The Deception of the Meek by Sunny Heerekar (Book Review: 3*/5) !!!

6^th Book of 2020!

So, my Holi was celebrated in a corner of my bed in my sweet little bedroom reading a 270-pages book and luckily, completing it on the same day itself as there was complete silence at home as everyone was out to play Holi. Yes, there was some disturbance of DJs playing around in mine and neighbourhood society but for a reader, reading is meditation and nothing else matters when there’s a book in hand. The book “The Deception of the Meek” written by Sunny Heerekar is the book on the life of a character who has great interest in Cricket and manages to get into the School Cricket team but lands up in a controversy which is what all this book is all about- and that is where the book has got its title too.

This self-published book seems to be an ambitious project of the author the way it has been written which seems to be quite influenced and rest of it creatively shaped to form a fiction story that should entertain the readers. I loved beginning of the book where author is shaping his characters which are going to stay throughout the story. I liked the backdrop and set-up chosen by Sunny which makes you imagine each and every scene. How a boy from slums get an opportunity to continue his junior college and further studies in an esteemed school is a good start and then the way whole section of the protagonist meeting each character and growing his friendship with them keeps the story moving. Also, the characterizations are wonderfully crafted where you can understand each person’s character very well such as Jayesh, Ramakanth, Atul, Vikram, Rohit, Suhas, Tanaji etc. 

The book is very slow in the first half and finally picks up the pace in the 2^nd half. But most of the 2^nd half is again filled with description of the matches played in the tournament between different school teams. I liked how author has described each and every match in the interval of 5 overs which makes it easy for you to imagine it as one of the spectators yourself. Anyone who is new into reading and has great interest in Cricket will love to read those sections. Another thing I would appreciate is the way author kept things practical and not heroic where the protagonist is making his team win every game and things like that. I also liked the way character moves back to academics and outperforms even there.

Now, coming to the drawbacks- I must say that the book has unwanted detailing in many sections which could have been easily avoided. Also, the 2^nd half is too much about matches which could have been given good short-cut. The book could have been edited such that it could have easily been 80-100 pages less. Yes! Also, there are few grammatical errors here and there which becomes disappointing if you are a regular reader. I liked the climax which is quite different than what I had predicted but just that one twist didn’t do justice to the title of the book completely. There should have been many such instances throughout the Cricket matches segment. As the book is based in college, a little touch of a love story could also have been added to add excitement to the young readers. The cover page has been given green background may be depicting the Cricket ground but it is quite dull which shall make it very tough for the readers to choose out of many books on the shelf.

Overall, the book is an average read which I can rate around 3 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA