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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
A story about cricket, but not about cricket. Selection Day is a coming of age story about two brothers whose father has reared them to be professional cricketers. We see their challenges and identity crises as they face virtually impossible odds to be chosen for the Under-19 cricket team by the selectors. Will the elder brother Radha be chosen since his father made a deal with Lord Subramanya (cricket god) to bestow his son with the title of best cricketer? Will the younger Manju overshadow his brother's talent and be chosen? Will the selectors pick both or them? Neither? Does either brother even really want to play cricket or is this their father's ambition that's being thrust upon them?
But in this novel Aravind Adiga asks more important questions: when you spend your life pursuing one goal, what happens if you don't get it? What happens if you do? Who are you when you spend your entire life preparing for something that you're not sure that you want?
But in this novel Aravind Adiga asks more important questions: when you spend your life pursuing one goal, what happens if you don't get it? What happens if you do? Who are you when you spend your entire life preparing for something that you're not sure that you want?
I thought I'd like it, but the style isn't working for me and more, turns out I'm not interested in stories about 14-year-old boys playing cricket (right now, at least, and to be fair, that's only part of the story).
Heart broken. Tormented, bitter. These are the emotions I'm left with following this book. I felt many times as though Tommy sir was ripping me through the mud as I trudged through this emotionally wrecked novel. Sometimes books tell of torment to embellish the reader's own existence. This book, however, felt like an onslaught of emotional pain just got the hell of it. I found myself exhausted and weary as i read and counting pages to the end. Adiga is an amazing, descriptive writer but his character's own feelings of helplessness and their bindings to the social norms that constrict them spiked such anxiety in me. I would never recommend this book to anyone.
As usual with Adiga, the novel was about more than it appears to be about. A novel about cricket in Mumbai is actually about India and Mumbai, about fathers and sons, about class, culture, competition, ambition and obsession. But in the end I felt the author's control unraveled. Although ti shows with great clarity the cost of poverty and ambition, especially selfish ambition without consideration of the costs, it lacked the hard driving anger and punch of some of Adiga's previous novels.
Coming of age tale of two teenage brothers who come to Mumbai from their village to become the next superstars of Indian cricket......as per the dreams of their controlling father. Quite a decent and entertaining read, addressing a number of issues such as pressures of childhood, over aspiring parents, sexuality, friendships, commercialization of the game.etc.
I confess I read the book because I wanted to watch the Netflix show on it after the trailer looked appealing. Am already getting through Season 1, and I must say this time the book loses to the show. The casting and the slight amendments to the plot make it quite an excellent watch.
I confess I read the book because I wanted to watch the Netflix show on it after the trailer looked appealing. Am already getting through Season 1, and I must say this time the book loses to the show. The casting and the slight amendments to the plot make it quite an excellent watch.
I had expected more somehow. I enjoyed the book but found it repetitive and slow moving.
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
With a premise as straightforward as Selection Day's, Aravind Adiga should have knocked this novel out of the park, especially when you consider that not only is it his fourth novel but that his debut novel won the prestigious Booker Prize! So...What went wrong here?
