"Almost Single", Advaita Kala, HarperCollins India Original, Rs. 195
A lot of people believe they have a book in them. Many dream of writing it. Some do it. A few jump in too soon.
Almost Single is the story of a 29 year old fat woman, a smoker with an alcohol problem and gay friends. The cheesy tale begins with a desperate spinster and ends with her landing a well hung, rich dude. It is a pretty funny book, with the funny part missing and hardly a surprise. One knows, for example, when a character named Mahadik is introduced that a word play is on the cards (maha-dick ?).
The first sentence of the book itself comes across as very amateur, an instant turn off. Advaita Kala appears to be a desperate writer, weaving a story around a few almost funny one-liners. Most of the book is almost a criminal waste of words.
Almost Single is not really a bad book; It's more like a badly made movie. A neat travel read with not too many editing errors, Almost Single almost (Damn! the word play is getting to me.) lives up to the expectations from Chick Lit.
Cross posted from coherent blabber.