The Tales Pensieve

Shriti Publication is known for publishing stories that are not only fresh in plot, narration, and characterization but also fresh in formulating that perfect memory that takes you on either a joy ride or a philosophical one. Having read the previous titles published by them I picked up The 3-U Turns of My Life thinking it would be an interesting story about the corporate world of CAs like Manav Modi and MBAs like Deepak Mehra. A creative world is quite different from a corporate world which is in fact true with its various perspectives taken into account; this book I thought could give me an idea about its workings. The cover of the novel hinted that it was also a love story. If it is not over emotional and under narrated, a love story is always a good light read for anyone especially me. I began reading the first chapter with high expectations, CA Manav, successful and the youngest CEO of Falcon Realty Ltd heads towards Dubai to attend his friend Khrisna’s wedding. He rushes to the airport while revealing to us the details of the ride in first person,

“The white Honda Accord was moving slowly in the traffic like a tortoise….

I was looking at the clock, it was moving like tortoise…

When guys meet girls she will present herself as cute Alice in wonderland but once close they become sexy Lara Croft….

Her hands were very soft like jelly pudding, she was my bournvita, the secret of my energy”

I kept reading not having any clue about what was in store. Manav meets by coincidence another CA aspirant who is headed to Dubai after failing CA final and giving up on the dream. Manav narrates his life’s story, his up’s and downs to this complete stranger to restore his confidence and faith in fate’s workings.

The language and narration style by this time I understood were not up to my expectations. Written by author CA Jitendra Gianchandani, the story lacks serious editing; it seemed to drag from the very beginning. The story opens up in a flashback in his student life, his crush for Urvi – the love of his life, his hatred for Deepak who wanted to pursue MBA, Deepak’s hatred for CAs and so on. Too much description of little things, too much usage of reference from bollywood and other unnecessary things, constant remarks like you CAs are so boring, CAs are real chumps, CAs this and CAs that, everyone drinking chai or talking about chai, eating kharra and paafra with acidity throughout the story made me dazed with irritation. I would say the art of writing is as important as the art of weaving a tale that will keep the readers glued without disappointing them the least. Though I will give the author some brownie points here for the somewhat engaging climax.

The CA fraternity and students would be able to connect with this story more; other than them people from other backgrounds might not find it too appealing. This story could have been made interesting but since it was the author’s first time I hope the next title The Three Wise Monkey’s might be a little better than this in terms of narration, plot structure and characterization.

I rate this story a 2 out of 5 and hope the CA family will love it!

Title: The 3 U Turns of My Life
Author: Jitendra
Publisher/ Imprint: 
Pages: 280
Genre/ Sub-Genre: Fiction/ Drama
Rating: 2.00 of 5
Reviewed for: Publisher

Browse through the full list of book reviews in the depths of the Pensieve.