Book Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

About the book:

Title: Everything, Everything

Published by:  Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Published on: September 1st, 2015

Pages: 320 pages

Genre: Young-adult

Rating: 5/5
Book Blurb: This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster

About the author

Nicola Yoon grew up in Jamaica (the island) and Brooklyn (part of Long Island). She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA with her husband and daughter, both of whom she loves beyond all reason. Everything, Everything is her first novel.

Find the author here: 

Social media:

                         

My Review:

Everything, Everything is the kind of young-adult book which you will hate and love in equal measures, and you certainly wouldn't be able to leave it once you start it. Touching upon themes like love, relationships (and not just romantic ones), rare disease, coping with grief, this book is certainly one of the best you'll read this year, and certainly one of the best in the genre.

It is a fictional account of Maddy who suffers from an illness called SCID, and she'll endear herself to you in practically no time.
The opening lines go like this, "I’VE READ MANY more books than you. It doesn’t matter how
many you’ve read. I’ve read more. Believe me. I’ve had the time"
These lines are like a trailer to the rest of the book. It has a warmth, an innocence, a humor, a playfulness and a certain poignant feel of tragedy, which is so unknown of books in this genre.
If I've ever read a book which encompassed so many human emotions in gloriously heart-warming paragraphs, I'd say it was in John Green's Paper Towns.

"My birthday is the one day of the year that we’re both most
acutely aware of my illness. It’s the acknowledging of the passage
of time that does it. Another whole year of being sick, no
hope for a cure on the horizon. Another year of missing all
the normal teenagery things—learner’s permit, first kiss, prom,
first heartbreak, first fender bender. Another year of my mom
doing nothing but working and taking care of me. Every other
day these omissions are easy, easier at least, to ignore.
This year is a little harder than the previous. Maybe it’s because
I’m eighteen now. Technically, I’m an adult. I should be
leaving home, going off to college. My mom should be dreading
empty-nest syndrome. But because of SCID, I’m not going
anywhere."
For many of us, this book has been resting on our to-read shelves for half as long as it took for this book to transform from a manuscript into a published masterpiece. Because, this is the kind of book that stays with you long after you've deserted it.

I use the adjective heart-warming. But I do believe that the plot is both heart-warming and heart-shattering at the same time. The brilliance with which the plot has been etched is so sheer, and so well-executed that I cannot even talk about the author's creative prowess without giving it all away.
To say that the story line is well thought out, would be an understatement- it is far too perfect for a debut.
The protagonist of our story, Madeline Whittier is doctored by her mother, who puts her medical skills to the best use. But her skills cannot help much, for when you are allergic to the whole world, so vulnerable and so fragile, life doesn't appear very exciting no matter what. This is when her neighbours move in, and it changes everything. What the story has in store of you is humor, warmth, romance, defiance, revelations, and tests of relationships unlike ever before, and in abundance.

The characters are equally well thought-out, what with their quirks and eccentricities.
The book, through its unforgettable characters unfailingly brings out human foibles  and the oddities and frailties of life. It is an absolute intriguing read. It will make you stare in disbelief at the twists of fate, it will choke your heart with a fullness that only certain actions can provoke. You'll cry. But not once will you think of leaving the book- this is how strong the charm is.

What also makes this book a fast read, is the use of vignettes, diary entries, charts, illustrations, images.
Carla, Madaline's nurse, Olly and his family- all characters are so important to the plot, and so unforgettable. Never once do you feel like skimming through the pages, rather you re-read the paragraphs, devour them and let them ruin your peace or make you erupt in laughter.

Olly's and maddy's romance will have you gleaming in childish delight, and you'll ship them in no time.
If this book doesn't give you the feels, you perhaps haven't read it right.
Just a warning, though: You might throw this book after reading because it will hurt too much when reality and truth strike.

Links to the book:

                                         

Quotes from the book:

For more quotes, follow:

     

Source of the review copy: Netgalley

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Book Review: The Sales Room by Manu Ramesh

About the book:

Rajesh Iyer, a young, ambitious salesperson, returns to ñThe Sales Roomî of Oregon Software Technologies after an aborted attempt at getting into a business school in the US, only to notice the metamorphosis of the software start-up which he had earlier been an integral part of. What used to be a rat-infested hole in the midst of a vegetable market is now a swanky, state of the art facility owned by an upcoming Bollywood star. The enthusiastic and compact team firing on all cylinders is replaced by a sclerotic and bureaucratic set up. Sales review meetings, once rife with passionate discussions, are now replete with profanities. The ill tempered angel investor's scream can be heard all the way from his villa in New York.Rajesh, now shunted into an innocuous role finds every effort made to alleviate the condition of the demoralized sales team, met with resistance. As revenues dwindle and tempers rise, Rajesh realizes he is running out of time and options. He either toes the CEO, Venky's line and becomes party to a sham or quits citing a host of plausible reasons. This hilarious narrative takes the reader from plush corporate boardrooms of Bangalore to the seedy hotels in Delhi as Oregon meanders in search of illusory customer wins. Rajesh meets several interesting characters ranging from the busty Polish graphics designer to the loquacious pimp masquerading as a taxi driver. (less)

