Book Review: The First Trillionaire by Sapna Jha

The First Trillionaire

Author: Sapna Jha

Publisher: AuthorsUpFront

Rating: 3/5

Who doesn’t like the old school stories where a Godmother paves the way to a little girl’s success? ‘The First Trillionaire’ is a novella that offers a chance to relive those old days, for it is based on a character that helps the protagonist materialize her dreams without asking for anything in return. This might sound strange, but the plot has been woven with threads of conspiracy, affection, mystery and love and that adds to the flavor of the story.

Shail, the protagonist, loses her father when she is a child. Her mother, being a single mother, fights many odds to raise her daughter and she takes care not to burn her bridges as her daughter’s future is at stake. The story begins with Shail being held captive by the kidnappers – Bachcha Singh’s gang. The authoress has taken care to present the lady as innocent yet determined. Her quest to free herself from the clutches of the goons complements her prowess to get a government job. Just like all ordinary girls, she dreams of earning well and leading a satisfactory life. She, too, wants her mother to live the life that was meant for her. But the tables are turned when a woman named Olivia offers to transfer her assets worth billions to Shail. Her dreams change. Her desires become impractical (at least for the readers). This being the rising action of the plot, takes the story forward.

There is no doubt in the fact that the plot was refreshing. But yet again the use of Hindi as a medium of conveying the feelings of the characters acted as a turn off for me. The authoress has tried really hard to portray Shail’s hard-bitten past to arouse empathy for the lead character. But at times, the pieces of the jigsaw did not seem to fit in the puzzle properly. Some situations and the connecting responses were impractical like the one when Olivia, the stranger (in the beginning) offers the Shail an opportunity to fulfill her dreams.

The book failed to impress me by its looks; the cover seemed superficial. The lengthy monologues and the presence of so many characters hindered the comfortable reading. The editing is not finely tuned as one can encounter mistakes in the tenses time and again. The story is fast-paced but the page count could have been easily cut short. Irrelevant back stories could have been avoided.

Overall, I appreciate the storyline because it moves on a track other than love. Good effort by the authoress!

Buy the book from:

Amazon

Review Copy: Provided by Urbookmyreview.com

Book Review: The “I’ve no time to cook” Book by Veena Gidwani

The “I’ve no time to cook” Book

Author: Veena Gidwani

Publisher: Half Baked Beans Publishers

Rating: 3.5/5

Your diet is a bank account. Good food choices are good investments.

~Bethenny Frankel

With the deadlines hovering over our minds, the managers shouting their heads off, the home demanding the most time, we would be fools to not say that life is just a bowl of cherries, isn’t it?  Time is precious and all our ancestors have already implanted this idea in our minds but one thing they forgot to implant is that time for self is precious too. 

Read more here.

Book Review: The Book of Indian Dogs by S. Theodore Baskaran

The Book of Indian Dogs

Author: S. Theodore Baskaran

Publisher: Rupa Publishers

Rating: 3/5

The bond with a true dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth will ever be. 

~Konrad Lorenz

Everybody loves dogs not only because they are adorable but because finding a loyal and true friend like him is equivalent to finding a needle in the haystack. Anything and everything about them is exciting barring their illness and death. And so was this book when it was offered to me. A comprehensive guide to Indian Dog Breeds- who would miss that?

This book doesn’t come with a blurb and the tagline on the cover does the job of describing what might be in store for the readers (might be). As now most of you would have already clicked on the Amazon link to check out the book, you would be already expecting a class act. But the book might come as a disappointment to most dog lovers, for it fails as a reference or as a guide. It majorly talks about the history and the origin of breeds in India. Also, with no proper mention of the means and solutions, the author has simply pointed out the deficiencies in the country and the conventions that are only happening in certain areas.

It would be unfair to appreciate the positives in the book. Though less, the pictures still do a great job. The content about different breeds is interesting because probably we would not have even heard about it. A more comprehensive description would have been better. The language is lucid and the lengthy descriptions sound interesting if you are a Dog Person.

The book is a good read but some sections might not be according to the likes of the dog lovers. Buy at your own risk.

Buy this book at:

Amazon

Review copy: Provided by Rupa Publishers