Girls and the City by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

-

 


The story talks of three women living their lives in Bangalore. Any book or article that speaks of my city, immediately gets my undivided attention. I was hoping a good story would come out of the city's whereabouts. I love to read books based out of my city, which speak so much about Bangalore and its coffee and pub culture but, when a book uses the Bangalore backdrop so carelessly, only to get dedicated readers, one can pretty much catch the mistake.

The story starts off well, introducing these three ladies, Juhi, Reshma and Leela. These women work with an advertising agency and come from different walks of life. The author introduced many issues to deal with, which occurred with these ladies. One of the girls had escaped from her home town citing job opportunities in Bangalore. She had dealt with witnessing her mother killing many girl babies in their infancy. Then there was abuse at work. A boss constantly groping and seeking sexual favours. And then single parenting. So many issues was an overkill. 

Another reason this book got irritating was the constant breaking into Hindi dialogues from movies. or even naming some brand or the other that Bangalore is known for. Little anecdotes about the city with Kannada and Hindi words or dialogues splattered all over the book can be consumed only that much as much as one can eat just enough Mysore Pak to not feel pukish! I kept rolling my eyes thinking so many unnecessary "talk" that could have been avoided.

The book had a good storyline...it could have been tackled better...but something was surely amiss. I had to jump pages to escape the elasticity of a given situation. It is supposedly a light read and various platforms call it "unputdownable". On the contrary, I think, if I had passed it on the shelves of a bookstore, I might not have even picked it up. I don't really dismiss authors and their hard work, but... I think we can give this book a miss. 

Sincere apologies, Ms Author. I am in a super long reading slump... this book did nothing to bring me out of it. Hoping juggling of the 11 tabs of Scribd will hook me onto something.  Till then, I am going to read (yes still shamelessly...) Train to Pakistan and be constantly distracted over all the books that get discussed here at RF and other book groups I follow for inspiration!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden

-
Image
Dating apps. Marriage sites. Online data about people you are free to meet. As much as I want to be liberal in my thoughts and open minded, I somehow don't like the sound of these sites that host people to further their relationships. Most often than not, you bump into someone who will change your life forever. For good or for bad! The story is cleverly divided between a Before and Now timeline. The Before timeline talks of youngsters Tom and Daisy who were high school sweethearts. Tom comes from a fragile and volatile family background. His father often beats up his mother. Daisy's best friend does not want Tom to be close to Daisy; she does not trust him one bit. What has Tom done that is so bad? Or does he have bad company who do bad things? In the Now timeline, there is Sydney , just another person, on the look out for a date/life partner. The people she is currently meeting on the dating app are pathetic. She met a Kevin online and after one date,   Sydney realizes  that ...
Read more

Homecoming - Podcast by Gimlet Media

-
Image
  Gimlet Media on Spotify presents Homecoming -  A Psychological and thrilling series. Homecoming is the story of a case worker/counsellor who tends to soldiers who have returned from war, to help them join back civilian life. She has been appointed to run this facility in Tampa. The series is a lot of dialogue - phone calls and conversations - between different sets of characters, that helps progress the story.  It is also one recording in particular, of conversations that happen between a Walter Cruz, a soldier and this  case worker/counsellor , Heidi Bergman.  In one set of conversations you will hear: - Heidi either wanting to forget or feigning any memory of anything she had to do with the Homecoming project.  - It is also possible that Heidi has at memory loss or has convinced herself to disengage or forget this phase of life.  - Heidi has risked her relationships to be part of this facility and its workings. - Colin, Heidi's boss (played by Davi...
Read more

The Therapy Room by OMJ Ryan

-
Image
  Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. - William Congreve Now this is what I call a "psychological" thriller. I am so glad I chose this book from NetGalley to read and review. I will definitely be reading more of this author. This wonderful story is about two women - Olivia and Shelly. Typical of perspective of a person who seems to have lost everything, will find another person having everything they needed and deserved in life. Olivia believed with a vengeance that Shelly had murdered her brother when they were just teens. This memory was locked in the deep recesses of her heart until the day she bumped into Shelly. She now has to take her revenge and close this matter once and for all.  On tracking Shelly, Olivia finds out that she has been visiting this therapy group. She scoffs at this information that someone like Shelly, who has it all - a job, a great marriage, good looking husband, gorgeous little baby - should be visit...
Read more