Paperback, 196 pages
Published January 30th 2014 by Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd

My Review:

Here's a very different genre of book: it is fiction blended in with as much bitter truths of sales profession as possible. It is not unknown that salespersons are the most dishonest people you'll ever come across in your life. "The Sales Room" is nothing less than a satire on the sales scene in Indian IT sector. Rajesh, our ptotagonist makes no effort to be innocent, which he obviously isnt. The software start-up, Oregon has now scaled up from the humble start-up business that it previously was.

Profanities, expletives and sexual talks are intermittently and casually invading the conversations, making the job of working there even more impossible.
It is hilarious with all these elements, but one questions how much is too much? As far as the moral compass for the book goes, the score is a negative, even for a sales department, for there are clearly more profanities than necessary.

The good part about the book is that it is very insightful. Through various instances and events, the reader gets an idea of how the things actually work in the start-up/sales/investor scene in India. How the marketing centralization delays decision-making and holds the projects in an infinite loop of approvals and rejections. How when the product has failed to deliver any purpose, but still needs to be sold to gullible customers. And how such practices ensure that the organisation shall not survive in the  long-run. As the narrator himself remarks about the customers at one point, "They would not waste money on us if they could help it and if they were blessed with even a modicum of intelligence"
Oregon is a quintessential example of how when one department lacks skills and talent, it takes away all other departments as it drowns and hence the company never progresses.
The result is predictable: not many people stay with the organization, whether as customer or as employee, and those who do stay back for lack of alternatives, suffer from a low morale. In short, there is no hope for Oregon.

All the theory you learnt in your business studies textbook is there in front of your eyes happening among the vivid characters. From HR to marketing to sales tactics to need for diversity in workplace to sexual harassment and extra-marital affairs, there is nothing this bool doesn't cover.

I might do with little less expletives and at little more appropriate places though. I don't mind them using real life slang but then there's only so much you can take.

Links to the book:

I Thank the author for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: F**k It Is the Answer by John C Parkin

About the book:

Think of a question – any question! (okay, maybe not a question like “what was the name of my physics teacher?”). Then turn to a page, and experience the magic… the magic of F**k It. We all have questions. And the bestselling F**k It books have provided answers to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The F**k It philosophy – of not worrying so much, of letting go more, of caring less what others think and doing your own thing – has provided answers that work in real life, every day.

In F**k It Is the Answer, John C. Parkin adds another element to the F**k It mix: by inviting you to ask your question, and then turn randomly to a page that offers you a F**k It-style answer, he recruits the magical powers of your own unconscious… or ‘fate’… or ‘spirit’… or whatever it is that seems to guide us to the correct answers when we allow it. So this book is about ‘allowing it’. Just as F**k It is about ‘allowing it’ – relaxing, trusting, going with the flow, and allowing the magic to happen. This book is F**k It Squared: taking the powerful wisdom of F**k It, and then recruiting whatever worldly or unworldly magic it is that makes this work.

Make no mistake though: work it does.

So… ask your question, and turn to a page

Hardcover, 248 pages

Published November 10th 2014 by Hay House, Inc.

About the Author:

John & Gaia have had a huge amount of press coverage over the last few years: mainly for their F**k It books and F**k It Weeks, but also for setting up The Hill That Breathes retreat centre in Italy, which won 'Best European Retreat' in 2011.

More about them here

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My Review:

"As a guide, say, you ask any question, and open up a random page for the answer, it can be a great resource indeed."

Our generation takes pride in the fact that they couldn't care less. Like, we have become so accustomed to hearing these ubiquitous phrases: so what?, big deal! what have I got to do with it? or the classic, "F**k it"

And this book provides us a way to channel all our energy into f**cking it, not giving a damn, but on a spiritual level. It does not make you feel guilty about being so carefree, instead this particular book tells you how f**k it is the answer to all your problems, questions, nagging doubts.

As it turns out, this is a book in a series of such books where the authors have brought forward the f**k it therapy.

I did not know about it before, and now upon seeing how successfully the whole mechanism is going on, the book begins to make sense. 

The first read made me feel all nauseous and I doubted if it was all just a parody. Sooner rather than later did I realize that this book was in fact re-iterating a strategy so that it becomes a chant for the reader. 

Certainly, the book helped me chant the apparently magical words to get through all questions: whether it be lack of focus, or lack of perspective. F**k it is the answer to all situations according to the book.

