola in the flight when no Vegetarian food is available is absolutely hilarious. The million Dollar line of the book goes like this , its an excerpt from his letter ? Most surprising thing about America is , it is full of Americans ?.
Post Mortem
There are minimal characters and the flow is maintained well throughout except in the end when it falters a bit and feels like Anurag was in a hurry to finish his manuscript.
Emphasis on the attempts by Gopal to end his virginity is taking things a bit too far. At the end the reader is left with a impression that all Americans and Indians in America are bent upon getting Gopal laid.
Anurag has interspersed the book with letters and the actual story , this has been done very well not marring the flow of the story at all. Being a 247 page book it makes up for a perfect weekend read !!!
So guys this may not be an award winning book or an Amazing book but it sure makes up for a good read and it wont disappoint you !!! I will now try to imply brevity to my reviews whenever possible