Title: JACK IS BACK IN CORPORATE CARNIVAL
By: P. G.
Bhaskar
 |
| JACK IS BACK IN CORPORATE CARNIVAL |
About the Author (From the Book): P.G Bhaskar is a
twenty-first century banker and in that capacity needs everyone’s empathy. A
chartered accountant, he left India for Dubai in 1992 and, what with one thing
and the other, stayed put, watching the city grow. He now lives there with his
wife and teenage son.
Bhaskar is one of the modern world’s
thinkers and philosophers. He thinks deeply about several things, including but
not limited to, the ups and downs of Indian cricket, why Pluto stopped being a
planet, who chose February to have fewer days than other months, and his
frequently missing handkerchiefs. He has come to no conclusions on these
issues, or indeed on any issue. Nevertheless, he continues to ponder. In the
meantime, he has decided to write books, despite being warned that nobody below
the age of seventy-two reads nowadays.
ISBN: 9789350293515
Cover Price: Rs.
150.00
Format: Paperback
Rating: 3.5/5
Something about the book (from the Book’s cover):
When a former colleague offers Jack
Patel and his best friend Kitch a job with a conservative British bank in
Dubai, Jack has no qualms about taking it up. Solidity and stability are just
what he is looking for.
But changes are afoot at the bank.
Power struggles within a complex and changing hierarchy ensure a series of
problems for young Jack. And who would have thought that the football World Cup
would turn things topsy-turvy for the bank. Jack escapes this madness as he
flies from Dubai to Africa to Chennai, hopping from one hilarious situation to
the next.
He rescues Kitch’s wife from a
ghost, faces a football quiz that can make or break his career, masters the
nuances of Zulu pronunciation, encounters pirates (well, almost) and is forced
to choose between a client’s two wives- all in all, a rollicking roller-coaster
ride.
Now for my View:
Well I haven’t read P.G Bhaskar’s
first novel, so this was my very first time on his turf. I began reading this
book on the day India was playing Pakistan and we were again about to lose
miserably. So I went and picked up this book to get away from the heart break
and viola the book too began with how Indian Cricket Team lost again! Well that
was the first of many Indian idiosyncrasies, if I may call it that, in the book.
The book had a sticker on its cover claiming it was the Funniest Book of the
Year, so that straightaway pushed up my expectations up a notch! So let me get
straight to the point the book is a hilarious read indeed. It might not be the
funniest thing I read but hey it’s certainly better that many I happened to
have read in the recent times. The book has some soft tickling moments and you’ll
find yourself smiling without even realizing that you are. So yes it’s a good
book to pick up and I am glad Harper Collins sent it across so that I could
read it!
I wouldn't want to say anything
about the plot as the excerpt from the book’s cover says a lot. Or, perhaps just that the story does go through some interesting situations. The language is good undoubtedly
except for one slight detail that I don’t particularly like and that’s
including Hindi in an English novel. But lately that seems to be the trend so
can’t be too picky on that, can I? His writing is witty, ironic and satirical.
So go for it and you will savor the experience. It’s light and certainly much
better than the works available these days in the Indian Literary scene.
So I recommend it and would love to
know what you thought of it!