'Disappointment' is the one word i would describe the book as.I didn't expect much out of it when i had bought it as i picked it up as one of those pacy time pass easy reads.. But while it began as a pacy one it couldn't hold my interest after half of it. it got a bit too mundane and typical eventually.The Protagonist seemed like he was trying too hard to be this cool character that the readers should identify with but eventually it starts losing you. At least it lost me. it reminded me of a million other indian writers and their books. it didn't seem to give me an original feel. Thought could have been way better but Amit Verma ended up making it look like yet another Bombay journalist dabbling his hands in book writing cuz its the next cool step.
I m guessing for the chetan bhagat kind of fans this book will at least be a one time entertainment even though it didnt satisfy my interest levels and i actually did skip pages.
English August has definitely been my most exciting book as far as the the description or humour with which Upamanyu chatterjee has dealt with the Indian Beaurocracy and systems, Indians in general even though it was more small city, rural and Amit is talking Bombay but i still feel it was a bit too much of a cliche', the writing.
Also the synopsis behind the book says this line "More importantly, can it survive the machinations of the jealous lizard that shares Abir's flat?" the jealous lizard is mentioned exactly twice in the book if i am not wrong and it really added no value to the whole thing because the lizard hardly got any footage in order to create that character conflict which is what it was for in the book in the first place. it's like the editing done by reality shows for promos and before breaks where you think somethings goin to happen but it turns out to be something really lame at the end of it. The book cover has a lizard too.
Must say though i like the Book Cover for sure.. Sorry Mr Amit Verma for being so harsh but i really do think that you didn't do justice to writing in your debut.
