Every once in a while I come across a book or a movie that just messes with my mind. It irritates me. It angers me. It makes me feel stupid for having had anything to do with it. Usually, I write reviews about that kind of stuff.
This time I’m just so so so sick of the piece of crap I came across that I’m very upset. And I don’t think creative juices flow all that well when the vein in my forehead starts throbbing. (in case you didn’t get it, that’s my excuse for this, not-so-great review, that I just had to write. Take it as more of a warning than a review)
Here it goes..
I’m gonna tell you a story and you rate its originality... toh ho jayein shuru (shall we start)?
There was once a pregnant woman (not quite a fairytale start, I know). She gave birth to healthy twin boys. There was also a second pregnant woman (told you it wasn’t a fairytale). The second pregnant woman’s child was still-born. So the doctor secretly takes one healthy twin and gives it to mother II. Mother I is told that only one of her twin sons survived.
Phir bees-tees saal baad (after 20-30 yrs), the twins meet. Destiny brings them together and we see them contesting for governor of their State. Eventually they come to know of their khoon-ka-rishta (blood ties... rather bloody ties).
Originality
For any Indian or one who has seen Indian movies, this story would get a negative score as far as originality is concerned.
For maybe someone who has no idea what Bollywood is about, this story might get a 4/5.
The Book
I’ve already told you about the story. What I haven’t told you, is that in true american style, there is a lot of politics in the story. People are constantly running for class president to senator to governor. There is also a form of fictional suspense (new to Indian readers) in the form of shares and take-overs.
The Author
Jeffrey Archer is a favourite with many readers. However this was my first Jeffrey Archer novel. I’ve been told that his books ’Kane & Abel’ and ’The prodigal Daughter’ are nothing short of masterpieces.
I had given up on this kind of fiction. With an ongoing strike at college and no desire to sit at home and study for the upcoming exams, I picked up this book and was terribly disappointed.
What’s good..
The book is ok by general standards. Nothing extraordinary. I liked the way the author keeps the reader abreast with the happenings in the lives of the twins, simultaneously.
What wasn’t good..
The fact that most of the suspense was predictable and the parts that weren’t that predictable had no great importance as far as the story was concerned.
The book’s back cover summary promised a story full of excitement with two twin brothers up against each other in politics. But that doesn’t happen till the very end and so the book goes on for too long without reaching the crux of the story soon enough. And when the so-called climax does occur, the story has already lost it’s spunk.
Reasons to read
* If you’re new to reading books, do pick this one up. After all, first experiences can be disappointing coz you don’t know how good it can actually get (and I’m sure this applies to other experiences of life as well ;) )
* If you wanna feel immense pride that here’s an idea we Indians got first and was copied by a foreigner (saare jahaan se achha hindustan hamaara...)
* If you wanna see the kumbh mein lost waali sequence from an Americans perspective (crap in fancy wrapping, is still crap)
Reasons to skip
* Coz I’m telling you to (kabhi to meri baat maan liya karo)
* Coz the book is about judwaas. Haven’t we had enough of them already (no offence to any judwaa dead or alive)
* Coz there is no story
* Coz therez this guy Ralph Eliott who is supposedly the villain, but the author kills him too araam se and too jaldi se (shows that the author hasn’t seen bollywood. Hum apne villain ko kya sahi tareekon se maartey hain, never a simple gun shot)
* Coz the author uses sex , but as a policy, he always puts it at the end of the chapter and then chops the sequence beech mein. I guess he’s trying to leave the matters of the flesh to your imagination, but I found it irritating. The sequences made no sense as far as the story was concerned. Obviously they were to catch the attention of the reader, then what sense does it make to cut just as scene I even begins (know what I mean?)
* There was no suspense. There’s this supposedly major twist that causes the climax to happen, but I had guessed that twist kaafi pehle (maybe I’m psychic)
I have just three words for the verdict
The book sucks