Book - 'The 3 Mistakes of my Life'

I recently bought Chetan Bhagat's third book 'The 3 Mistakes of my life'. The author is already a sensation in the Indian readers circle with both his earlier books being well received; they are also in the process of being adapted into Bollywood movies. The book's blurb claims that he has become the 'biggest-selling English-language novelist in India's history'!

Chetan Bhagat is no literary genius. However, he has a very interesting and humorous writing style that instantly strikes a chord with the Indian masses. The plots revolve around general topics that evince interest in the urban readers - college life, call centres, cricket and the like. Rupa & Co, the publisher has tactically priced all the 3 books at Rs.95 making them easily affordable for the middle class target audience.

And now here’s my take on the books. I would rank them in the same order as their publishing:

• The first book 'Five Point Someone' was just magical and mindblowing - recreating the typical college backbencher's story in a very humorous way.
  
• The second book 'One night at the call centre' did retain some of the freshness and creative writing style of the author, though it had an unrealistic plot towards the end – what with the ‘divine’ intervention and movie-plot like settling-the-score with the corporate bosses.
  
• This final book 'The 3 mistakes of my life' has a more serious story and touches upon some of the core issues in today's society, wherein the author presents a contemporary view of cricket, business and politics. However, the book largely misses the trademark humorous writing which we’ve come to expect from the author. This is tantamount to casting Jim Carrey in a serious plot with a tragic ending!

Missing the characteristic punch, the book was largely a lackadaisical read. The book also has a very filmi plot, probably a side-effect of the author getting into mainstream Bollywood screenplay writing! Here’s hoping that Chetan Bhagat’s future books revolve around his characteristic style of writing and recreate the freshness and magic seen in his first book.