First of all, this one has nothing to do with religious conversion as the title implies. This is the other occasion when I fell for a subversive book title.
Swear words, mushy romance, smoking, pot/hash, gaming, hippie lifestyle. Sorry, not my cup of tea. But I decided to take a chance with this one, looking at the glowing reviews it had received.
Mudagal weaves a story loosely based on his own experiences in the corporate/technical world. And it is not a bad one. It is, of course, highly contrived and far fetched. It conjures up images of Q&A by Vikas Swarup (which later became Slumdog Millionaire). But if you are willing and able to suspend disbelief, you have an exciting read in store for you.
The story, peopled by characters who would appeal to the young, carefree and restless, moves quickly from one significant twist to another. The twists are all connected, and this is revealed in the climax of the story, which I do not want to give away for those of you who have not read the book yet. The characters, when they are not high on cannabis, are also street smart, intelligent, and excellent entrepreneurs - a rare combination indeed!
In the post-story interview with the author, Mudagal states, when asked about his writing: "that's my style - entertainment with substance." He probably forgot to add grammar to his style. The book is riddled with grammatical gaffes, and one has to pinch oneself to believe that it is American characters that are mouthing dialogues that syntactically sound Indian.
Further, the writing really improves, and the narrative becomes gripping, only when The Apprenticeship bit begins in the latter part of the story. It is almost as if this part has been written by another person. Or perhaps this part was better thought out than the other bits by Mudagal and his team.
The blurb and the first three inner pages are full of high praise for the book from the likes of The New Indian Express, The Pioneer and IBNLive.com. Perhaps they overlooked the grammatical errors in lieu of the exciting plot.
If it is entertainment you are looking for, go for it.
Image source: http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390896056l/20645582.jpg
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