Well, to begin with, the very straightforward premise that could have been easily executed is fumbled greatly by Adiga, specifically his scatter-brained approach to the plot which creates both glaring plot holes and eviscerates any of the intrigue the premise innately possessed. In particularly, the premise/plot of the story revolves around two brother - Radha and Manju - who are being raised for cricketing greatness by their overbearing and abusive father, Mohan Kumar. Without doubt, Adiga could have easily told the story by focusing of the POVs of both Radha and Manju, and possibly their father too, however he instead chooses to not commit to any distinctive character POV which causes the novel to have no distinctive narrator either. Thus, it feels like Adiga was unsure about how best to tell this story as well as being sure about exactly what story he actually wanted to tell too. Specifically, there are plots within the story which lead nowhere and not fully resolved by the end of the novel, which is confusing because as I've previously stated, had Adiga merely focused on both Radha, Manju and their father, I know the story would have been much more concise, engaging, entertaining and intriguing. Instead, Adiga abandons the main cricketing plot one minute and then returns to it spontaneously the next minute as if he has just remembered that this is the main plot of the story. Personally, I have no problem with Adiga drifting away from the main plot at times as long as it makes sense and if he knows how to not only connect his plots together and return to them effectively too. in this case, Manju, who seems to be the novel's protagonist as we read his POV/Perspective the most, has his whole world turned upside down by the new circumstances he finds himself in - moving to Mumbai/Bombay, meeting Javed, escalating tensions with his brother and father - which is great as it adds conflict, but the execution of these conflicts leaves a lot to be desired. To be explicit, Manju's relationship with Javed never truly comes to fruition and whimpers along to an unsatisfying conclusion, and also the tensions of competing with his Radha also never reaches its full potential and is abandoned by Adiga's erratic plotting. Furthermore, the erratic, scatter-brained and amateurish plotting is exacerbated by the bizarre pacing which sees events unfold spontaneously throughout the novel, thus confusing the timeline of the events meaning you're never too sure what day/week/month it is which is obviously confusing, but also bad pacing absolutely annihilates any tension that has been created or was being created, hence had Adiga carefully structured his story I personally think that not only would the pacing subsequently been greater, but more importantly, the plot would have been remarkably better too as it would have forced Adiga to question how the plot was unfolding throughout the story and resulted in his noticing the criticisms I have mentioned above.
In regards to characterisation and character development, Selection Day's pivotal characters - Manju, Radha, Mohan and Anand - all have distinct personalities, thankfully, but the development of each of them throughout the story could be improved. In particularly, no character to go through any significant development even though they all face conflicts which you would expect to develop them in some way at least, yet by the conclusion of the novel none of the characters felt changed by the vents of the novel which is disappointing as it makes the events and conflicts of the novel feel pointless, and subsequently, the act of reading the novel feels kind of pointless too.
Finally, concluding this review with the novel's themes, setting and prose I feel like each factor was by no means bad or terrible or poor, rather each factor felt fine. Just fine. Yes, I could see that the novel was exploring and commenting on issues such as religion, sexuality and social class; Yes, I could see that Mumbai was a chaotic and corrupt metropolis which kept the poor poor and the rich rich; and Yes, I could see that Adiga is a decent writer who knows his clearly has knowledge of or researched information - history, culture, etc - about cricket, Mumbai and India, etc, but also that his prose is to a decent level by his use of language and the observations he made throughout the novel. However, all three of these aspects was. just. fine. There was nothing special that made them stand out and all felt like generic, basic, surface-level attempts.
Overall, as you can probably tell, I was left disappointed and underwhelmed by Selection Day, which clearly had potential and could have been a great novel full of intrigue, conflict and tension which made astute and important observations about India's history and the poverty and corruption which is rife, but also the novel could have importantly explored the difficulties of sexuality and religion both separately and together. Sadly, though the novel doesn't so and we're left with a ultimately disappointing novel with confusing plotting and erratic pacing, satisfactory characters, interesting but unexplored themes, and serviceable but generic setting and prose.
