Reviewing is often a difficult job. It puts me in all sort of dilemmas like how long or how short is to be written, how much to giveaway from the plot and how positive or negative critique it must be. It is due to this dilemma I take very long time to write one. One of my honest intentions is to not alienate audience from reading the book and at the same time, I don't want to leave an impression that the review has been written with bias.
After the release of Rain, I took almost a month to buy the book but when I sat down to read I finished it in two days. The review took longer time than both.
Blurb:
Architect Jai Dubey trusts in reason - not for him the faith and prayer so firmly ingrained in his fellow countrymen. When fortune deserts Jai and his carefully ordered life spins inexorably out of control, Jai stands on the brink of ruin. Only a delayed monsoon can save Jai’s biggest project from disaster, but there are millions across the land praying for the exact opposite.
Reason seems to have its limits - the weather defies all prediction, let alone control.
Will Jai relinquish the beliefs of a lifetime? Will he reconcile with the awful ambiguity about his past? Will he be able to save his crumbling marriage?
Review
The journey of Jai Dubey, the protagonist is different than many of the leads I have read. He isn't heroic, he is a simple, self-made hard working businessman who does not like to take risk unlike his friend Ravi. Jai's wife Sarika is also simple and a woman of faith. Her mother's only desire is that Sarika should get bungalow of her own and Jai accepts the challenge. This disrupts his peaceful life.
After the release of Rain, I took almost a month to buy the book but when I sat down to read I finished it in two days. The review took longer time than both.
Blurb:
Architect Jai Dubey trusts in reason - not for him the faith and prayer so firmly ingrained in his fellow countrymen. When fortune deserts Jai and his carefully ordered life spins inexorably out of control, Jai stands on the brink of ruin. Only a delayed monsoon can save Jai’s biggest project from disaster, but there are millions across the land praying for the exact opposite.
Reason seems to have its limits - the weather defies all prediction, let alone control.
Will Jai relinquish the beliefs of a lifetime? Will he reconcile with the awful ambiguity about his past? Will he be able to save his crumbling marriage?
Review
The journey of Jai Dubey, the protagonist is different than many of the leads I have read. He isn't heroic, he is a simple, self-made hard working businessman who does not like to take risk unlike his friend Ravi. Jai's wife Sarika is also simple and a woman of faith. Her mother's only desire is that Sarika should get bungalow of her own and Jai accepts the challenge. This disrupts his peaceful life.
The author goes on to add many elements to the book as Jai strives to fulfill his mother in law's wish; an astrologer who predicts his downfall, a friend who unknowingly digs the grave for his business, a hole in his memory that makes him vulnerable,an another woman for a brief period who is the only little relief in Jai's impending fall.
The rain arrives and leaves without much fanfare but the rain is instrumental. It marks the path Jai would take to seek answers. People, Jai will meet. A new set of people and an old one too. At this point, I wonder if Jai has run away or he is daring leave old behind.
The author takes you to various settings throughout the novel from a hip urban co-op housing society to an old cafe to a river front , to cantonment , to shaniwar wada and to dingy slums.
The author has showcased his prowess on the language consistently through the story. If this is a stepping board for the author to begin the journey on literary scene then it is a perfect soundboard.
My only complaint is that the author doesn't allow readers get close to any other character. The story is only about Jai. Though I understand that this is about Jai and this is fairly a linear arc I am sure the author is capable of doing much more.
My only complaint is that the author doesn't allow readers get close to any other character. The story is only about Jai. Though I understand that this is about Jai and this is fairly a linear arc I am sure the author is capable of doing much more.
I hope that the author will write more nuanced stories in future where he will bring more main characters to fore and let them interact and influence the situations and conditions.
You can buy book here.
You can buy book here.
