One Night at the Call Centre
This weekend I finished the much-hyped (and much-bashed) book by Chetan Bhagat. I was rather disappointed by this book. Although almost all the reviews I had read about it in the papers had thumbed it down, I still had hopes; but well, they were meant not to be. After I had read one-third of the book, I was not particulary interested or enthused to finish it - something that does not happen with me often.
The book is about six people working in night shifts in a team in a call centre, the doom of which is imminent. The book talks of their personal and professional crises, and in the end they set on their way to triumphing over their setbacks.
So, what do I think is wrong with it? That it is very superficial and shallow. Although the setting is new, the story is trite and cliched. Probably I have read too many books with a similar underlying plot, but with much better treatment. It appears that the author has tried to make the emotional upheavel of the characters as the main focus of the book, but the depiction has no depth. The solution they figure out for their professional problems sounds very unrealistic. On the whole, it feels like an account of few of the problems faced by working people, borrowed from miscellaneous sources, and patched (I wont call it "woven") into a story. Even the narration in first person lacks conviction, which was a big plus in his first book, Five Point Someone.
8 comments:
No Wonder - I am not able to muster enough energy to finish this thin book. I started this on high recommendation from a colleague and for past 6 months I am just trying to finish this novel.
Did I ever mention what got me to your Blog....!! Your first 3 selection of books - To Sir with Love/To kill a mockingbird/Bridges of the Maddison county - First I have seen as movie and also read in text books, second as a play and book and third also as book.
Haha! I am not surprised either :-) Go, thrash the person who recommended it ;-)
Hmmm ... So you are a fan of those ones too. They are Classics, aren't they ? I have the CD for 'To kill a mocking bird', but never got around to watching it. 'Bridges of Madison County' is also made into a movie (just in case you didn't know) - Its a beautiful movis starring Clint Eastwood in the lead. I too read excerpts from 'To Sir With Love' in the english textbook!
Lol...I think the lady in ? will not like me thrashing her. She might retaliate in kind and push me off the cliff...we are planning a trip to hills next weekend...!
Yeah - I agree they are classic.I knew about the movie as one of fav 100 tearjerkers...but not the lead. I can imagine him enacting the part of loner n lover.
It seems you have watched this movie.
Finally Cheers to our bonding !!
Ys ... I have the CD for the 'Bridges of Madison County' ..like to borrow ? ;-) :-P
Yes, it is a lovely movie, and captures the aura of the book (an expectation that most moves fall short at).
And Cheers!! :-))
Lol! Yes .. I too would not like the lady in question to push you down the cliff ... have to worry about my readership :-D
Was going through some of your older posts and found this one! Kinda opportunity for me to loathe the book!
I may have briefly mentioned on my blog how I was disappointed with One night@call center!I haven't read Five Point Someone so I had no impressions or notions about the author. Well, I found the book interesting till the twist! Very shabbily handled! Hardly convincing! I agree with you when you call it 'supericial'. It was as if the author had enough floss to keep it going and suddenly ran out of ideas to thicken the plot! Why the hell such books(and authors) are hyped? Even the end is too vague. Absolute waste of time!
LeziB, curse it all you like :-) Vent out all your frsutration! You have some like-minded people here :-D
But inspite of 'One Night...' , I can assure you that 'Five Point Someone' was worth reading !
I too found it impossible to read it in one go. My mom had it. I tried reading it on one of my trips home.. couldn't finish it. The next time I went home, I somehow finished it and was utterly disappointed. I like 'Five Point Someone'. It was very realistic.. but this one was shabby, especially the climax and the way it end. Nice blog.. haven't read too much of it, but cheers.. keep it going.
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