Well, to begin with, the very straightforward premise that could have been easily executed is fumbled greatly by Adiga, specifically his scatter-brained approach to the plot which creates both glaring plot holes and eviscerates any of the intrigue the premise innately possessed. In particularly, the premise/plot of the story revolves around two brother - Radha and Manju - who are being raised for cricketing greatness by their overbearing and abusive father, Mohan Kumar. Without doubt, Adiga could have easily told the story by focusing of the POVs of both Radha and Manju, and possibly their father too, however he instead chooses to not commit to any distinctive character POV which causes the novel to have no distinctive narrator either. Thus, it feels like Adiga was unsure about how best to tell this story as well as being sure about exactly what story he actually wanted to tell too. Specifically, there are plots within the story which lead nowhere and not fully resolved by the end of the novel, which is confusing because as I've previously stated, had Adiga merely focused on both Radha, Manju and their father, I know the story would have been much more concise, engaging, entertaining and intriguing. Instead, Adiga abandons the main cricketing plot one minute and then returns to it spontaneously the next minute as if he has just remembered that this is the main plot of the story. Personally, I have no problem with Adiga drifting away from the main plot at times as long as it makes sense and if he knows how to not only connect his plots together and return to them effectively too. in this case, Manju, who seems to be the novel's protagonist as we read his POV/Perspective the most, has his whole world turned upside down by the new circumstances he finds himself in - moving to Mumbai/Bombay, meeting Javed, escalating tensions with his brother and father - which is great as it adds conflict, but the execution of these conflicts leaves a lot to be desired. To be explicit, Manju's relationship with Javed never truly comes to fruition and whimpers along to an unsatisfying conclusion, and also the tensions of competing with his Radha also never reaches its full potential and is abandoned by Adiga's erratic plotting. Furthermore, the erratic, scatter-brained and amateurish plotting is exacerbated by the bizarre pacing which sees events unfold spontaneously throughout the novel, thus confusing the timeline of the events meaning you're never too sure what day/week/month it is which is obviously confusing, but also bad pacing absolutely annihilates any tension that has been created or was being created, hence had Adiga carefully structured his story I personally think that not only would the pacing subsequently been greater, but more importantly, the plot would have been remarkably better too as it would have forced Adiga to question how the plot was unfolding throughout the story and resulted in his noticing the criticisms I have mentioned above.
In regards to characterisation and character development, Selection Day's pivotal characters - Manju, Radha, Mohan and Anand - all have distinct personalities, thankfully, but the development of each of them throughout the story could be improved. In particularly, no character to go through any significant development even though they all face conflicts which you would expect to develop them in some way at least, yet by the conclusion of the novel none of the characters felt changed by the vents of the novel which is disappointing as it makes the events and conflicts of the novel feel pointless, and subsequently, the act of reading the novel feels kind of pointless too.
Finally, concluding this review with the novel's themes, setting and prose I feel like each factor was by no means bad or terrible or poor, rather each factor felt fine. Just fine. Yes, I could see that the novel was exploring and commenting on issues such as religion, sexuality and social class; Yes, I could see that Mumbai was a chaotic and corrupt metropolis which kept the poor poor and the rich rich; and Yes, I could see that Adiga is a decent writer who knows his clearly has knowledge of or researched information - history, culture, etc - about cricket, Mumbai and India, etc, but also that his prose is to a decent level by his use of language and the observations he made throughout the novel. However, all three of these aspects was. just. fine. There was nothing special that made them stand out and all felt like generic, basic, surface-level attempts.
Overall, as you can probably tell, I was left disappointed and underwhelmed by Selection Day, which clearly had potential and could have been a great novel full of intrigue, conflict and tension which made astute and important observations about India's history and the poverty and corruption which is rife, but also the novel could have importantly explored the difficulties of sexuality and religion both separately and together. Sadly, though the novel doesn't so and we're left with a ultimately disappointing novel with confusing plotting and erratic pacing, satisfactory characters, interesting but unexplored themes, and serviceable but generic setting and prose.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Couldn't get into this one. The writing style was just too weird.
First things first: there is an awful lot of cricket in this novel, to be sure. So much, in fact, that I almost gave up after ten pages. The cricket becomes less of a problem as the book progresses, though, because the ritual of the sport is emphasized--it could be a novel about two sons whose father wants them to become world-famous chefs, or race-car drivers.
The bigger problem for me, as I went along, was the structure. In addition to the sons and their father, we meet characters from a wide cross-section of India, and some are not worthy of the pages devoted to them. And the ending: tragic endings I can accept, but a forced tragic ending is no better than a forced happy ending.
Adiga writes wonderfully, and there are stretches where the book hums. Those stretches inevitably feature Radha, or Manju, or Javed, though, making me we'd had more of their scenes, and less of everyone else's.
The bigger problem for me, as I went along, was the structure. In addition to the sons and their father, we meet characters from a wide cross-section of India, and some are not worthy of the pages devoted to them. And the ending: tragic endings I can accept, but a forced tragic ending is no better than a forced happy ending.
Adiga writes wonderfully, and there are stretches where the book hums. Those stretches inevitably feature Radha, or Manju, or Javed, though, making me we'd had more of their scenes, and less of everyone else's.