Monday, October 07, 2013

Review: The 3 Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat

How I came to Know about the Book: I bought this.

Format of the Book: Paperback.

Gene: Indian fiction, Contemporary, Romance.

Length of the Book: 258 pages.

A Short Synopsis: In late-2000, a young boy in Ahmedabad called Govind dreamt of having a business. To accomodate his friends Ish and Omi's passion, they open a cricket shop. Govind's wants to make money and thinks big. Ish is all about nurturing Ali, the batsman with a rare gift. Omi knows his limited capabiltiies and just wants to be with his friends. However, nothing comes easy in a turbulent city. To realize their goals, they will have to face it all - religious politics, earthquakes, riots, unacceptable love and above all, their own mistakes. Will they make it? Can an individual's dreams overcome the nightmares offered by real life? Can we succeed despite a few mistakes?


Characters of the Book: Govind, Ishaan, Omi, Vidya, Bittoo mama, Ali, Ali's father and others.


My Review:  It opens with Bhagat receiving an emailed suicide note from someone in Ahmedabad he's never heard of before. Intrigued and worried he wants to do something to help, but doesn't know what to do. Fortunately, "there are advantages in having a wife who is smarter than you" and she tells him to call an old college professor there... Finding out the unknown suicide's name and what hospital he's in, Bhagat can't relax at all and flies from Singapore to India to talk to him.

From there it's all Govind's story about his and his two oldest best friends' ambitions and the three big mistakes he made that drove him to kill himself.

Set against a backdrop of real events in Gujarat and India, earthquake, religious riots and international cricket, we follow the rise of Govind, Ish and Omi's small business as they try to balance their individual interests. Only Govind has a head for business, math and logic, but he learns about passion from his friends, like Ish's passion for cricket and Omi's for his family's political ambitions. And when he curses strongly in front of Ish's younger sister and apologizes she says he needn't, it's a sign of passion and she likes when he does it.

In the end, all three mistakes are resolved, of course. One is resolved long before the end and hardly seems a big mistake at all. The others take a bit more time.

I love Chetan Bhagat's ability to connect with his readers, his simple language flow just grips you. Yeah, there sure are some limitations, but highly ignorable. 

Apart from a few events like Omi's death, the story was a light and enjoyable read. Instead of bothering about the literary content too much and criticizing Bhagat for it, if you want to enjoy reading the book, it's surely suitable for you.

Rating:


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