Shit Happens by Karan Puri

Summary: Anurag Sinha, a thoroughbred nerd, leads a cocooned life, confined more or less to the four walls of his room. A one-of-a-kind dad, a weepy mother and weird relatives complete his life. Average girls ignore him, hot girls bully him and school studs abuse him. His shitty Delhi existence goes on until the big day arrives.

Our hero gets a scholarship. To University of Rochester. To New York. To United States of Bloody AMERICA! Life must only look uphill from now on. America must be at least hundred times better than India. But shit happens. All the time. Everywhere. Even in America!

A roller-coaster American ride leads our desi boy to an exceptional journey rippling with twists and turns. Nonchalant blondes, mugless washrooms, strange slangs, good-hearted friends, beefy encounters, boozy nights and even a white girlfriend—America shows Anurag itself in all its psychedelic craziness. But dreams and roller-coaster rides don’t go on forever. What will happen to our hero? Will he return to his life in India or will he stay on? Dream on!

My Views: This book tells a story of an Indian boy who goes to America and what he experiences there.

From the very start of the book, I had some serious issues with it. I do not like exaggeration in my books and this book was filled with them, lots of them. I want my stories real, if they are placed in a real world. But this book didn’t measure up in that aspect.

I slogged through the first few pages, hoping to find something better later on. And I was surprised! Lizzy’s entry was what appeared to me, as changing the whole story and I was beginning to like the book.

Alas! It didn’t last long. Actually, there are quite a few things wrong with this book. First off, I had a problem with the writing, I kept editing the book in my mind. Not a pleasurable thing for a reader! Then, the concept is not novel, too filmy and stale. And then things happened too quickly, which is way unrealistic. The least that the writer could have done was to lengthen the book and let events and feelings materialize slowly instead of abruptly that didn’t go too well with me.

In short, what is needed is a bit of imagination, some editing and a good storyline. So not up my alley.

1.5/ 5 stars – Somewhere between ‘I didn’t like it’ and ‘It was ok’.