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Book Review: Zindagi Live by Priyadarshan (Translated by Vandana R Singh)

Introduction
  • Genre: Fiction
  • Publishers: Juggernaut
  • Price: Rs. 60/- (I got this book from the publisher for a review)
Chaos reigns. TV anchor Sulabha and news reporter Vishal forget to pick up their son from the crèche and later find him missing. Written by senior NDTV journalist Priyadarshan, the book follows their increasingly desperate search against the backdrop of one of the most horrific attacks in the city’s history. Author and teacher, Dr Vandana R Singh brilliantly translates the story to English.
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Behind the book

Source: Juggernaut.com
 


About the author

Priyadashan is a senior NDTV journalist by profession and a writer and poet by inclination. He also dabbles in translations. 

Me thinks
Before we begin with the review as this is the first book I have read on Juggernaut App I would like to share something about that too. Juggernaut publishing house is the first in India to bring books to mobile. They release only mobile formats of some very amazing titles and within a year or their launching they really do have an impressive line up. Time to time they also have lot of free books (classics!) up for grabs and regular discounts for all book lovers. This makes it a perfect must have app for every book lover isn't it? This app is available in both iOS and Android versions and is a very easy to understand one.
I was sent this book on their app for a review. Somehow my experience with this app has been okay. My biggest complaint being if I am in an area without internet or poor network connection it refuses to let me access my books. I love travelling and enjoy books during my journeys to kill time. But this way I am not able to access my library. And it is disheartening! That is when I rate Kindle higher because it allows me to access my books even without internet once I have it in my device. *Edited to add * I confirmed with the Juggernaut team there is an option to download the book on your device which resolves this issue and then the book can be read without internet. At any given point of time you can have upto 20 books on your device. Apart from this Juggernaut with its bright and breezy covers makes it very soothing to the eye to pick and read. Moreover their collection is too tempting.
Coming to the book- An ambitious career woman whose son gets kidnapped and she goes onto a guilt trip before finally taking things into her hand to find him - a perfect potboiler promising of thrill till the last page and killing you with excitement just to know what happened. I started reading this book one night when there was a power outage at my house and it was raining badly. Perfect ambiance you might add, yes that is what I wanted. I wanted to feel the book for I loved the plot. Mind you, there is no whoddunit in the whole book. Very early in the book we are told who did it, its the chase which is what keeps the reader glued till the last page.
What works for me - the dark and dirty side of Delhi with its politicians and real estate mafia at work. It was a treat reading about them. The coverage of 26/11 was superb. It gave me goosebumps. What detailing and what a lovely description. It made all those scenes come alive. I loved the way the author showed us how the news channels function.

What doesn't work for me - What starts as a promising story right from the cover to the blurb sadly doesn't deliver for me somewhere half way through. It gets a little predictable as it feels the author wanted to fill in pages just for the sake of it. Also add to it some typos and other such minor errors. These all put together kill the charm of reading this book completely.
Will I recommend this book? Ofcourse! it is a  fairly written thriller with some amazing high moments when the reader in me was really taken aback whilst enjoying the roller coaster ride. The climax was really enjoyable and I laughed a lot at the way it end. All in all, it was like a complete Bollywood Masala movie where the good wins against the evil in the end and we all clap in joy to go home with smiling faces.

Foodie Verdict

This book is like arbi paratha - different and tasty!

Source: www.evernewrecipes.com
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