Review on the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat
Hello, Since earlier reviewers already dealt the plot and characters, Idonot repeat the same. I recommend You read the review by Indian 1969 before this.
Publisher : Rupa Price : Rs.95 Purchased at : Nagpur Rly Station
It seems, the old habit of reading novels is catching up with me, that is how I am here with another review . this time about a book by a (new) Indian Author; Chetan Bhagat. Though the cover talks of his next novel “one night at a call centre” or some such thing; Iam yet to read this one.
To start with, I should welcome the new author into the league of Indian English (do they call it Hinglish?) authors. Also I should say that the novel was reasonably well written and gripping for a maiden effort. The treatment and language sounds at times naïve though.
Coming to Business : The novel runs in auto-biographical way (told by author Chetan , trough Hari in the novel) . Hari is the character and the main sori teller out of the three friends Hari, Alok and Ryan whom I call the TRIO. Most of the time its’ Hari’s version only though a couple of chapters are introduced to supposedly put forth the view point of the other two main characters of the Trio (Alok and Ryan) . The story deals with the experiences of the Trio (Delhi) IITians from Day-1 to the last. They are supposed to have done all the things that constitute “what not to be for an IITian”.
The characterization of all three main characters is good and to some extent realistic. But I have to make the following points which appeared to me as pitfalls:
1. The Life of an IITian is not as gory as is made out to be and the students are not forced to be brainless bookworms by sadist professors as opined by him.
2. There is a constant effort by the author to discredit the IIT system , its professors and its well performing students (apparently) to justify his own under performance at IIT. “Good guys always get beaten syndrome” I suppose.
3. a) The sports and cultural facilities are one of the best in IITs compared to other Tech institutes in India. IITians can afford to have the best overall exposure as against what is made out. At least I can vouch for IIT Chennai.
3 b) Despite spending the least possible time on acadamics none of the trio seem to have excelled in any sport or culture event. The bogie is exposed.
4. The problem is his comparison vis-à-vis US universities ( which the author did not have chance to study in) all the time. The merits are to be seen in the context of relative excellence.
5. (a) Also IITians would not be in so much demand for several decades if they were to be all mug-pots and the professors sadists.
5 (b) Chetans’s allegation about no recognition or encouragement for Creative ideas falls flat as the trio (except Ryan ) show no great sparks of any such creativity, ( Author finally chooses Banking!! of all professions). Creativity was a pretense to camouflage neglect of legit student functions.
6.Though his remarks about the poor (Alok’s family etc)appear to be sincere, they are in bad taste.
7. While the author exposes the family details of his friends (Alok n Ryan in bad light mostly) he keeps his own under the carpet (but for very brief mention) as if he is born from the blue. This is important since this novel is supposed to be autobiographical fiction.
8. The novel would not have been any less interesting or realistic even if the author had used the F and S words less frequently or replaced them with less offensive ones.
9. Professor Veera seems to be the all good Samaritan and appears to be inspired by cartoon charcter Veera?! This do gooder however always helps the bad guys?
10. May be editors are to blame for the sudden change of scenes without any dividers ( , _____ etc) at a few locations.
11. The author’s strong regional biases are apparent since the all the baddies in the novel including the topper Venkat appear to be Southies.
I however acknowledge the following Positives :
The author can be accused of anything but writing a boring or long novel (I finished it in 6 hours in two spells)
The love affair of the main character Hari and Neha has been dealt very sensitively and without vulgarity despite much scope for the same. ( This gives me a hunch that she is his real life (life)-partner though the author evades this question.
The book has something that makes it a must read esp if you land up with a copy at a library or some thing. I mean it is not the kind for personal library.
I would say GOOD entertainer overall. I recommend though that the Tech students esp IITians should not take the heroics of the Trio seriously and shall strive to do their best , after all NOT every one may recover like the them (the Trio).
All the best to Chetan, hope he is reading. I liked his Disclaimer as well.
Happy reading.