‘Finding Juliet’, as the name suggests is a book about a boy constantly in search for ‘the one’. It makes a good book for when you are bogged down with all the heavy books and want to delve into something light. After a heavy overdose of history, the one felt like a decent pick. It may not be the best of books but it did its job well, gave a good break.
Cover page
Srishti publishers have been coming out with some really simple and easy to read novels. Same with their cover pages. The cover page here too is very simple and direct. The main character needs no introduction after seeing the cover. The composition is stunning. The red spine sets this book apart on the shelf. The font compliments and imagery.
It is simple yet pleasing cover page.
Characters
The book is essentially about Arjun who is a self-proclaimed geek. He starts out from being a small town regular guy from Hyderabad and moves to Metropolitan Bangalore. There is not much depth in the character as such. He looks like a regular guy who thinks every girl is alike. He cannot think beyond the pretty face and other pretty things, even when he claims to be in love with a girl.
If the author was planning to portray Arjun shallow throughout the book, then he has achieved the goal but I clearly felt a bit more depth would have helped. Arjun doesn’t make you like him or even hate him. Which is worse.
Other than the random girls in every chapter there are not many characters. They, also sort of, justify the generalization of girls.
Krish is the only character who was fun knowing throughout the book. The self-promoted love guru gives all the gyan about women. He is fun to listen to. I found myself liking this side kick more than I liked any of the other characters. Enough was known about Krish to like him and not enough to dislike him.
Content
The entire book is about Arjun and his failed relationships. Arjun falls in love thrice, but it takes losing his parents to make him realize that he is chasing wrong ducks. He moves to Bangalore and finds Krish as his romance mentor. Krish is a cool guy who wears t-shirts with fancy quotes. Krish grooms him to be fun but Arjun slowly turns into a playboy.
There are eight different girls in the book out of which the romance/fun is described in details with six of them. The interludes are fun to read about in the beginning but later you find yourself knocking Arjun’s head and push him pages forward.
There is a constant generalization of women in the book ie, they take long to dress up, they like teddy bears, etc. The author has complete liberty of designing his own characters but Arjun just started boring us with less than smart comments on girls.
I just wished there was more diversity in situations Arjun was put in, even the way he thought. The content got repetitive at times where you will find skipping paragraphs and counting pages left to finish the chapter.
The book is filled with the usual substance that any youth-oriented book contains ie, parties, beautiful women, drunk driving, sexcapades etc. It was fun in the beginning but towards the end, the overdose felt suffocating.
Language
Language is simple. It is crude at places. There are sentences that could have been better written. Arjun’s poetry also sounds like nursery rhymes. Language isn’t the best part of this book.
Good points
The cover page is beautiful. The book is fun at certain places. Krish is a great character to listen too.
Bad points
He characters lacked depth. The content got repetitive at places. The language fails to stir your emotions. It is not gripping enough.
Overall
I did not dislike the book altogether but I didn’t like it much too. The absence of this book in my life wouldn’t have made any difference.
Whom do I recommend this to
This is a light read recommended to those who wouldn’t like to delve too much into details while reading. It is a fun read for those who have not read a book on the similar theme before.
Quotable quotes
Looks don’t matter is the greatest lie ever told.
The book was sent by writersmelon for review. The opinions here are my own, completely uninfluenced.