Book Review -A Dog Eat Dog Food World

A few days ago, Suresh cheekily reminded me it’s been one year and he is still waiting for a review and needless to say I felt embarrassed and ashamed but then I have finicky ways. I don’t jump queue. I read and review the way I have queued unless something as exceptional as The Graveyard Book or as sensational as One Indian Girl comes up to break the list. Also in this particular year, I have taken a long time to read, mostly due to personal reasons. Also reviewing drains me… to come up with words which talk about author’s work yet don’t spoil the fun of reading.  Finally, here I am reviewing a book which is essentially a satire on my profession.

The Author claims ‘A Dog Eat Dog Food World’ is pseudo –history of marketing management. It is his claim that it happened this way but we have no proof of it. As a marketing professional, as much as I would like to deny that this may be how it may have happened I seem to have accepted it.

A certain rich man ‘Spike Fortune’ wants to spend his wealth and his doctor who is fed up with him suggests to him to do some business.  His nephew, Jerry finds him a business to spend money which is -- to make Dog Food for Dogs, but eventually the goal has changes to make more money.  Slowly the goal changes from making more to making more money than Spike’s rival ‘Tom Rich’ who has not bought into ‘copycat’ marketing and has started Cat food Inc which naturally sells cat food. Technically, Tom is correct that he did not enter Dog Food market but, on the whole, it’s still a copycat business -- isn’t it?

The author comes up with the wittiest ways to ‘teach’ how modern marketing invented itself and at the same time how society bought into it.  He brutally narrates a tale where we sell concepts to management and then to customers. It doesn’t really matter if it’s Dog Food or Cat Food or in the end what the companies becomes – Cat Products or Worldwide Dog Food. The latter name is invented by me, by the way. In the end, all that matters is ‘scores’ and transformation in societal outlook.

The author has doled out this 100-page power packed book dipped in a strong concoction of humor. I found myself grinning widely while reading this satire.

I can easily place the book alongside Rich Dad, Poor Dad or Who Moved My Cheese where the tale is secondary and principles are primary. I strongly feel the book should have been categorized as educational or self-help.  This book can easily find an audience in aspiring managers of today and it will be certainly helpful to them.

The book can be ordered here.

PS: My three years old kid absolutely loved the cover.

Ananya - A bittersweet journey - Book Review

 A lopsided review seldom does any benefit to author and reader. But, then we live in times where every review counts irrespective of the quality of a review, such is the algorithm of  e-commerce. I can seat on all three chairs – Reader, author and seller and debate upon pros and cons of reviews and why are they so important. But then that won’t help. The rule is set – More reviews, more visibility.

 After finishing the book I thought Ananya doesn’t need to be reviewed or rather I should not review it. The reason is the strengths of the books are its weakness too.  I will come to that in the latter half of the review.

Ananya- a bittersweet journey is a story of an intelligent girl Ananya. Narrated in the first person by Shilpa Gupta it is about how Ananya’s life changes after she falls in love with Rohit who is no less than a casanova. To make matter worse he’s Ananya’s best friend Moh’s brother. Eventually, Ananya gets pregnant from Rohit and Rohit does classical vanishing act upon the girl leaving her alone to fight.

The interesting thing is, Ananya isn’t 20+ girl or 25+ woman. She is a sixteen-year-old intelligent girl aspiring to get into IIT. She is a daughter of hard-working parents who are doing exceptionally well in their fields. Girls like Ananya don’t make mistakes. It’s unacceptable.

What I liked: Shilpa Gupta never slips while narrating the story from a teenager’s POV. The language is fluid and nowhere there is a showoff from the author. Author has deliberately avoided the traps of melodrama and overt emotional reactions.  She also does not provide any kind of magic pill to protagonist’s conflict. The setting -- Upper middle-class family, Diwali celebrations, Coaching classes, Schools and café .

What I did not like - Every character needs to get a closure by end of the book. There is always an imminent question what happened to them? In this case, I did not like the way Rohit’s character is treated. Author has chosen to let the character fall which is expected considering Rohit’s action. However, the story is realistic and so are the characters.  We know some of the people who are douche bag would still do better professionally, socially, and personally. There is no- reason about why Rohit does what he does once h returns to the US.

So back to why I should not have written this review – When I finished reading the book I genuinely felt fresh. It’s a good writing. I was not bogged down by instances in the book and I could go on with my life but  at the same time, if the author would have allowed me as a reader to get intimate with characters, especially Ananya  then I think the book might have scaled greater heights.

At the end of the day – Ananya is a must read for parents and teens alike.

The book can be ordered here.