GO CLOWN by Shatrugna Vadwlas (Book Review: 4.25*/5) !!!

Earlier this week, I had rated very highly to a book belonging in the "humor" genre which made me pick another humorous book named "Go Clown" which comes with a tagline "#AccheDin for Comedy!". The book is written by the debutante, Shatrugna Vadwlas, who is a Software architect based in the US, with an American Masters in Engineering and an undergraduate degree from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), India. He is a contributor to the Times of India, Huffington Post etc. He has completed a writer’s course at the Writers center, Bethesda in Washington DC. His novel Go Clown (Get High Legally!) is a Literary Fiction Comedy set in India, America, Nepal and Thailand. He contributes to various online portals like Faking News, India Opines etc.

When you know that the writer of the book have contributed to the most famous online humor portal, Faking News etc, you have very high expectations from him. You already know that even if the book is not going to be very special, it will still be very good and you won't be disappointed. But seriously speaking, after reading this book, I am in awe of the writer. Just in the name of humor, author haven't tried to write a simple story by inserting few great one-liners and funny scenarios. He have written a very good book with a great story with humor as premise which keeps following every chapter. 

The book discusses almost the whole life journey of a guy named Kiriti who is an average Indian but belonging from a controversial land. He moves to different parts of the world to find different scenarios. He has his own point of view on things and act according to his state of mind. The Clown in him discusses and does things that will make you laugh out loud without worrying about the people sitting around you. I had read few parts of this book in the local train and people were looking at me as if I have gone crazy or mad. This is what the book does to you.

In the manner the story has been narrated seems little confusing in the initial pages as you have to actually concentrate a lot to understand what's going on. But later on as soon as you start getting the characters and set-up, you begin to understand the whole concept. The hypocrisy of Indians is discussed. How mediocrity and casteism is the base of every Indians attitude is discussed widely. The education system and what happens in campuses is also discussed fearlessly. The politics, religions, caste, region-wise, NRIs etc have been discussed in the form of satirical comedy which definitely interests the reader who have got bored reading the same kind of books from Indian fiction authors.

Talking about the drawback, the initial chapters could have been written little more simply for the understanding purpose. Sometimes, few scenes are narrated in such a fast pace that you couldn't enjoy the journey of reading while reading them. There are few grammatical mistakes here and there but they are avoidable. Rest, there is nothing wrong with this book. The set-up of the GO game is a very unique concept. There are few quotes which I liked a lot mostly in the second half of the novel. The Clown is surely going to be one character I wouldn't forget soon. I give this book 4.25* out of 5. 

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!