I never put the book down for a minute - that sums up Revolution 2020 - it is pacy and not for a moment loses steam and if you are a fan of Chetan Bhagat, then the book will move you thoroughly. Now if you are not a fan of CB's writing, the book still promises to catch your attention till the very end. The narrative & crisp story-telling makes up for a few contrived situations at the end. Chetan has indeed managed to bring yet another winner, that has all the potential for turning in to a heavy duty Bollywood movie- and why not, the plot has humor,love,lust,anger,greed,revenge,remorse in equal measures.
The story revolves around Gopal, Raghav & Aarti - and the narrator of the tale, Gopal weaves an intriguing yarn throughout. The saga starts from the childhood days of the trio and how they grow together and what prompts them to eventually make the choices that define their personality. It goes without saying that both Gopal & Raghav fall for Aarti , though gopal's love for the girl has been etched from the childhood days. However, Raghav's love for the girl has not been sufficiently explored though that adds to the girl's eventual rethinking about their status.While Gopal fails in his attempts to clear the AICTE-JEE exams and is hence branded the LOSER, Raghav secures a comfortable rank and a seat of his choice in a prestigious university. Gopal manages to befriend a corrupt politician and opens an engineering college while Raghav who is always shows as the righteous guy, shows little interest in Engineering and is more driven to journalism and bringing a change to the world through his pen. The tiff between Gopal & Raghav is quintessiantially the clash between the status quo (accepting that the system is befuddled & not doing anything about it) and change (working to plug the loops and hence moving towards change).
In a way the book manages to expose the shallow mindedness of many Indian parents - getting a rank academically is the BE ALL END ALL and those not managing it are seen as having lost everything ! Also the educational system and people behind the colleges are brought to the forefront beautifully. Now coming to the heroine of the book, Aarti is shown as the very pretty, bubbly next door girl. Her affable charm and likeable personality is highlighted time and again, though I could not relate to this simple small town girl; probably her infidelity or her failing to delve deeply in to relations (by taking things at their face value) bothered me!
But Mr. Chetab Bhagat why was Gopal's efforts to put things in to order so melodramatic & filmi ?? I agree that Gopal realised that being neck-deep in the system, he could do little by way of changing it on his own and hence he conspired his way of enabling Raghav to bring about the change- but should it be that contrived??? Nevertheless, the story moved me a lot and I finished the book thinking that people are not essentially bad- the circumstances moves them in to behaving the way they do !
The story revolves around Gopal, Raghav & Aarti - and the narrator of the tale, Gopal weaves an intriguing yarn throughout. The saga starts from the childhood days of the trio and how they grow together and what prompts them to eventually make the choices that define their personality. It goes without saying that both Gopal & Raghav fall for Aarti , though gopal's love for the girl has been etched from the childhood days. However, Raghav's love for the girl has not been sufficiently explored though that adds to the girl's eventual rethinking about their status.While Gopal fails in his attempts to clear the AICTE-JEE exams and is hence branded the LOSER, Raghav secures a comfortable rank and a seat of his choice in a prestigious university. Gopal manages to befriend a corrupt politician and opens an engineering college while Raghav who is always shows as the righteous guy, shows little interest in Engineering and is more driven to journalism and bringing a change to the world through his pen. The tiff between Gopal & Raghav is quintessiantially the clash between the status quo (accepting that the system is befuddled & not doing anything about it) and change (working to plug the loops and hence moving towards change).
In a way the book manages to expose the shallow mindedness of many Indian parents - getting a rank academically is the BE ALL END ALL and those not managing it are seen as having lost everything ! Also the educational system and people behind the colleges are brought to the forefront beautifully. Now coming to the heroine of the book, Aarti is shown as the very pretty, bubbly next door girl. Her affable charm and likeable personality is highlighted time and again, though I could not relate to this simple small town girl; probably her infidelity or her failing to delve deeply in to relations (by taking things at their face value) bothered me!
But Mr. Chetab Bhagat why was Gopal's efforts to put things in to order so melodramatic & filmi ?? I agree that Gopal realised that being neck-deep in the system, he could do little by way of changing it on his own and hence he conspired his way of enabling Raghav to bring about the change- but should it be that contrived??? Nevertheless, the story moved me a lot and I finished the book thinking that people are not essentially bad- the circumstances moves them in to behaving the way they do !
Revolution 2020 is a good book. The main thing that i liked about the book is that it puts forward the message that you don't have to get a great rank in AIEEE or get into IIT to make money and become successful in life and in life, money and success is not all that matters.
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