Although I haven't be able to comprehend in entirety what logical difference this strategy makes in times of difficulties or dilemmas, I will admit that it is at least a vent to the pent-up emotions.

As a guide, say, you ask any question, and open up a random page for the answer, it can be a great resource indeed.

Disclaimer: I received the review ebook from NetGalley

Book Review: Rescued by Love by Shilpa Suraj

About the book:

Paperback
180 pages
Harlequin India: Mills & Boon
MRP: Rs 150

When Naina Ahuja is kidnapped as hostage days before her father, a Supreme Court Chief Justice, must sentence a terrorist, the stakes are very high. Lt Col Arjun Rathore and his team are the only ones who can be trusted with the mission of saving her. 
During their arduous trek back through the hostile terrain of Ladakh, Arjun and Naina spend days in danger of losing their lives - and their hearts. Back in safety, the real world and its very real problems threaten – as do their own perceptions of the differences between them. 
They must separate – but will life rescue their love?

About the author:

Shilpa was a year and a half when she was first introduced to the world of books. Her mother would park her with a picture book on the floor of the kitchen while she finished her cooking for the day. While it’s no longer the kitchen floor, you can still find her tucked away in a cosy nook somewhere with her nose buried in a book. While books in all genres interest her, it was romance that captured her heart. While racing through every romantic fiction book she could beg, borrow or buy, her over active imagination started to work overtime and weave its own stories. Years in the corporate world followed by a stint of entrepreneurship crystallised her belief that all she really wanted to do was give life to the stories bubbling inside of her. She briefly managed to tear herself away from the world of fiction to find her own personal happily ever after and now spends her time happily focusing on the two loves of her life – family and writing romances.

My Review:

The first thing that comes to mind in the aftermath of reading the book is that we just read a sweet feel-good story. 

This is the story, a quintessential Mills and Boon, with a twist. 

Naina, daughter of the Chief Justice of India and Col. Arjun  fall in love with each ither during a rescue mission.  The girl is betrothed to a Fatty politician who she obviously didn't want to marry even before this mission in the first place, the love gives her an added excuse. She says, "Marrying a man you didn't want was bad enough but marrying him when you wanted another would be torture"

But this is dear life, and nothing is less than twisted. There are other problems to look after: a servile mother, a domineering sonavabitch father, principles, the  crooked, intricate concept of honour. 

A leap of 6 months and fates will be decided. This is where you need to pick up the novel and see for yourselves what happens in the story next. Which means that I am asking you to read it. Which further means that this is a novel worth reading.

Character sketches are impeccable: the incorrigible father who would rather not go back on his words lest they backfire than break a marriage. Just like that. This character is crafted meticulously, because sad though it be, such people exist in flesh and bones and arrogance and  much more. And such a character and its obstinacy makes the ending of the novel believable, and satisfying.

M&B novels are supposed to entertain you with romantic descriptions and a surreal boy-meets-girl-falls-in-love plot. This book manages to honour this image so well.

That said, it comes with its set of flaws. For one, it is a quick, fast-paced read. I, who can savour books for hours at stretch finished this book in a couple of hours. Because reader can be kept longing for more. Not more plot, the plot has been done right. Great even. The timings. The setting. The  characters. Everything flows seamlessly into the plot. What reader seeks more of, is the description. Maybe a third person narration can be cited as the culprit but then the reader certainly has a right to know in detail the feelings and emotions of a character s/he has associated himself with for more than a 100 pages. So, we know Naina is getting a roller coaster of emotions, but which ones? THAT is a big question.

I also adore the wordplay within the dialogues, which were, in addition, succinct too. A great effort has gone into them.

 This is where the characters lack. This is where everything gets neutral. The characters' actions will have you nodding in appreciation and not knowing their emotions would have you creasing your lips and forehead, both the things cancelling out to make it a great read, if not a brilliant one.

My Judgement:

When all is said and done, such a novel's gotta be read. 

Find the book here:

Book Review: Beyond school by Chitra Anand

About The Book:

Beyond School centres upon the weeks leading up to 17-year-old Shail s final board exams, as his world becomes a pressure-cooker and the weight of preparing for the exams sends him fleeing rebelliously in the other direction. Along with Shail s journey from boyhood to manhood, Beyond School vividly weaves between the narratives of four main characters, seamlessly uniting the past and present of Shail, his parents-Urmila and Sushil and his mentor-Gladys, in a story that is honest, funny, heartbreaking and ultimately, incredibly human.

About the Author:

Chitra Anand was born in Mumbai. She is a postgraduate in Physics and holds an Education degree. Beyond School is her first novel inspired by her journey as an educator.

