Few years ago, one man wrote a book on three IIT college
students and their misadventures. Little did he know that his book would become
an overnight rage, attain cult status in the coming years and initiate hundreds
of mediocre so called writers to publish their own novel along with their
banking / engineering / IT profession?
And so in the last few years, we have been tortured with
numerous novels which describe college life, love stories during college life,
stories about friends and how they encounter troubles. Most of the so called
authors failed miserably in coming up with good novels. Infact many of them
were downright horrible.
THANKFULLY, Manav Vigg presents to us a novel which breaks
free of all the above said clichés.
“CONFUSED
BASTARDS” is indeed a unique title. My wife saw the novel and remarked,
“What sorts of books are you reading?” However after I finished reading the
book, I felt the title was pretty apt.
PLOT
Confused bastards starts from where most novels finish –
post the graduation and post graduation. It tells us the story of three friends
– Jai, Aakash and vivek.
While Aakash is the son of a senior IAS officer trying to
make his own reputation without any help from his father, Vivek’s character is
much layered. From being a topper in both IIT and IIM to a failed marriage to
finally quitting his job, he had seen it all.
Jai’s character is the most developed one. It would be ideal
to call him the protagonist. After all, he is the only one who has a female
companion.
The plot takes off when all the three, frustrated from their
own careers and lives, finally decide to start a joint venture – a social media
platform where people can put up anything they want – be it joy, frustration,
anger or just about anything. However, instead of writing it down, people can
post videos here. It is one thing venting out your frustration in text and
recording the same thing and putting it online.
Good idea? Well yes. And so they go further with their idea.
From being a small startup, they soon taste success. However, they are soon
about to taste something bitter too. What is that? That is all what CB is
about.
WRITING &
POSITIVES
Manav Vigg’s writing is fresh, to the point and devoid of
unnecessary nonsense. There is the routine deluge of cuss words as is
associated with any such novel, but even that is kept limited. I liked the way
he has developed the 3 characters.
He delves into the personal lives of all 3, but only
superficially. He spares us of boring melodrama and family flashbacks.
The writing is crisp, with witty banter and some very good
sequences.
I particularly liked the scene where a drunk Jai first meets
the female lead of the book. It is slapstick with a bit of toilet humour (Literally!)
but humorous nonetheless.
Also, I loved all the videos the trio records during their
initial startup days – be it the family under the bridge or the office video
with the 2 guys discussing an absolutely outrageous but funny topic.
But the best thing about the book is how the author changes
genres post the twist in the tale. It could have ended up as another confused
plot, but then we are introduced to the 4th character SATTU who un jumbles
all the confusions within their minds. The entire idea of taking a philosophical
approach is what makes this novel different from the other novels these days.
NEGATIVES
Considering that the book is not too lengthy, I would have
liked a better developed romantic track between Jai and the female lead. I however
loved the surprise twist on the last page.
Secondly, I would have liked if the author would have
dedicated one chapter each to the 3 characters where they would in a nutshell
describe their entire story in “First person”. I agree they do narrate their
own stories during the Q&A with Sattu, but a portion in first person makes
a lot of difference.
Also, the entire rape sequence starts off well; but fizzles
a bit towards the end. The politician’s character is half baked.
OVERALL, “CONFUSED BASTARDS” is a pretty well
written novel which symbolizes the inner mental confusion of the youth of
today. It is Manav Vigg’s version of an imtiaz Ali movie – confused characters
being the common entity. However, this novel is much better than most of the
stuff that is being churned out these days. Also, this is a book which HAS the
potential to attain cult status provided it is marketed well and provided luck
favors the book.
P.S : I received this book from writersmelon in for an unbiased and fair review.
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