I am the only person I have heard of who liked eM’s first book You Are Here. Not only did I like it, I’ve reread it. The looseness of the structure, the whimsy, the pointlessness, I liked. Did I think it was high literature? No. But I thought it was well-written, with characters and impressions that stayed with me.
So I made it a point to get Cold Feet, her latest offering. And surprise! I liked it. Its structure was more conventional, switching between the stories of different women. Each of those women was interesting. I got the feeling eM schizophrenically bled aspects of her own personality into each of them, but that takes skill too. The result was people who while initially might strike one as a “type” end up being much more crossover.
MinCat mentioned that she found it hard to distinguish between a couple of them, and I had that problem too. I had to keep reminding myself which was which. Maybe there should have been less of them. But people bleed into each other in real life too, so maybe that’s okay.
There’s no earth-shattering plot but if you’re the kind of person that finds people interesting (which you probably are, if you’re reading this blog), then you might find yourself, like me, sort of hooked in order to know how each individual story ends.
When I read You are Here, it made me want to write. It gave me hope that the kind of stories I want to tell might be acceptable to be told. It gave me a sense of how they could be structured and voiced. And this one did too. Don’t know if that feeling will last.
well then i’m glad. because at the end of the day these things do come down to taste, one mans meat etc. so if any books anywhere, regardless of how i feel about it (ahem) makes someone want to read more or write more, learn more or discover more, then it’s doing its job.
“makes someone want to read more or write more, learn more or discover more, then it’s doing its job.” Hahn, except till this moment, I felt like I was the only someone. Apparently not, from comments below.
I am yet to read this one but I picked up Anuja Chauhan’s latest (Those Pricey Thakur Sisters) last week and it ended up being a similar read. Not high literature, like you called it,but definitely a gripping but light and breezy read.
Ooh wanted to get that one and forgot. I Anuja Chauhan is a cut above eM in the chicklit stakes (even though eM objects to her work being classified as chicklit). I LOVED The Zoya Factor, it is one of my faves of all time. The next one, not as much, but still entertaining. So keen to read the latest from her.
Oh, then you are going to love this one. Same here, I quite liked Zoya Factor, the second book featured a little lower, but this one is nicely written. Her characters are well sketched out and she weaves in Hinglish (or whatever you want to call the desi bits that we add to our spoken English) with an ease that I find missing in a lot of other Indian writing.
preicey thakur girls is AMAZING! Bride i have your copy…ahem. hee. if anyone is headed your side i’ll send it. i think battle for bittora is better than zoya actually, in fact she’s just gotten better with each book. but lord can i wait 3 years for the next? le sigh. Bride you will LOVE thakur girls.
R, also, i have to second the bride here. Anuja chauhan is far above eM. eM is not a bad writer but that finetunes hilarity and featherlight touch that anuja has she doesn’t being to approach. though in the light of above comments maybe i should add, for my at any rate! hee.
Ok yay. Hmmm. Must nab someone to be courier now!
Despite its loose structure and seemingly pointless story overall, I enjoyed You Are Here too. It was a quick, breezy, fun read. It could have been because I was already madly in love with her blog. Her second book I didnt care for at all. I have heard such good things about Cold Feet and have been looking all over for it. Either its doing really well and flying off the shelf or is just badly stocked, I havent been able to find it ANYwhere..not in airports, not in Goa, not in Delhi, not even here in Bombay! Even flipkart was “out of stock” :S I cant wait to read it now.
Heh. Ok now I don’t feel so weird about liking You Are Here. Wow out of stock… that’s amazing.
you should have said na…i’d have found you a copy. when you say second book do you mean confessions of a listmanaic? because that’s the only good one if you ask me! that’s her ouevre, for me.
I quite enjoyed her first book, too. Don’t know why so many people dissed it. I think a lot of the hate came from people who read her blog with dedication but couldn’t stomach her lifestyle.
Ok, the great value of this post is revealing people who also liked You Are Here. We should form a club or something, just so that we don’t feel so lonely.
I saw the hate for her lifestyle, but people who have no issues with her lifestyle also dissed it. There were also two other sections of poeple – who read her blog and felt that it was either too much of the same or too different from the blog. I think the structure and the winding sentences put people off and the end.
I didn’t hate it, gounderbrownie, but I just felt rather meh about her first one. I truly believed she could do better than that. And she did. I quite liked Cold Feet.
I read You are Here and I liked it a lot…Its the kind of book, you start reading and then just continue to do so till it ends…it was not life changing or earth shattering or anything, but I liked reading it
I didnt know she came up with another one..thanks for the reco!
Heh. I confused you with R above! So that ups the people who liked You Are Here to a grand total of 4. Yay! Ok, I’m thinking of adding a poll with the post.
Hey! I liked You are here and read Cold Feet recently!
Ok, I’m starting the We-Like-You-Are-Here club. Five members is good enough.
In fact I quite liked confessions of a listmaniac too!
I liked bot her books, but confessions of a listmaniac seemed more interesting because the protagonist was a teenager:)
B. Mincat also voted that one the best of the lot, so you have company. Planning to get that one next.
its off the market at the mo cos she transferred rights from scholastic to us. will be back in november, on my list. will save you a copy.
Okay, add me to this expanding list of people who liked You Are Here. It was a fun, meandering sort of read…and at that stage of my life (early 20′s, living alone in a far away city, long distance not-so-committed relationship) I could really connect to a lot of it.
And I just finished reading Those Pricey Thakur Girls. And thoroughly enjoyed it…..stayed up all night to finish it off, in fact! I wasn’t such a fan of Zoya Factor (maybe because chick-lit isn’t really my type) but this one was a light hearted, fun read, and I’m really looking forward to her next book (which kind of takes off from this one)
I guess all of us who liked the book aren’t the type who comment on the sites where reviews were posted because the critics far outnumber the fans on those. But also in my friends circle I was the only one who liked it.
Pricey Thakur Girls is also chicklit no?
Let me join the party! I quite liked You are Here- found it quite refreshing. Haven’t read her other books yet.
I should get a prize for outing all the You are Here supporters.
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