The hype around Chetan Bagat’s new book ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’ is understandable. His previous works, Five Point Something and One Night @ The Call Center are runaway hits. They still dominate book store top ten lists in fiction across the country.
And indeed they are well-written, simple and interesting stories with the right message to appeal to today’s youth. Five Point Something inspired other campus stories including Above Average, Watch Out We Are MBA, Anything For You Madam etc. So it is natural to have huge expectations from ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’. And that was the only mistake of all Chetan Bhagat Fans. Like mutual fund disclaimers this is true – past performance is not an indicator of future returns.
I finished ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’ in 3 hours. The first thought after reading it was that the author seemed confused. I was at a loss to what the author wanted to convey. The book is full of stereotypes and not in the same league as the first two books. The book is about 3 friends and is set in Ahmedabad with a detour to Australia. It has popular themes like friendship, love, cricket, religion and business to make it a masala book. But it is not different nor presents any new perspective. Even if you do not read this book, you are not at a loss.
The 3 Mistakes of My Life just seemed to be a good marketing title. All the three are not mistakes in true sense. Of the three, two do not seem to error in judgement – but everyone needs to make those errors to grow up. And one mistake is repeated again and again, which does not make it a mistake but a habit.
The book grabs the life and colors of Amdavadi life in a very beautiful manner. The book will be popular in Ahmedabad as people can relate to it better and already Chetan Bhagat, Sudha Murthy are very popular in Ahmedabad. Also Big Bazaar’s Depot and other books stores are heavily promoting the book which has an attractive price tag of Rs 95.
The 3 Mistakes of My Life is readymade for Bollywood. Already, Chetan’s other books are in different stages of production in Bollywood and this is next in line.
Overall, the book is not extraordinary. However, Chetan Bhagat has made his place in Indian publishing history. And even great masters sometimes fail to live upto their usual high standards. It happens. Anyway, we are with you Chetan!
Further Reading:
Rashmi Bansal’s Review on Youth Curry
LiveMint.Com Review
