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aravind12's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Too many unnecessary details such as the fabric of the clothes the characters are wear and others. Wish that much care and detail was given to the story as well.
nuts246's review
5.0
A romp down memory lane for me. A book that cross crossed the many worlds I've called mine. It would have been fun reading it as serialised fiction. But as a book it was jhalmoori
mihrchand's review
4.0
Strange how works you didn't have high expectations from end up inspiring you in a very visceral manner. Curious.
ameya88's review
3.0
I was trying to think of a movie metaphor for Devapriya Roy’s Friends from College and I’ve decided it is most appropriate to liken it to a Hollywood RomCom. It’s a good, classy RomCom though (is this a separate genre from Chick Flick btw? I’m a guy and I quite like the occasional RomCom so I hope not…) - not particularly dumb in the way some masala movies can be where logic and character continuity is thrown out of a window. The characters for one are all elite Bengali bhodrolok – with fancy backgrounds and shmancy lives – but with a self-awareness about it which makes it slightly more palatable. They all seem to know each other making Calcutta high-society seem like one incestuous circle (maybe that is true) but there are enough occasional outsiders to keep giving their voice and perspective making them seem nicer than they probably are. Their lives are seemingly vacuous, they all look lovely and stunning and statuesque with sharp features and fine clothes, they have a seemingly endless supply of money (we are told why of course) and their problems are oh-so-stereotypically first-world so it is difficult to feel too concerned about them. The episodic nature in which the story came about (the book was originally a serialized weekly newspaper column in the Telegraph) does not work particularly well for a novel since scenes are cut-off at key junctures and not followed up on, characters flit in and out of the story and because you’ve just read the previous episode 40 minutes ago instead of 8 weeks ago – it does feel a bit jerky.
Despite all these seemingly non-complimentary things I’ve mentioned in the previous paragraph – there is a je ne sais quoi to this tale which had me rushing through it in just 3 days, catching up on chapters in varied places from the boring conference calls similar to what ‘Luts’ would be on to the loo. It’s breezy to read yet educative (maybe a little too much) about food, fashion, jewellery and much more with lovely bits of trivia peppered in through the book (did you know about a piece of furniture called the Bombay Fornicator!?). I thought having spent a couple of years in Jamshedpur (where our crew takes a convenient detour to my old campus) with plenty of Bengalis and plenty of friends as well, I’d know a fair bit about them – but the jethus and pishis and types of muslin was a bit too much for me eventually to keep track of. Still, my vocabulary would be much enriched I’d hope. But there is a vacuousness to it all which didn’t quite let me take it seriously or get too invested in it which I thought was a pity because I really liked the authors style and approach.
Friends from College it is at its heart a pureplay Calcutta Nostalgia book – targeted and marketed at the domestic and international Probashi Bengalis – so if you are one of those dive right in I guess. For the rest of us – as Pixie might educate our protagonists – YMMV (your mileage may vary).
Despite all these seemingly non-complimentary things I’ve mentioned in the previous paragraph – there is a je ne sais quoi to this tale which had me rushing through it in just 3 days, catching up on chapters in varied places from the boring conference calls similar to what ‘Luts’ would be on to the loo. It’s breezy to read yet educative (maybe a little too much) about food, fashion, jewellery and much more with lovely bits of trivia peppered in through the book (did you know about a piece of furniture called the Bombay Fornicator!?). I thought having spent a couple of years in Jamshedpur (where our crew takes a convenient detour to my old campus) with plenty of Bengalis and plenty of friends as well, I’d know a fair bit about them – but the jethus and pishis and types of muslin was a bit too much for me eventually to keep track of. Still, my vocabulary would be much enriched I’d hope. But there is a vacuousness to it all which didn’t quite let me take it seriously or get too invested in it which I thought was a pity because I really liked the authors style and approach.
Friends from College it is at its heart a pureplay Calcutta Nostalgia book – targeted and marketed at the domestic and international Probashi Bengalis – so if you are one of those dive right in I guess. For the rest of us – as Pixie might educate our protagonists – YMMV (your mileage may vary).
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