Thursday, February 13, 2014

THREE MISTAKES OF MY LIFE-CHETAN BHAGAT

This is a story of three friends; Govind-the protagonist is a maths graduate and inclined for business, Ish is an unsuccessful cricketer but still very passionate about cricket and Omi who belongs to a rightist hindu family. The story is based in Gujarat. Its about ish; passion for cricket, where he patronises a poor muslim boy who has a great knack in cricket and all three friends protect him, sometimes putting their life at the stake . Its about Govind who teaches maths to Ish;s sister and falls for her defying the protocol.Ish's sister Vidya is also one of her kind, today's modern girl,bold with lot of spunk.Its about Omi, who is a son of a priest , but he doesn't want to be one. And in the back ground is earth quake, Godhra and communal riots.
I have read ONE NIGHT AT CALL CENTRE by the same author, it was an engrossing one, so I bought this one, but it is a very insipid novel with no life. Characters are mere caricatures of preconceived notions going on for years---like minorities are good and poor, rightists are bad and cruel and all that. and as the main characters none of them is exemplary nor even brings an extraordinary insight into the human mind. Everything is very ordinary-characters, situations, and treatment.
So for me all in all a very boring book.,

I read it before it was made into the movie.

Sycamore Row..John Grisham.
It is about Seth Hubbard , a rich man who made lot of money but one by one lost all to his divorces and after second divorce he again makes lot of it and keeps it a secret and when he gets cancer and death is imminent, he makes a hand written will leaving 90 % of his 20 million dollar estate to his black maid, 5% to church and 5% to his brother , leaving his children totally out of it. He appoints a lawyer whom he has never seen but knows that he is an honest one among the crowd of greedy ones . and then he hangs himself leaving the details about his burial and all. Rest is all the court drama about probating the will and defending it to a jury of majority white,and finding a reason why he did it.

Reading now Serial dieter by Kalli Purie

13 comments:

Amrita said...

Do watch the movie Kai po che based on the book. it is simply fantastic! very good story telling there. hope you will like it.
i dont like CB , i find his language pathetic and his thoughts very uninspiring

Sandhya said...

I have read 'One night at a call centre' and liked it. Saw the movie 'three mistakes' and liked it. I haven't read the book though.

You see to read a lot. My reading is nearly gone now! Am not able to concentrate!

Enjoy!

deeps said...

Have you tried 'five point someone'? That’s according to me the best buy from Chetan

Avada Kedavra said...

As soon as I heard that 3 mistakes of my life was on cricket, I decided not to read the book. But I watched the movie and liked it.
I have not read the second book.

Renu said...

Amrita; I saw Kai Poche...it was ok..fist I read two states and fell in love with this.. then five point someone, rest not much, I didnt even try the latest one.

Sandhya: Reading is something I cant live without..its not a hobby, its my life:)

Avada kevadra: its not completely opn cricket but even then its not very interesting..

deeps: yes I read the book and loved it..I have read all of CB's except the latest one.

Chai a cup of life said...

John Grisham is a great author, especially if you like to get into court cases etc, but always has a great plot. I have not read this one yet, sounds like its worth looking into, thanks!

Rama Ananth said...

I also saw Kai pOi che and liked it a lot. I came to know that it means cutting of the kite in Gujarthi.
Recently I read Two States but I didn't like the way he had portrayed Tamilians, and that too married to a tamilian. And Tamil Iyers do not wear lungi as he claims, they mostly wear vesthi (dhoti) only. Nor do chefs in Tamil Brahmin weddings wear lungi.
All these things and many other things he should have properly researched before writing a book based on it.
Towards the end, he somehow ran out of how to stretch his story and ended it abruptly.
However, the point is he made money from it, and that what matters these days to authors.

Ankita said...

ya, i think it is a regular run-of-the-mill fiction, the movie made on it, Kai Poche was equally boring

Renu said...

Chai a cup of life: I have read many of his books, they are interesting, but most of the writers follow the same pattern, so after a while it becomes predictable..

Rama: Two states is more or less real story of his own love..he is married to a tamilian..thats what made it so appealing to many.

Ankita:Book was quite boring but movie was slightly better..

Rama Ananth said...

Yes that is the point I made, he is married to a Tamilian and that too an iyer, and he could not portray the Tamil characters or the life style of Tambrams properly or rather I should say accurately.
He should have known through his own wife that all Tamilians are not the same there is a lot of differences in them.
Maybe generally many Indians may have liked the book, but no Tamilian would say that what all he had mentioned about them is true.
These are minor things which he as an author should have spent some time and researched before writing a book on a particular community.
To think his wife also didn't point out these issues to him is surprising.

Renu said...

Rama:writers take lot of liberty with the stereotypes..
I just read it with a romantic angle..you know after reading this novel, many north Indians want a girl like Anu in their life, in their family:)..In his own way he has made Tamilians popular.

Found In Folsom said...

oh I read the book and such waste of time..I donno how it became a super hit..he tried to make the ending sound like a bollywood script..

Renu said...

Found In Folsom:..:)..really..people like me loved it:)

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