The publishing industry does not garner nearly as much limelight as entertainment industries do. But Ahmed Faiyaz’s Indian contemporary fiction, Bestseller, more than makes up for it by adding heaps of glitz and glamour to an intriguing premise. Kalim Publishing is a sinking ship that has been nearly reduced to the position of swatting flies because of the great paucity of titles to be published as well as motivated personnel who could make that happen. Picture a decrepit building in some corner of Mumbai and three bored-looking workers. Into such a scenario steps the savior of the day; Akshay Saxena has recently been fired from his job as an editor of a magazine in the UK. In order to be able to go back and work on starting an imprint, he is tasked with the responsibility of making Kalim a successful business once again.
All was well and good up till the first chapter of the book. Thereafter, the appeal of the book was on a steady decline, as we are introduced to character after character who hold no real significance. I didn’t find an ounce of professionalism in most of the characters and they were supposedly experienced in their own respective fields. The entirety of the novel is colored by a very carefree, “chalta hai” (blase) attitude which undermines the importance of the industry. Because it gives you the impression that all sorts of funny business are brushed under the carpet in order to push a title onto the bestseller list. There wasn’t a single character I found likeable. Zorah tries too hard and before you know it, she and Akshay have begun an office romance that is at times unreasonable and otherwise, cringe-worthy.
The plot in itself could’ve been executed better. I was really looking forward to reading a well-structured novel based on the synopsis. But it felt like the author chose to fast forward over the parts that were the most important and instead focus on unconvincing aspects of the story like:
- Akshay and Zorah’s romance.
- The painfully demeaning representation of writers (all most everyone who approaches the publishing company either didn’t know basic English or had some ridiculous story proposal or employed tricks like seduction, blackmail to have their books published).
- Akshay being caught in an elaborate tug of war between celebrities and politicians.
- His rather silly plan to make the books sell.
Peppered by a couple of sentences in Hindi, the author’s writing style is the one thing I found moderately enjoyable. It has all the qualities of being colloquial and can easily be understood. However, there were a handful of errors that had been overlooked in the editing phase of publishing this book.
What ultimately got on my nerve is Akshay’s mental commentary. It follows you everywhere from the beginning of the book till the end. During his interactions with the various characters, his clear disdain for them is evident from his thoughts. So there are comments printed in italics in between conversations that show us what exactly he thinks about the person he is speaking to. And mind you, it just all makes him look like an arrogant imbecile who can’t fathom enough courage to speak his mind to his clients. Here’s a line that’ll help paint a picture in your mind about the kind of relationship Akshay and Zorah have:
This is easy, she’ll crib, I’ll say sorry and we’ll end up in the sack.
I’m sure it is apparent from this review that I was extremely disappointed by the book. There was nothing that made me smile or feel happy about reading it.
Note – This book was sent to me by Writers Melon in exchange of an honest review.
★.5
The Life Stories 