Vikas Swarup
If you’ve read Q&A (or seen its more famous screen adaptation) and Six Suspects, you’d recognise the narrative style in this as well – a series of sub plots driven by a connecting thread. In this case, an eccentric businessman sets a series of 7 tests for an initially reluctant young woman in order to prove herself capable of being the CEO of his conglomerate.
An ordinary person and her responses to circumstances that one would find familiar if one lived in India, that’s pretty much what the tale is. I finished the book in 2 days, would have finished it in one if not for a splitting headache. (not because of the book) That’s a testament to the pace of the narrative. Except for a slight lag towards the end, the plot is an edge-of-the-seat roller coaster. It also manages to showcase the various problems we face as a nation – from relatively small scale ones like khap diktats to large scale corruption. It also has characters whom one can easily map to real life popular personalities. That’s the good part.
On the flip side, there are way too many coincidences dotting the plot. I was fine with some of them but there were others that required an extra suspension of belief. I found this to be a contrast with the author’s previous works where there was more hard work to be seen – the plot was engineered well enough to stick to the realms of one’s imagination. I found that believability quotient low in many parts of the book. I also wish the author showed a little more originality – from the quotes attributed to the businessman to the washing machine – lassi idea. (really?!) The other thing that bothered me about this book was the over complexity of the climax. Despite this, there was a sense of predictability about the ‘who’. To be noted that the author still manages to create an intrigue through the ‘why’ and though the pace slackens marginally, it will keep you occupied. That’s probably why the movie will get made as well.
In essence, the quality of the plot is a dip from previous works, but still has enough in it to make it a good read.
