Almost Single

Almost Single by Advaita Kala

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
It's a book about a single woman in the city. She hangs out with her friends - one beautiful but married to a jerk, another gay, another single with lots of bright ideas on how not to be single. She spends a lot of her time getting drunk, smokes a lot of cigarettes and struggles with her weight. And her name is not Bridget Jones!!!



Hard to take this book seriously. It's bridget minus the charm and the humour. Aisha Bhatia is not particularly likable. Karan whatsisname similarly so. I haven't lived in Delhi for sometime now but I find it hard to digest that people like Nic and Ric do.



It finds some soul towards the end but too little too late. I'd rather read Zoya again.


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the zoya factor

The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The best thing about Zoya is that it is not just 'an english book by an indian' if you know what I mean. There is so much more story and people and India than in the 'I'm Indian, I live abroad, I'm confused' kind of book there has been so much of in the recent past.



Zoya is peopled with characters that are as believable as they are likable. Zoravar, Eppa, Rinku Chachi, Vishal, Monita even Sanks are people you would have or at least easily could have met somewhere.



It is laugh out loud funny in many places. I especially liked the crickindya website comments section. Anuja Chauhan certainly has an ear for dialogue!



Other pluses: Nikhil's a dish and the mushy stuff doesn't make you cringe (well mostly). The romantic is nicely tempered by the ridiculous. Big bonus - people from Delhi especially of Karol Bagh origin will LOVE how VERY Delhi this book is!



Only grouse... it is way too long! Better editing would have made such a difference.

With no literary pretensions whatsoever, Zoya is light weekend reading at its best.


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