Five Point Someone- Chetan Bhagat:- A book review
[A national best seller by an ex-IITian on campus life @ IIT.The book tells you what NOT to do @ IIT]
My Rating:good[not excellent]
Since a long time, I had wanted to read this book. It is not often that one get to peek into the life & thoughts of the most elite & superior of our race - the IITians. I was dying to read about these Einsteins who in my wild imagination:
- were drowned in a tsunami of tech books;
- barely had time to breathe down , having to live at the cutting edge of technology & cutthroat competition;
- hardly ever spoke & opened their mouths only to mumble in technical jargon, unintelligible to the rest of the world.
Now the book had my imagination tumbling down. It goes on to tell the story of 3 friends Ryan, Alok & Hari. They are the five point somebody’s of IIT; somebody who scored a *GPA of 5 point something , which is below average according to IIT super standards. The story tells about the simple joys of campus life, right from ragging days to the convocation day. It makes a potpourri with all the right ingredients –intellect, friendship, romance & plots.
RYAN: He is smart, stylish, sporty & can be rightly termed as a daredevil and spoilt brat. He is the one who look at things in a different perspective. He comes up with innovative ideas like how to make boring classes interesting, what to gift Hari’s girlfriend, how to sneak out the question paper right under HOD’s nose etc etc…
ALOK: He is the sentimentalist amongst the three & dreams of making it high. He has a traumatized family background, with a father who is paralysed & a family looking forward to the day he gets campus selection. His character is exactly opposite to Ryan
HARI : He is the quite one,a passive onlooker. He is the one who gets all tongue tied during viva voce & the one who dances to all of Ryan’s whims & fancies. He balances the conflicting ideas of Alok & Ryan. But how he transforms into an entirely opposite character, when in company of his girlfriend Neha is really mind boggling.
They are the 3 protagonists of the story.The book comes down heavily on the relative grading system of IIT, that reduced an individual’s identity down to his/her GPA. The system with its overloaded schedules(exams,assignments & surprise quizzes), crams up the students’s lives & leave no space for open ideas or innovations
The narrative which is humorous, witty & hilarious , provides for light reading. But sometimes we wonder whether humour is a bit over done, especially when there are situations that call for atleast a grain of seriousness. Maybe that is why it is regarded as a book version of dil chahta hai.
*GPA- Grade Point Average
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15 comments:
hae yar its....great 2 know even in iits there is lots of manjushas.... and i thought its the where iits students can be innovative without bothering the marks....so every one r on the same boat......
@manjusha: hey manju..surprised to see u here..everybody is on same boat yaar..see, u r as good as an IITian or is it worse :-)))
@vishnu: welcome here..book is not that bad .. anyway, it's the first of it's kind in india. because it 's a good narrative on college life
@alexis : ya..i agree with u.."one night at call centre " has a terrible climax.
This was one book which I could relate to my college life well..IITians are not a super-intelligent breed or anything like that..getting into iit is say, 30% talent+dedication and 70% good coaching...Was a very very good book, but was disappointed when I read the second book with high expectations.
Hey buk's realy kool.....My favorite n has impressed me by the BEAUTIFUL way of writing it. chetan Bhagat has realy done a wonderful job. this buk is only to tel u that Life's not tough until u think straight.
hey d book is totally gr8... its great to see dat even d top intitutes in india have ppl like us.... and even their sysytem has loopholes.... loved d book to d core.... btw i loved d way u wrote d review... natural....
hey this is d reallity of all d students ,like us....... mean to say that ,we all students either frm iit or iim we all hav same story......n prblms.
hey dis is awosome book .
hi......dis is an ossom book....beautifully described and very well written.....
i love the book, all characters of the book from hari to his friends, from dean to professor's daughter, from sasi's to ice cream shop, priya to c.p.... everything is owesome.....
Hi Chetan,
I must admit to u that i have gained interest in reading books only after a read both of ur books..... amazing.. just loved them....but too many questions in my mind... could u pls answer them....
# wat happened to neha, Hari, Ryan n Alok????
# If u call urself hari, is it neha to whom u have dedicated the book( along with ur kids)
# In ur second book u have concluded it very well as to wat happened to all the caracters but wat happened with five point someone???????
#I mean why din u tell us about all the 4 characters n their present status????????
#wats all that about the girl/god the train giving u story for this book????????
#Why din u tell us about your family???
Pls i m waiting for ur reply
Thanks n Regards,
Ankit
http://5pointsome1.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/5pointsome1/
first 25 chapters
just finished reading. I must admit u have made me read a novel.
very well written u hae inspired the writer in me.
waiting for the film version
it's jst fabulous
m a great fan of chetan bhagat
fuk man...i dont fukin like reading dese fukin books...but i have to fukin rite a book review on dis for my icse project man....wat da fuk!!!!...can som1 dude give me a review...i'll give him 1000 bucks...in hindi..remember dude..
One of the best book that i have came across.
One of the best books that i have come across in non fiction !! Truly amazing
Chetan bhagat is one of the best writers for india today and other books such as revolution 2020 and what young india wants were also nice !
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