The story was good, but the language could have had been made better. Interesting storyline but, it lacked realistic potent to a large degree. I read it back in 2018 and although not a huge disappointment, it didn't entertain me as I had expected it might. ( )

An enjoyable story...

Chetan Bhagat reuses the literary device he used in his previous novel, "One Night @ the Call Center" of listening to someone else's story and retelling it to us. But that only means some pages in italics at the beginning and the end and doesn't really interfere with the novel, except for switching the perspective at the conclusion.

It opens with Bhagat receiving an emailed suicide note from someone in Ahmedabad he's never heard of before. Intrigued and worried he wants to do something to help, but doesn't know what to do. Fortunately, "there are advantages in having a wife who is smarter than you" and she tells him to call an old college professor there... Finding out the unknown suicide's name and what hospital he's in, Bhagat can't relax at all and flies from Singapore to India to talk to him.

From there it's all Govind's story about his and his two oldest best friends' ambitions and the three big mistakes he made that drove him to kill himself.

Set against a backdrop of real events in Gujarat and India, earthquake, religious riots and international cricket, we follow the rise of Govind, Ish and Omi's small business as they try to balance their individual interests. Only Govind has a head for business, math and logic, but he learns about passion from his friends, like Ish's passion for cricket and Omi's for his family's political ambitions. And when he curses strongly in front of Ish's younger sister and apologizes she says he needn't, it's a sign of passion and she likes when he does it.

In the end, all three mistakes are resolved, of course. One is resolved long before the end and hardly seems a big mistake at all. The others take a bit more time.

I enjoyed the book overall. It was a fun read. ( )

One mistake of my life. The time I'll never get back. ( )

A gripping page turning fun novel ( )

Ugh. I can't believe this book made it to the publishing stage! Was my mistake in reading it! ( )