Book-Review of The Bestseller She Wrote

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Author: Ravi Subramanian

Genre: Fiction / Romance

Publisher: Westland Limited

Publication Year: 2015

Number of Pages: 391

ISBN: 978-93-85152-38-2

Price: Rs. 295

The Bestseller She Wrote, is Ravi Subramanian’s take on love, extramarital affair, betrayal, jealousy, passion, redemption.  It is being said that this is Ravi’s first book on romance, earlier he has written bestselling thrillers about banking and bankers. I can’t draw a comparison between this book and his earlier works, since I haven’t read them. But definitely, I can share my opinion about this book. It is written in a very simple language, which makes it a very easy read. While reading the book, I found that various characters are sketched in such a realistic manner. The events unfold in a very natural form. Various emotions, be it love, passion, possessiveness or anything, are very well explored and explained in the book. A film is going to be made on this. For detailed review, please read further.

About the Author: Ravi Subramanian, an alumnus of IIM Bengaluru, is a banker turned author. He has written many thrillers and has many awards to his credit. This is the first time he has deviated from his usual genre of thrillers to romance through this book. A few of his earlier works are:

• If God Was a Banker (2007) - won the Golden Quill Readers’ Choice Award)
• I Bought the Monk’s Ferrari (2008)
• Devil in Pinstrips (2010)
• The Incredible Banker  (2011) – won the Economist Crossword Book award
• The Bankster (2012) – won the Economist Crossword Book award
•  Bankerupt (2013) - won the Economist Crossword Book award
• God is a Gamer (2014)

About various Characters of the book: Through this section, let me introduce the main characters:

Aditya Kapoor: The main character of the story, who is an IIM Almunus, Bengaluru. He is also a banker as well as a celebrity author of many bestsellers.

Maya: Aditya’s wife, an IIM alumunus, an ex-banker and now working with Dhirubhai Ambani International School.

Shreya Kaushik: A student of IIM Bengaluru, a very ambitious girl, who speaks her mind.  

Sanjay Narang: Aditya’s Colleague and friend since IIM days

Diana: Aditya’s colleague and Sanjay’s love interest

Sunaina: Shreya’s friend

Tim Xavier: Aditya’s boss

The Story: It all begins, when Aditya Kapoor, an alumunus of IIM Bengaluru, reaches the campus for talking about pursuing dreams and his journey from a banker to a successful author. Aditya Kapoor is a banking professional par excellence as well as India’s number one celebrity bestselling author. During his talk he mentions that how important and critical it is to market the book and bring the product to the reader. The word ‘product’ generates a voice from one amongst the audience – ‘Product? Rubbish!’ The voice was that of Shreya Kaushik, who retorted saying that it is a book for God’s sake, not a product. Shreya’s logic was that a book is an expression of author’s creativity and one should not demean it by calling it a product. Aditya, tried hard to hold back his anger and emotions and calmly responded to Shreya with the logic that when an author puts up so much hard work writing a book, then why shall he / she leave any stones unturned to promote the same. Shreya was strongly opinionated and was not ready to buy-in Aditya’s points.

Aditya did get hassled with the discussion, but then, he continued gracefully with his talk. Later on, Sunaina, a very close friend of Shreya, does criticize her for being so blunt with Aditya Kapoor during his talk. But Shreya was sure of herself that she would be able to mend things right. Once back home to his wife Maya and Aryan, he did receive an email from Shreya who was in all praise for him after reading one of his book.

Maya and Aditya had a love marriage, who started dating each other in IIM itself. After working abroad for a few years, both of them came back to India. Maya left her banking career and started working with Dhirubhai Ambani International School as a teacher as well as handling their social initiatives.

Sanjay Narang, Head of Human Resources, is a very close friend of Aditya. Sanjay’s love interest is Diana, who is also working in the same National Bank, where Aditya and Sanjay works. Aditya never admired Diana, rather he got into conflict mode with Sanjay at times due to his dislike for Diana, although Aditya and Sanjay had decided not to bring anyone in between their friendship.

Days pass by, and Aditya goes to Bengaluru to promote his book as well as to IIM Bengaluru campus along with Sanjay as part of interviewing panel. Happens to meet Shreya again. Shreya is also hired by National Bank. Aditya gets attracted to her. In spite of loving Maya very much, the relationship between Aditya and Shreya blooms.

What happens next? What shape does the boss-subordinate relationship between Aditya and Shreya take shape? Is Shreya, who has developed strong interest in Aditya, able to talk his mind to Aditya. Shreya, who dreamt of becoming a very successful author herself, which path she chooses to become one? Could she persuade Aditya to make her a bestselling author? Is Aditya able to love two women of his life simultaneously? Does Shreya become Aditya’s muse? How Maya handles the various happenings? What role Sanjay and Diana play ? Please read the book to know the details.

Ravi Subramanian has written the whole story in very realistic tone. Many people like Anurag Kashyap, Vaishali, Nirav Sanghavi etc. does get mentioned in the book and it certainly enhances the realistic tone of the book. Besides, such stories exist in and around us, so was very much able to connect with the characters and story. Ravi has talked about the hollowness of relationships. Personal ambitions and dreams at times take over the love. Manipulations can kill any relationships. One has to be ready for the consequences of the choices made. I could feel the emotions while reading the book and that is because of the way the whole story is written. The end is also beautifully written, left me with choking throat and teary-eyed.

One thought which kept coming to me is this: towards the end, it was easy for Aditya to make a choice due to the manners in which the events unfolded. But, what if, the distinction was not very sharp, how and what could have been Aditya’s decision.

Ravi Subramanian’s “The Bestseller She Wrote” is a very realistic take on ‘Love, Betrayal and Redemption’. It conveys a great message that our every choice has its own consequences which cannot be dodged. A great book, close to reality, which is written in a simplified manner. You would get glued to once you start reading the book. Happy Reading!!!

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

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