This has been one book I have been wanting to read ever since it launched as there were lots of good reviews about the book.I don't know if I am the only one on this but many of my book buying decisions are taken on the basis of the book cover!Honestly...a story may sound good to read but if the book cover is not attractive I usually don't end up buying it.I faced a similar dilemma with MFS's book cover!It had a lizard on its cover and for me anything that's a creepy crawly is an absolute no-no.So every time I entered the bookstore I looked at the book and just shook my head with regret.If we get talking about book covers I think Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's cover designs are so brilliant and awesome!
Okay that is getting a bit off the topic back to the book review I finally managed to get over the cover and recently picked up the book from Crossword.The story revolves around a journalist Abir Ganguly who works for a tabloid and is assigned as a crime beat reporter.While on the job one day he ends up being a witness to a police encounter gone wrong.He files a short report on the incident and forgets all about it until one day his editor asks him to do a story on the encounter and how an innocent got killed due to incorrect police information.He is asked to write about the man who died,Mohammed Iqbal, in the encounter with the help of his daughter Muneeza (Sancho) and his employer Meenakshi.Over a few meetings a friendship forms between Sancho and Abir.Sancho is unaware that Abir was present at the time when the encounter took place.Will the truth, when revealed end their friendship?
So that's the story in a nutshell. When I picked up the book I felt the book will give us an insight into tabloid journalism.The life and times of a journalist who works for a tabloid newspaper and on reading the first five pages I felt I had made the right decision and the story would be a good read but sadly the book was highly disappointing.Unfortunately the book after the first few pages veers into inanities,the wise cracks that Abir spews become annoying.The writer seems to have got totally confused as to how to proceed with the book whether he should make the book an insight into tabloid journalism,a love story,or make it a funny/sarcastic chronicle of Abir Ganguly's life.
Since this book was loved by many going by the glowing reviews this book got I might be a much hated person for admitting this, but the book was far from good and failed to sustain my interest till the end.
I might be disappointed with the debut book but I look forward to Amit Varma's next in the hope that the next will have a definite plot,well etched characters,and the author is in total control of where the book is heading and what story he is trying to convey to the reader.
A bit about the author :
'My Friend Sancho' is Amit Varma's debut book.Amit Varma is a journalist turned writer.He is a very well known for his blog India Uncut .He has written for The Wall Street Journal ,The Guardian and The Observer as well as many Indian publications and won the Bastiat Prize for Journalism in 2007.
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