PLOT: 3.5/5
WRITING STYLE: 3/5
CLIMAX: 2.5/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3/5
Polka Dots, Pony Tails and Purple Pouts is a book about three Indian girls who are working in Pune and share a room.
They are what can be best described as froomies (friends-cum-roomies).
Jasmine, Tia and Leena are the typical modern-day Indian women – independent, smart, intelligent and fun-loving.
Tia is the cute and ever-loving polka dots girl; Leena is the sweet one with Pony Tails and Purple Pouts in none other than the vivacious and carefree Jasmine.
The book takes you through a roller-coaster journey of their lives, in which, like any other girl, they have their own set of relationship issues, boyfriend woes, office dramas and friendly fights and wherein the end each lands up with her own “knight in shining armour” to settle down and live a “happily ever after” life.
“With their stunning look; Jasmine, Tia and Leena, could easily pass for Bipasha, Minisha and Kareena. They are young, energetic and vivacious, lively, cheerful, at the same time a little flirtatious. Spiced with boyfriends, breakups and office rumours, this story of theirs is of friendship, love and good humour.”
The book, like the characters it is based upon, has its own ups and downs.
Talking about the positives first, I would like to point out that though the book seems like just another “me-too” book superficially, it has a fresh flavour to it.
The language is good and the narration is from the point of view of a distant observer.
The characters of Tia, Leena and Jasmine are sassy and fashionably sexy in their own ways. Each of their styles is unique and swanky.
I loved reading the descriptions of their attire and style every single time. Also, the book has all other essential ingredients of a romantic comedy book.
Another impressive thing is that though the characters seem remarkably similar on the surface, they have their differences in terms of families, past lives, cultural background etc – and this adds a little flavour to their characters.
The subplots are also interesting and I liked the characters of Chris and Ravi a lot; they are cool in their own bizarre ways.
The use of different places and cultures is quite unique and nice.
One moment you are enjoying the lush green of Kerala and another moment you are busy learning to cook sushi and make Ikebana in Japan.
One moment you are in bustling city Pune and another in the lush greenery of a Haryanvi village.
The book also brings to forefront certain social issues like inter-caste marriages, unwanted pregnancies, honour killings etc.
All in all, the book has all the masala of a typical Indian drama and I am sure if made into one, it will be a sure hit among young girls.
Coming to things which could have been better, I feel that the book should have been a little longer because at many places it seemed that situations and events ended or begun rather abruptly.
Even the characters were a little superficial and their instant emotions (like Leena falling in love with her boss, Tia & Leena breaking up with their boyfriends, Ravi and Jerry professing love to their love interests and Jasmine accepting Jerry’s apologies) seemed far-fetched from reality.
I strongly believe that more space should have been dedicated to these characters and their emotions so that they would not be lacking depth.
In the end, I would wish Amrita a very best for all her future works because I sincerely believe that the book has a very strong storyline which can be turned into a good Television Drama targeting the younger generation (I hope the producers are reading..!!).