Friday, 26th December 2008
Five Point Someone
It has been a while since i read any book which wasn't a selp-help book or a technical one, so it was a refreshing change when i got buried in a novel over the holidays. This was a book that was recommended to me by a dear friend who is a big fan of the author and i would whole heartedly agree that Five Point Someone is a fun read.
Five Point Someone is a story about three friends in IIT who are unable to cope.The book starts with a disclaimer, "This is not a book to teach you how to get into IIT or even how to live in college. In fact, it describes how screwed up things can get if you don't think straight."
Three hostelmates - Alok, Hari and Ryan get off to a bad start in IIT - they screw up the first class quiz. And while they try to make amends, things only get worse. It takes them a while to realize: If you try and screw with the IIT system, it comes back to double screw you. Before they know it, they are at the lowest echelons of IIT society. They have a five-point-something GPA out of ten, ranking near the end of their class. This GPA is a tattoo that will remain with them, and come in the way of anything else that matters - their friendship, their future, their love life. While the world expects IITians to conquer the world, these guys are struggling to survive.
Will they make it? Do underperformers have a right to live? Can they show that they are not just a five-point-somebody but a five-point-someone?
Highlights from the book for me included the time when Hari has 3 shots of vodka to quell his fear of the Viva-Voce format of examinations. This experiment which inevitably ended with the professor smelling his alcohol laden breath and throwing him out of the class. Also the courting incidents between Hari and Neha were fun to read.
I'm glad someone wrote a book about IIT which removes the covers off to reveal the mostly unknown underbelly of the IIT system. I liked the book for the casual writing style of Chetan Bhagat and look forward to reading his other books as well. In reality, i guess i was able to connect to the characters in the book and could see myself as part Hari, part Alok and can relate to the decisions, mistakes they made on their journeys through adolocense and education.
Posted by Nikhil on Friday, 26th December 2008 in Life in General | Fun | Book Reviews