My Review:
written in a lucid, and friendly narrative, the book seamlessly follows the story of Shail, a 17 year old, who is torn between his parents' expectations of him to perform well in Board exams and his own ambition to ace the soccer tournament.
Frog Books, an imprint of Lead Start Corp, Is churning great pieces. (Unconventional ones like The Devil's Gate). The writing is very real. And so is the plot. Very relevant. Very apt. Identifiable.
With just a little scope of improvement in editing, the plot and  story is ironically and undeniably tickling, heartbreaking at one time and so full of hope at another.
Above all it is so real, so bare and so open that one can almost dive into the book and look at things from Young adult's perspective.

Gladys' (mentor and teacher of the protagonist) character elicits a special, special mention. He character and its stort gives fodder for thought while simultaneously letting the plot seamlessly stretch, spanning two generations dealing with tgeur adolescence issues.  What Gladys is to Shail, her father was to her.
Her charcters probpem is quoted as "The girl worried: you needed to be nornal to exist peacefully in the school world-squint free eyes, twist less nose, correctly sized ears, unclipped lips, straight arms, stammer free speech, stupidity free brain ..."
Which makes us think, isnt this stuff we battle through our teenage. And then it strikes us dumb how real these stories are. Which is also the best part of the novel.

In the portrayal of Shail's skirmishes with his parents, advises lie with him for an untold gestation period and then at the least expected time, they come to fruitition.
His thoughts are an echo of this age of young-adult. When a teacher chides him calling him a terrorist,  he ponders why appreciation is never as intense as censure. And that such insults are too serious to get over, no panacea works for the wounded ego of the young-adult. No pacification, no compromise, no redemption.

More of such insights into the mind of people this age and more examples of how these are indeed our formative years, grab your copy. Although I doubt if this is temptation enough to buy a copy of ones own, but I would still have all school library shelves and all teachers and parents have a read.

Copies Available at all online stores:

1.    Flipkart:

2.    Amazon:  

Know More Inside Stories, Connect with The Author:

Twitter: @chtranand

Read the book? Write a review on Goodreads:

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I met Dan Brown and... ASDFGHJKL

Well, when I registered for the Penguin Lecture, and received my passes with much toil, I realized that when it comes to the following for Dan Brown, I have a lot of competition. But, what I failed to imagine was that there would be serpentine queues outside the venue, and people must have queued hours before the seating was to begin. Not to mention, the length of the queues was such that they went all the way to the dark shadows cast by the trees beyond the Asian Games Village complex. So many registrations had been cancelled, I should have surmised that the turnout would be overwhelming. Because when Dan Brown entered and was welcomed with a deafening applause, he seemed overwhelmed with surprised elation over the cheers and the standing ovation, perhaps, he was flattered by the magnitude of stardom his works have acquired for readers in India.

Brown who told the enthusiastic audience, some 1000-odd readers of all ages, that he visited India first when he was 19, and felt like he had come home.
I am still in trance of having seen the author and having heard him live, just a few hours before, so I will just highlight the best parts of those 70 minutes spent at Siri Fort auditorium. The lecture was titles 'Codes, Science and religion'




1. His stardom surpassed that of Amitabh Bachhan, a fact that the moderator for the event, Rajdeep Sardesai, himself a Penguin Author, stated matter-of-factly. Yet, he arrived well in time, and it was sharp 7 when he began. So much punctuality, it just had my friend in tears. With girls swooning over him as he arrived at the venue, one could have taken him for an actor. His words: Wow. Thank you. what a nice welcome. Terrific welcome. I am thrilled to be here.

2. His hilarity: Personally, I thought he would be a serious personality, but then I guess, Brown never ceases to surprise his fans. Joking about how the battle between science and religion is the definiton of his life: with a mother who was a church organist and a father who was a mathematics teacher. And the fact that sunday church service were as much a part of his childhood as were his fathers calculation over the best pizza deal at the pizza parlor.

3. He brought the number plates of his parents' cars that reflect their personalities, and his first book, that had a print run of one copy and was called ‘The Giraffe, The Pig and the Pants on fire' all the way across the ocean.

4. He even made fun of the fact that people find it upsetting when he asks the most obvious questions about God, telling the intrigued audience how he is assumed to be wreaking vengeance on God for not answering some childhood prayers. He expressed his confusion over reconciling the difference between science and religion.

5. All religions teach us the same thing: Kindness is better than cruelty, Creation is better than destruction and
Love is better than Hate

6. He was inspired by Hardy Boys to write.

7. He implores us to read the scriptures as metaphors, fables and myths so that we can draw our own lessons.

8. Pen is mightier than the sword. I believe it is. Because the thing about pen is that one pen can reach millions and millions of people. But with a sword, you have to work pretty hard to reach a million people.


Did I tell you he had to be encircled by bouncers from preventing him being attacked by crazy fans?

Check out why I love Angels and Demons here.