PLOT: 3.5/5
CHARACTERS: 3/5
WRITING STYLE: 3/5
CLIMAX: 2.5/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3/5
My Musings
So many debut Indian authors pick up romance or drama for their first writing projects. Most of them write about the same old clichés – college romance, love triangles, office romance, family drama etc.
In such a scenario, when a debut author decides to write about mental health, it is sure to make heads turn.
When I first read the blurb of Amit Galgotia’s Delirious World, I was pleasantly surprised. The cover and the blurb managed to create an aura of mystery around the story. Excited and intrigued, I soon picked up the book to get into the adventure that it promised.
Read on to know more about this book which shows a lot of promise.
What to expect?
Expect a book that is a short read but don’t expect an easy read. Expect a book that talks about mental health and attempts to delve deeper into the chaotic workings of one’s mind.
Expect a different kind of read; one that you don’t come across very often.
Who can read?
The book makes use of complex storytelling techniques and is sometimes random and abrupt. Keeping this in mind, I wouldn’t recommend the book to beginner level readers. Regular readers can pick it up.
Let’s talk about the storyline
Amit Galgotia is a successful talent agent who is living an ordinary life in the capital city of New Delhi. From the outside, everything seems to be perfect in his life.
But there is just a slight problem on the inside. Amit Galgotia is unable to manage his life. His life is slowly becoming a canvas where the line that separates reality from delusion is disappearing fast and there is no one stopping this madness.
This is the story of Amit Galgotia and his delirious world.
How good are the characters?
There aren’t many characters in Amit Galgotia’s Delirious World. Barring Amit Galgotia who is the protagonist of our story, the reader hardly gets to know anyone else.
Though I did not find it much of a problem, I would have certainly loved it if the author had also focused on the narrator’s story.
The narrator accompanies the reader throughout the journey but there is always a blank space where the reader wants a vivid picture.
Let’s talk about the writing style
There are many things that I like about the author’s writing style.
Picking up such an intensely emotional subject for a first book surely takes a lot of creativity and courage. The author deserves applause for this.
I like the way the author has very vividly portrayed Amit Galgotia’s mind to the reader – what he sees, how he sees it, how he mixes the real and the delusional – all of it is so realistic that sometimes the reader is as confused as the character that he is reading about.
My only problem with the writing is the chaos. In an attempt to showcase the peculiar workings of Amit’s mind, the author quite often mixes different narratives. These sudden switches in the narration is what I did not like.
Given that this is a debut book and the author’s writing is bound to mature as he writes more, I think Amit Galgotia’s Delirious World shows good effort and a decent first book.
What I did not like?
Perhaps the one thing that pulled this book down was the lack of proper editing. Throughout the book there are many editing mistakes that are hard to ignore and that killed the reading pleasure to a great extent.
It is such a sad thing because the writing shows a lot of promise. If not for the poor editing, I would have rated it a half star extra.
What is worth appreciating?
Like I’ve said before, picking up such a subject takes a lot of courage. Mental Health is a very sensitive topic and not many people are aware of the fatal consequences if someone’s mental wellbeing is ignored.
This book goes a long way in addressing the issue and by the way of an engaging story shows just how misunderstood the subject is.
There is an urgent need for more such literature and Amit Galgotia’s Delirious World is a welcome step in the direction.
Is the climax good enough?
Here’s the thing – there is this huge build-up which precedes the climax and just when the reader is bursting with excitement about how the climax would play itself out – the author kills it.
I like the way the author takes a rather unconventional route and discloses the climax much ahead in the book. But a reader still needs to know the details – the how and when of it. It is these details that are missing.
All we get is a vague end that somehow kills all the excitement. So yeah, the climax is indeed a buzz-kill.
It all boils down to the entertainment quotient
I have mixed feeling about the book.
When it comes to entertainment, there are a lot of things that appealed to the reader in me. The fact that I could not put the book down once I started reading it and that I managed to read the entire book in a single setting says a lot about how entertaining the whole idea was to me.
However, certain things cannot be ignored and these have to be stated as well – the writing needs polishing, the book needs proper editing, the climax needs something more to pull it off. These are the aspects that bothered me as a reader.
So overall, the book was an okay-ish read for me and I rate it 3 out of 5 stars in the entertainment quotient.
Pick up the book
- If you are looking for a short but powerful read.
- If you are looking for a book on mental health.
Skip the book
- If you can’t stand books with editing mistakes.
- If you don’t like amateurish writing.
Can’t wait to read it? Buy your copy of Amit Galgotia’s Delirious World using the link below.
