Scan barcode
A review by saadamansayyed
The 3 Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat
3.0
Chetan is one of the few authors from India whose literature has been popular internationally. He writes books including Indian themes which still resonate pretty well with an international audience. He writes in not a purple prose like Tolkien does, but he writes in a simple way that is catchy enough to grasp me. His writing is based off the youth and serves a contemporary audience.
I’m really surprised by this book. I was “warned” about reading Chetan and his book, so I was really critical when I started reading this one. First of all, I appreciate this book because unlike Five Point Someone or night @ the call center, this book is based off of real events and that Govind is a real legit man, TEAM INDIA CRICKET SHOP is a real legit shop and that Bittoo is a legit politician. None of these seem artificial, forced or otherwise, and so I like the characters slightly more than if it were not real.
I have read a lot of contemporary stories with political themes and other themes of this book. I wouldn’t say this one is better than other books such as Come Rain by Jai Nimbalkar or Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone, but this book especially stands out, and that is because this book is based off of real events and I feel that this book needs a different skill set than just writing contemporary, while still retaining the distinct catchy style. On the other hand, the book can be written better, tremendously better, but this is quite good, to be honest. I would say, that unlike some of the other good books I’ve read, there’s scope for improvement, but still being a wonderful read in its original form.
Govind is a young character full of maturity, and he’s the Spock of this book. Ish is really good and Omkar is decent. I had a little bit of complaint about Omkar and I did not find a complexity I expect in characters in him. Bittoo was pretty good too, Vidya was quiet well-written, but my favorite character and I think the main character of this book, Ali was amazing. The writing style is not the most beautiful or clean style, often has bad words, but it is simplistic enough to be read by anyone who knows Basic English. Although I think [this is a real book, but this is classified as fiction, so please cut me some slack] that the Ish-Govind split was a little forced and it seemed abrupt, I think it is okay, but that part could’ve been pulled off better. I liked the Govind-Vidya chemistry but then, I think the “break-up due to family” trope was a little mediocre, so maybe it should’ve been done better.
Overall, I think Chetan has done a good job of writing the story but adapting it to fiction seemed a bit off and I think that the style needs a wee little bit of change. It’s a good book, but I wouldn’t certainly recommend it over other books.
I’m really surprised by this book. I was “warned” about reading Chetan and his book, so I was really critical when I started reading this one. First of all, I appreciate this book because unlike Five Point Someone or night @ the call center, this book is based off of real events and that Govind is a real legit man, TEAM INDIA CRICKET SHOP is a real legit shop and that Bittoo is a legit politician. None of these seem artificial, forced or otherwise, and so I like the characters slightly more than if it were not real.
I have read a lot of contemporary stories with political themes and other themes of this book. I wouldn’t say this one is better than other books such as Come Rain by Jai Nimbalkar or Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone, but this book especially stands out, and that is because this book is based off of real events and I feel that this book needs a different skill set than just writing contemporary, while still retaining the distinct catchy style. On the other hand, the book can be written better, tremendously better, but this is quite good, to be honest. I would say, that unlike some of the other good books I’ve read, there’s scope for improvement, but still being a wonderful read in its original form.
Govind is a young character full of maturity, and he’s the Spock of this book. Ish is really good and Omkar is decent. I had a little bit of complaint about Omkar and I did not find a complexity I expect in characters in him. Bittoo was pretty good too, Vidya was quiet well-written, but my favorite character and I think the main character of this book, Ali was amazing. The writing style is not the most beautiful or clean style, often has bad words, but it is simplistic enough to be read by anyone who knows Basic English. Although I think [this is a real book, but this is classified as fiction, so please cut me some slack] that the Ish-Govind split was a little forced and it seemed abrupt, I think it is okay, but that part could’ve been pulled off better. I liked the Govind-Vidya chemistry but then, I think the “break-up due to family” trope was a little mediocre, so maybe it should’ve been done better.
Overall, I think Chetan has done a good job of writing the story but adapting it to fiction seemed a bit off and I think that the style needs a wee little bit of change. It’s a good book, but I wouldn’t certainly recommend it over other books.