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A review by bookthia
Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Rajeev Balasubramanyam
3.0
You might think, based on the cover and the title, that this book would be a fluffy happy tale of a grouchy older man finding happiness. Don't be fooled. It's not fluffy at all and its happiness, like in real life, comes and goes. Chandra has not valued happiness and he views its pursuit as a self-serving cop-out to doing work. In this book, Chandra has his long-held world view challenged.
Chandra is an interesting character. He's a perfectionist who has high expectations not only of his own professional contributions, but those of his students, of his children and of his wife and marriage. He becomes so self-absorbed and so consumed with perfection that he loses the ability to empathize when people, including himself, cannot live up to his expectations. He learns, as we all must, that life must be lived in balance.
This story focuses primarily on Chandra's relationships with his family, his ex-wife and her new husband, his three grown children. Readers should relate to some of these interactions as everyone has complicated family relationships. The book does a good job of showing both sides of these interactions.
I enjoyed reading this book. A solid 3.5 stars. My gratitude to Goodreads and to Penguin/Random House Canada for the complementary copy.
Chandra is an interesting character. He's a perfectionist who has high expectations not only of his own professional contributions, but those of his students, of his children and of his wife and marriage. He becomes so self-absorbed and so consumed with perfection that he loses the ability to empathize when people, including himself, cannot live up to his expectations. He learns, as we all must, that life must be lived in balance.
This story focuses primarily on Chandra's relationships with his family, his ex-wife and her new husband, his three grown children. Readers should relate to some of these interactions as everyone has complicated family relationships. The book does a good job of showing both sides of these interactions.
I enjoyed reading this book. A solid 3.5 stars. My gratitude to Goodreads and to Penguin/Random House Canada for the complementary copy.