Book Review: Shit Happens!
By Karan Puri
About the Book:
Anurag Sinha, a thoroughbred nerd, leads a cocooned life, confined more or less to the four walls of his room. A one-of-a-kind dad, a weepy mother and weird relatives complete his life. Average girls ignore him, hot girls bully him and school studs abuse him. His shitty Delhi existence goes on until the big day arrives. Our hero gets a scholarship. To University of Rochester. To New York. To United States of Bloody AMERICA! Life must only look uphill from now on. America must be at least hundred times better than India. But shit happens. All the time. Everywhere. Even in America! A roller-coaster American ride leads our desi boy to an exceptional journey rippling with twists and turns. Nonchalant blondes, mugless washrooms, strange slangs, good-hearted friends, beefy encounters, boozy nights and even a white girlfriend—America shows Anurag itself in all its psychedelic craziness. But dreams and roller-coaster rides don’t go on forever. What will happen to our hero? Will he return to his life in India or will he stay on? Dream on!
Review:
Okay, when one reads the description of the book above, it has a lot of promise and the title in itself portrays that it has got to be funny.
“Shit Happens” is a book in which most definitely a lot of SHIT happens but in a good way!
The book portrays the life story, well a part of the life story, of Anurag who is scared to ‘shit’ by talking to girls. Never ever has even spoken to any girl in his life and when he did, he felt an urge to ‘shit’ to put it in the broad sense.
The story begins on a really promising note. Anurag is a perfect nerd and has gladly accepted the fact too. The family portrayed too is a typical Indian family and you don’t find it hard to accept it and you might even find it relatable on so many different levels.
Shit happens is an easy to read roller coaster joyride of Anurag’s state of affairs from the time he lands in America (and the plane journey which is hilarious in parts) to whatever happens in his journey from the Airport to the University and after that. The characters of Lizzy and Aaron are typical as far as the life of an average American student goes even though I have my doubts as far as the mentality that has been portrayed is concerned.
The book is pretty fast paced and easy to read and there are parts which are beyond hilarious and you just have a good laugh as you go on reading. There are situations that have been picked up with a neat observation and have been portrayed well. If you think of it, the situations that Anurag faces throughout his stay in America appear to be close to real life. There hasn’t been much detail described in the book which even though isn’t a good thing but it goes really well with the theme, the fast paced story line.
The book throttles on and you just can’t stop laughing while reading certain pages. It pretty much portrays the truth of life- SHIT Happens in everyone’s life and sometimes you just can’t do anything about it.
There are moments though when you are tempted to think that it could have been described in a much better way but well this is a pretty neat try and a descent first effort.
Read this one for a couple of good laughs and even though you wouldn’t find it as the most ‘clean’ humor but well ‘shit’ can never be ‘clean’ can it? icon wink Book Review: Shit Happens! books way spotlight Shit Happens journey india hero Happens Book Anurag Sinha
All in all a pretty nifty try and surely a one time read for it’s entertainment value.
