Five Point Someone - Chetan Bhagat

Finally… I managed to read up this best seller. I read the book only because everyone around me had read it. And I was beginning to get bored of the scornful glance people would give me, when I said that I hadn’t read this book. My claims of being an avid book reader were looked upon at with doubt. I never thought I would do anything for mere social acceptance, but here I am, a lesser me who relented to the peer pressure.

At the back of my mind, I did believe that the book would be pretty decent if not outright fantabulous. After all, Five Point Someone seemed to be the favourite book of everyone around me. I had this friend in my MBA course who had come to the first lecture, reeling under the after effects of last-night’s alcohol, or perhaps the early morning peg, and had narrated the whole story to me while I haplessly tried concentrate on what was being taught. And through the slurring of my dear friend, and my own doubly divided concentration all I managed to gather was that the book was about the exploits of a guy at IIT. Of the lecture, I didn’t understand anything.

So I bought the book, and I started having my doubts from the very first page…

Thematically, Chetan Bhagat was spot on. Book about college life, couldn’t miss the mark. Where most Indian writers are too busy exploring philosophical, emotional and intellectual topics for their books, Chetan Bhagat chose a mass topic. And simply that made the book a hit. And let’s give merit where it’s due. The tales of bad students in great institutions, and that too, not child molestors or drug addicts bad, simply less than the torch-bearers-of-brilliance bad, is a tale which a lot of people can relate to. Because behind those select few, mostly disliked top rankers in all colleges, there are a hundred students who are not top rankers, and therefore looked down upon. And all of them, who have not lived up to their parent’s expectations, or have seen the toppers getting extra perks from teachers, etc. etc. can relate to the book and the three protagonists.

But that’s where the charm of the book ends for me. For some, in fact everyone I know, that charm carries them through, and makes the book enjoyable. But I find the writing too sloppy. Chetan Bhagat was probably trying to be colloquial and cool with his contemporary writing style. But that does not mean that you have to use “like” three times in a sentence. If he reads “The Game” by Neil Strauss, he will get a sample of what he was probably trying to achieve, writing style wise.

Characters are extremely clichéd. In fact the whole book is one big blob of clichés and stereotypes. In a group of three, there is one good looking guy and one fat guy. The heroine’s dad is a strict ringmaster. The invariable happy ending. Guy meets cute girl when she bangs into him in a car. The last one actually made me go… “What bs!”

Characters have not been built too well either. But then, I guess we can make some concessions for Chetan Bhagat considering it is his first book. Maybe he will get better. We will wait and see.
Overall, the book is not very enjoyable. At best, it’s a light, quick read, which you can run through and forget. Last heard, they were going to make a movie out of it. Now, the college theme might not have been explored that much in books, but it’s been done to death in movies. I say, leave it off the celluloid guys!!