Tick-Tock, We’re 30 : Book Review

     Book Name - Tick-Tock, We're 30
     Author – Milan Vohra
     Publishr – Westland
     Pages – 412
     Pricee – INR 250
     My Rating – 3/5
     

Snapshot

     Interesting, isn’t it, how someone is always utterly attractive to someone else? For every male tree frog, there is a female tree frog whose dry skin and warts and bulging eyes are the most divine. And to you, Lara Bagai, a karela is a thing of beauty, Nishad comments.·    
So he remembers I love karela. So what?I take it your interest in frogs is purely academic? I snigger.  'I promise you I am not in danger of being madly besotted by one anytime soon,' he half-smiles.

·         The clock is ticking towards Lara’s thirtieth birthday and the whole gang is coming together to celebrate it. It’s a pact they made back then to meet when they all finally turned that age. So far, so cool. What isn’t cool is the other pact Lara had made one tipsy evening with Nishad. To marry each other if neither of them were hitched by then.

·          

·         The last thing Lara wants is to give Nishad the pleasure of knowing he was right about Ranndeep being so wrong for her. Ranndeep, all-male, pro-motor racer whom shed been so sure of at the time. So there was only one thing to do. Lara would have to drum up someone else to pass off as her love interest for now. Enter flamboyant Perzaan, Turkish dude full of surprises. With the reappearance of Ranndeep and the gangs other quirky characters, its a week of audacious hookups and mix-ups. Chances are you’ll be guessing right till the end who ends up with whom, if ever.

My Feedback

                

The story line associates youth, and the plot is appealing on the happenings and reunion of friends on protagonist Lara’s 30^th birthday. Some characters and events, and the setup where the gang of friends plan to rent a house in the same society appear nostalgic and easy to associate with. Lara’s meeting with the hero Nishad is interesting and her tryst to convince having another man in her life. The most interesting part is planting a fake Turkish boyfriend as a banker and the sequence of mix up after that.

And the way protagonist Lara is portrayed as a Tom Boyish woman, with a witty sense of humor and her description of her hero with physical details in an aesthetic manner. Especially , the sequence where Lara bumps in to two ladies in the painting exhibition and tries to read and sync their minds. But after mid way , the no. of the characters and their specific characteristics, get jumbled up in mind creating confusion, when the reader feels forced to find a reference about Sita the man, thin Riya, fat Riya, Lara, Nishad, Aunt Nair, Ranndeep, Lara's parents, Faviyo, Perzaan etc.The book offers melodrama, a bit of romance overpowered with non stop mental commentary and everyday sequences with flashbacks all happening in a paced up manner, 

So overall, it’s a light read and I appreciate the sense of humor the most, and the witty remarks splattered all over with dialect idioms and jokes and thank the author having portrayed Lara as today's woman. But the no. of characters and the length of the book, both could have been reduced to do the reading better and enjoyable.

This book review is a part of the Promotion conducted by Women's Web, a leading online e zine for today's women