Anuja Chauhan

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/those-pricey-thakur-girls-by-anuja-chauhan/

I hugely enjoyed Anuja Chauhan’s story of an Indian parliamentary by-election, Battle for Bittora, when I read it in 2014. As a respite from Hugos last month, I sought out her top book on Goodreads, Those Pricey Thakur Girls, and devoured it fairly quickly. Romance novels are not my usual fare, but sometimes it’s good to have a change.

To my surprise, though published in 2013, the book is firmly set in a specific show more few months of 1988, with a major subplot being the male love interest’s attempts to hold a government minister accountable for the deadly pogrom against Delhi’s Sikhs in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination four years before. This is grim stuff for a romantic comedy, and I felt that the author did it justice.

Otherwise, it’s a nicely observed comedy of manners, as the fourth of Judge Thakur’s five beautiful daughters, newly hired as a TV newsreader on India’s main evening bulletin, navigates her romantic destiny, finding her backbone as well as her love. There is a healthy dose of political scepticism too, but the main thrust of the humour is in the character observation.

No actual sex on page (unlike Battle for Bittora) but lots of more than significant glances and fragile egos needing any support they can get. I didn’t like it as much as Battle for Bittora, but then I liked Battle for Bittora a great deal. show less

Note: This review was originally posted in my blogBook and Ink

Not having read the prequel to this book – Those pricey Thakur girls, I was a little skeptic about following the story and understating the character progression. Thankfully I was able to read it as a standalone, thanks to the fairly independent story line.

The story is based on a commonly witnessed episode in our country – property squabble. BJ a retired judge and the father of five beautiful girls, dies leaving behind a show more high value property in the posh area of Hailey road. Bonita Singh aka Bonu, the protagonist of our story and BJ’s granddaughter from his second late daughter lives in that very house and also runs a successful albeit a slightly fraudulent one. BJ, on his death bed, entrusts his step-grandson, Samar, his first daughter Anjini’s adopted son to sell off the property and divide the share equally among the sisters. Bonu is vehemently against the idea of selling thanks to certain ideologies drilled into her by her late mother. Bonu sees this as a perfect opportunity for revenge. Surprisingly, her revenge is the last problem that Samar faces trying to sell this property. In comes BJ’s brother questioning the paternity of BJ which automatically ensures the girls do not inherit the property. What follows is a high octane drama sprinkled with some romance and a lot of humor. /*I prefer putting it that way. No spoiler policy!*/

The characterization for me was initially a bit confusing as I hadn’t read the previous book. Thankfully, the book had a family tree right in the beginning which helped me immensely in understanding who was related to whom and how. In spite of having a lot characters, typically like a large Indian family, the writer, Anuja, managed to give them all enough attention that they deserved. The characterization was honed enough for a reader to understand the behavior even if the book is read as a standalone. This is not an easy feat to achieve. The book isn’t exactly a literary marvel. But then, it isn’t meant to be that. It’s your typical Indian read with well written story line narrated in a quirky manner!

MY SAY: A good one time read with typical Indian masala.

RATING:

PLOT : 8/10

NARRATION: 6/10

CHARACTERISATION: 8/10

BOREDOM QUOTIENT: 3/10 (The lower the better)

OVERALL RATING: 7/10 show less

Adorable. Charming.

Zoya Singh Solanki isn't all that keen on cricket but the Indian cricket team is keen on her. When they realise she was born at the very moment India won the Wold Cup in '83 AND that breakfasting with her brings victory on the field they declare her a lucky charm. Pity the hot cricket captain appears to be a jerk.

I loved this, it's fresh and funny with believable and likable characters. I enjoyed the way she wove in the different languages and only wish I understood more show more as I'm sure I missed some good jokes. It made me laugh several times, and kept me entertained all the way through. I do think the writing is a little 'young' but as this is Chauhan's first book that only makes me look forward to reading her later works. show less

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2345669.html

This is hilarious and amazing. It's the story of a young woman whose political grandmother summons her back to their home town and makes her the election candidate for India's traditional party of power; meanwhile the opposition have recruited as their candidate the chap who she always used to fancy. I've never been to India, but I've been involved with enough election campaigns to recognise the universal characteristics, and to appreciate the truth show more that, as our heroine says at the end of the first chapter, "The only thing worse than taking part in a Lok Sabha election is not taking part in a Lok Sabha election."

Some aspects of the book are new to me. Many of the characters speak in a Hinglish slang which you can usually work out from context but occasionally floored me. Also the massive amount of overt bribery on all sides in the election was new to me (though of course everyone who has fought an election knows about pushing the regulations to their limits). But the core of the story, the romance combined with dynastic dynamics and political and ethnic tension, is pretty sound.

I do hope that Harper Collins release Chauhan's work outside the Indian market to which she has so far been restricted - not for her sake, as I am sure she does very well on home ground - but for ours. And I look forward to the film. show less