About the book:
Title: The Bestseller She Wrote
Paperback, 392 pages
Published October 28th 2015 by Westland
Published October 28th 2015 by Westland
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Rating: 4/5
Blurb: He was a bestseller She wanted him to make her one.
Paperback king, Aditya Kapoor life is straight out of a modern man's fantasy. His literary stardom is perfectly balanced by a loving wife and a spectacular career. With everything he touches turning to gold, Aditya is on a winning streak.
Shreya Kaushik is a student with a heart full of ambition. Young, beautiful and reckless, Shreya speaks her mind and obsessively chases after what she wants. And what she wants is to be a bestselling author.
What happens when their worlds collide? Is it possible to love two people at the same time? Can real ambition come in the way of blind passion? Can trust once broken, be regained?
Master storyteller Ravi Subramanian, delves into the glitzy world of bestsellers and uncovers a risky dalliance between a superstar novelist and his alluring protege.
The Bestseller She Wrote is a combustible cocktail of love, betrayal and redemption.
Paperback king, Aditya Kapoor life is straight out of a modern man's fantasy. His literary stardom is perfectly balanced by a loving wife and a spectacular career. With everything he touches turning to gold, Aditya is on a winning streak.
Shreya Kaushik is a student with a heart full of ambition. Young, beautiful and reckless, Shreya speaks her mind and obsessively chases after what she wants. And what she wants is to be a bestselling author.
What happens when their worlds collide? Is it possible to love two people at the same time? Can real ambition come in the way of blind passion? Can trust once broken, be regained?
Master storyteller Ravi Subramanian, delves into the glitzy world of bestsellers and uncovers a risky dalliance between a superstar novelist and his alluring protege.
The Bestseller She Wrote is a combustible cocktail of love, betrayal and redemption.
About the author
Having been a banker himself, he has a unique insight into the industry he writes about and a flair for spinning intricate plots that keep readers on the edge of their seats
His debut novel, If God was a Banker, won the 2008 Golden Quill Readers’ Choice Award and, more recently, The Incredible Banker won the 2011 Economist-Crossword Book Award in the ‘Popular’ category. He won the Crossword book award for The BANKSTER in 2012.
Ravi lives in Mumbai with his Biotechnologist turned banker wife, Dharini and his fourteen year old daughter Anusha.
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My Review:
The book revolves around a bestselling author, who is tempted to sin against the holy ties of matrimony and is demeaned to an infidel soon. The protagonist, Aditya, is double-timing his career with his banking job and his literary pursuits consuming him simultaneously, he pretty soon starts toying with his relationships in a similar fashion.
Aditya goes around, for book-reading sessions, book launches, networking with Bollywood directors aka potential buyers of his book's film rights, giving lectures to his alma mater.
He often talks at length about the quirks of social media, how the book's success is not ensured just by its content, and how important it is for an author to be influential.
Amid all of this, the trigger is set when Shreya, a student at IIM Bengaluru dismisses this approach, and with a right argument too. She implores him to see the book for what it is: a creative expression rather than a product.
Having seen the author active over social media, espousing how the author is also the CEO of his book, it is easy to conclude that the author has drawn inspiration for the character from his own encounters. The manner in which the book proceeds only confirms this conclusion, with many direct names from the publishing industry used and referenced as it is.
Honestly, it did get a bit exasperating at time, to think how little imagination had gone into all of this, and how all those references actually made this book a commercial product to be marketed.
The book should be marketed, how else would people get to know about it? Fair point well made, and in doing so the plot/characters/essence of the novel should remain a commercial virgin, in my opinion.
The best part of the book is that it is paced just right, to be as much of a pageturner as much as it is substantial in its plot. The author has certainly worked hard on the plot, and it shows. How it all seems predictable till the time things take a turn for the unpredictable.
The first major twist occurs when the protagonist's wife finds out about his adultery, and the second twist is towards the end. Unputdownable is one word for it. I began reading early in the day and sat glued to it till noon when I last flipped the electronic page on my kindle.
The characters are amusing only for a person interested in studying them. To a casual reader, the characters won't leave a mark. Except maybe Shreya, who I was hoping would be a sensible part, when she first made appearance. She turns out far from the intellectual orator we were initially made to believe she was. She has a messed up life, and she messed up everyone else's who came into contact with her. I also felt that Aditya was being subject to copious adulation which was a little hard to believe.
Exploration of the characters isn't very entertaining. While their actions are revolting and rebellious, their qualities aren't very strong. he fun lies in how the author blends the plot with these distant characters in the end- when all the estuaries of romance, love, penance, a very Sherlock Homes-y unraveling of mystery, all drop into the sea of conclusion.
I cannot appreciate enough how apt the title sounds once you're through with the novel.
There were also some words and dialogues worth bookmarking. And of course, the tidbits of gyaan on the publishing industry are notes to take home.
Definitely more than a one-time read, but not a book that'd fill you with evangelical zeal, although worth telling the world that you've read it.
Quotes from the book:
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Source of the review copy: Purchased on Kindle
