First Thought : How would you feel on finding a book that deals with the subject that has been really close to your heart and you have secretly dreamt to write about it someday? Wow! Connected! Appreciative! Nostalgic! Why? Not Me! Too Late! Not Sure! Read it and you would know. This one echoes the tale of many women in today’s world.
I went through many emotions when I had just read a few chapters of the book, Wise Enough To be Foolish. Simple reason is that I have always nursed a dream to write a woman’s tale. As I read through the pages, I felt I have known the protagonist Gauri closely, though she holds no similarity to my life. I liked it best when she questions the ways of life and has a knack of not going by other’s decisions.
In One statement: The story traverses around independent decisions, men of choice and travel tales, a simple story that easily talks about complexities of life. A story that dares to bare!
Title: I liked it ! Does not easily gives in the story. It carries the crux of the tale elegantly. The foolish bits and pieces here and there eventually make a wise setting in the puzzle called Life.
Book Cover: Wisely thought of, its attractive and capable to draw in readers. The girl with the large suitcase in the hand is definitely talking about traveling and next best, about living a life on her own terms. It completely syncs in with the theme of the book.
Story: The story introduces us to Gauri when she has been waiting for her husband all night. Then comes the beginning where it all begins when she is a kid. She tells us about her parents, her siblings and her friends. The growing up days covers everything from her love-hate relationship with her parents, her feeling about her mother’s inclination towards her brother, the Punjabi ways of her family and her upbringing in the Army quarters and close proximity to sports and discipline.
In the adolescence, she is a naughty kid, who plays with boys, loves to defy parents and maintains distance with studies. However, love and crushes play a role in her life and help her identify her real strength. She had been independent in her thoughts and actions but however when she comes to college in Bombay and lives in hostel, the true meaning of freedom descends on her. She finds a feeling of thrill and chill in her own set of friends and loves to hang around with boys. An inter religion marriage happens and it fails. Lots of twists and turns in life come and go but she handles it well eventually blossoming into a hard-hitting, fierce, strong lady who thinks from her mind and heart both and settles for nothing less than her own happiness. Must Read….
Likes: One learns from the falls in life and the one who makes the best by rising from the falls is like Gauri. She makes mistakes, accepts them but does not let them mar her life. As a whole, the book is as simple as it can be and it talks about a girl and her sweet and sour life. Honestly I have always wanted to write or read something like it. The story touches the chords of the heart. It deals with a story which is not just a happy go lucky types but about a life that was lived on its own conditions.
The Best liner from the book: Life is an individual event, and only you count….Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose.
Dislikes: There isn’t anything disappointing about the book. However, I felt that the reader gets to read an extra doze about boys in Gauri’s life than about her work or other things in her life. Lots of characters that some of them get forgotten with the turn of pages.
Last but not the Least: Grab it ! Its gonna make you sit back, introspect, think and question your choices in life. There are many debatable issues raised between the lines that have been there but we are yet to find the acceptable answers.
Smileys Won : 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
More about the Author on www.wiseenoughtobefoolish.com
Gauri Jayaram is the woman behind The Active Holiday Company.
Happy Reading !!!
Happy Blogging !!!
I received a copy of book from JAICO Publishing House and it was fun to organize the book giveaway contest too.
Nice!! Recd the book over the weekend with a great T-shirt to boot 🙂 Waiting to start this one… 🙂 tks
Sounds like a good one!