I expected this book My Way is the Highway to be travel adventure of a solo girl. Who has the guts to leave her job and follow her instinct? But it turned about to be modern day Mills & Boons inspired Desi story. Desi: because it is set in India and has Indian characters. Modern, because the girl has a profession that she follows. And is not just an assistant to the hero. Mills & Boon inspired because it follows the same pattern and flows as the M&B stories we all grew up on. A linear story of a girl who is frustrated with her office runs away to hills to take a break. And meets her Tall, Dark, Handsome prince there, only to come back and land a dream job and arm candy.
This one is a typical chick-lit book with a crappy beginning and a happy ending. Does the book create the kind of romanticism M&B books create – definitely No?
The language of the book is so colloquial that I got distracted all the time. Maybe because that is not my kind of language with cuss words, maybe the Gen Y will connect with it. There is an overdose of alcohol, smoking, and food… all through a weeklong narrative that the story encompasses. The editing is weak. It suddenly goes into flashback (I think Bollywood is an inspiring lot of young writers) and you figure it out only after few sentences. The monologues in the mind thankfully are in a different font.
A racy pacy story that the metro reads are supposed to be, but it is too superficial a story. Rants of a girl on the wrong side of 25 seem too immature, too unprofessional and too biased. The character seems more like a spoilt teenager than a professional responsible for reporting crime on national television. The knack for naming anything and everyone, the irrational behavior of running away, the impromptu parties, all the friends who happen to be a call away for a party (why did all my friends spread out across the world as soon as we started working) – more like a collegiate behavior than a working professional one. The protagonist comes out a self-obsessed person with a penchant for good things in life that can be asked for if you cannot afford them.
Read My Way is the Highway if you cannot find anything else to read. Or if you are in a mood to read an unrefined desi version of teenage romance.
You may buy this book – My Way is the Highway by Urvashi Gulia at Amazon.
