Amreekan desi by Atulya Mahajan (Book Review- 3.25)!!!

         

 Not every book gets completed in the time span of 3 hours or a day. People ask me if I get Writer's Block but I can say that I have been into Reader's Block quite often. Since 11th July, I am trying to complete this book but it took almost more than half of the month to get completed. Now as I am done with it, I won't take time to review it in this month itself otherwise it would be more embarrassing to write about it in August. :-) The name of the book is "Amreekan desi" which also has the tagline "MASTERS OF AMERICA". It is published by Random House India which assures that 90% of the book that you pick are at least worth reading if not an epic material. :-) The 308-pages novel is written by the debutante- Atulya Mahajan. With this book, he has certainly made it sure that he can get much better with his next book and one will surely give a thought in reading him once again. The cover page of the book is exciting as well as rocking- the way two youngsters are shown making weird faces. :-) 

About the Book:

       "Akhil Arora, a young, dorky engineer in Delhi, can’t wait to get away from home and prove to his folks that he can be on his own. Meanwhile in a small town in Punjab, Jaspreet Singh, aka Jassi, is busy dreaming of a life straight out of American Pie. As fate would have it, they end up as roommates in Florida. But the two boys are poles apart in their perspectives and expectations of America. While Akhil is fiercely patriotic and hopes to come back to India in a few years, Jassi finds his Indian identity an uncomfortable burden and looks forward to finding an American girl with whom he can live happily ever after. 

    Laced with funny anecdotes and witty insights, Amreekandesi chronicles the quintessential immigrant experience, highlighting the clash of cultures, the search for identity, and the quest for survival in a foreign land."

       

  Coming to the author, as I have said above, I would definitely pick up his next book for some strange reasons. The way he has written this book makes you observe that he definitely has potential and skill to write a wonderful story with humor embedded in it every now and then. Secondly, while reading this book you realize that this is not the best by the author as you find some wonderful events partially and hence, you know that if he writes the whole book with best of his potentials, he can certainly surprise the readers with lots of ingredients worth reading and remembering. This book, currently, is only 60% of what author has in him. Writer has command over the language, his narration skills are fine, his story-telling style is simple, he isn't trying to copy anyone in the vicinity and he's not over-exaggerating his story in the back-cover synopsis. For all this reason, Atulya Mahajan stands high in my list of debutante whom I'll definitely pick for the 2nd time even when I didn't find their book an "excellent" read.

          Initially, the book is comic and you get excited to go through this adventure where you'll die laughing. The parallel stories of two boys in India just gotten an opportunity to shift to America for studies is an awesome read. The comments on them by their relatives and familiar people for choosing America over the best institutes in India made me laugh. The reaction of parents is certified properly. The humor content in the first few pages of the book is so cherishing that I started expecting a lot which disappointed me later on. Akhil's story throughout is a wonderful tale. Even his father's 7 days in America is what I'll always remember this book for. His trauma every time he feels that he is doing wrong is nicely expressed. With Jassi's episode, initially its wonderful but later on there's not much character in his story. It is quite focused on his will to sleep with girls. Though writer has already declared in synopsis that he dreams to be a character of "American Pie" so it's my mistake that I tried to look beyond this. But everything gets compensated with Akhil's part.

           In all, the book is written wonderfully. It could have been a perfect read if it would not have exceeded 250 pages. You feel at parts that the book is being dragged even though there's not much in the story to speak about. I would give 3.25 out of 5 to this debut attempt of Mr. Atulya Mahajan. And I am definitely looking forward to his next work. 

 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!