Thursday, 1 October 2020

One Arranged Murder


Details of the Book

No. of Pages    : 312 pages

ISBN               : 978-1542094139

Language         : English

 

From the book blurb

‘Ever since you found Prerna, I lost my best friend’ is what I told Saurabh.

Hi, this is Keshav, and Saurabh, my best friend, flat mate, colleague and business partner, won’t talk to me. Because I made fun of him and his fiancée.

Saurabh and Prerna will be getting married soon. It is an arranged marriage. However, there is more cheesy romance between them than any love-marriage couple.

On Karva Chauth, she fasted for him. She didn’t eat all day. In the evening, she called him and waited on the terrace for the moon and for Saurabh to break her fast. Excited, Saurabh ran up the steps of her three-storey house. But when he reached …

Welcome to One Arranged Murder, an unputdownable thriller from India’s highest-selling author. A story about love, friendship, family and crime, it will keep you entertained and hooked right till the end.


Author

Chetan Bhagat is the author of eight blockbuster books. These include six novels—Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005), The 3 Mistakes of My Life (2008), 2 States (2009), Revolution 2020 (2011), Half Girlfriend (2014), One Indian Girl (2016), The Girl in Room 105 (2018) —and the non-fiction titles, What Young India Wants (2012) and Making India Awesome (2015). Chetan’s books have remained bestsellers since their release. Several of his novels have been adapted into successful Bollywood films.

  

What I think

Saurabh’s only love, Prerna, whom he met through an arranged marriage is dead. Is it an accident, suicide or murder, nobody knows! He is such a foodie that he is obese, obsessed with food and lives to eat food. He shares his flat with Keshav is a fitness freak; a flirt who sleeps with random women he meets in Tinder and judges Saurabh big-time for both his actions and reactions. And yes, they are best friends who share a love-hate relationship.

 

As I read through the 300 odd pages, I had serious issues with the way Keshav judges Saurabh and how there is too much description about food that it almost starts getting redundant, distracting and irritating. Something good happened - Eat. Something bad happened - Eat. Nothing happened - Eat. And I had problems with the body shaming part too. I understand that’s Keshav’s perspective and all that; that perspective simply reduced the pace.

 

Having said that, the narrative maintains the suspense and therefore the book becomes quite gripping. There are plot twists and interesting unexpected revelations. I really enjoyed this rendition from Mr. Bhagat. Definitely a breezy read and a good alternative to OTTs - Go for it!

 

Rating

3.5/5


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