Book Review
Bestseller
by
Ahmed Faiyaz
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| Bestseller by Ahmed Faiyaz |
Author: Ahmed Faiyaz
ISBN: 978-9353332648
Genre:
Length:
Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2v4psKN
About the author:
Ahmed Faiyaz grew up in Bangalore and now lives in Dubai.
He’s a strategist by profession, with a number of years in management consulting behind him. He’s a book and film addict, and a passionate writer. His first book, Love, Life & All That Jazz…, published in April 2010, remains a popular bestseller across major cities. His stories are also featured in the National Bestseller, Urban Shots.
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| Ahmed Faiyaz |
Grey Oak has recently released Another Chance, his second full-length novel, and is slated to release Down the Road, an anthology of 30 short stories he has co-edited, in April 2011. He is a founding member of Grey Oak Publishers and Grey Oak Foundation.
Follow him on Instagram: @ahmedfaiyazofficial
Check out his website: http://www.ahmedfaiyaz.in/
REVIEW
Summary
Bestseller is the story of Akshay Mathur, an editor who is in India for a year to help shore up the value of an Indian publisher, Kalim. Akshay is told to do so by his friend when he loses his editorial job in UK. The book is written in first person narrative and is narrated by the protagonist Akshay. Writing style is painless and straight forward. The book is divided into chapters, which are the important days of Akshay’s one year stay in India. Not to forget, it is a brilliant work portraying the current scenario of Indian publishing industry in a very fun way.
Time Period and Location
Bestseller is a contemporary book set in Mumbai, commercial capital of India. Kalim’s office is the place where most events happen in the book. This publishing house in the book represents behind the scenes of publishing world for India. As the location is Mumbai, Bollywood closes in very swiftly and gets inseparable from this particular publisher. As soon as that happens, the story revolves around media, page3 culture and controversies.
Theme
Bestseller is a Contemporary-Comedy Fiction work which follows Akshay Mathur through his journey in Kalim, where he meets a bunch of other characters (mostly insane writers). A lot of characters. Author’s writing style itself made it so funny. After almost every dialogue, there are thoughts of protagonist which are so witty and full of sarcasm. That serves you with live commentator who makes hilarious come-backs now and then. Note to yourself while reading this book that it is a comedy and try not to connect it with any real incidents and celebrities. There are few pages dedicated to politics also. The book is full with strategies for business of books and dealing with rivals. As with any other contemporary books, there is office romance but we will discuss more about that later.
Plot and My Views
Bestseller is the ever fast pacing book I’ve read in 2019. Let me introduce some of the characters. Zorah is a daughter of Akshay’s former boss. Zorah joins the Kalim publishing team and guess what happens? No spoilers! The plot is all about publishing five bestsellers within the year while Akshay is at Kalim, if he fails to do so, then they will have to wrap Kalim forever. For doing that Akshay meets very diverse and miscellaneous writers. Roshan Khan, a narcissistic Bollywood actor who wants to reinforce his career. Sudhir, an unprofessional IT geek. Anya Malik, a writer returning back to publishing world after two years. Tarun, an inappropriate boss. And a politician, a college student, a pair of non-fiction writers, a children’s writer, a reviewer and a lot many characters. All have the same purpose of being a #1 bestseller, but this only leads to the fun only. Isn’t it great? Roshan and Sudhir are funniest of them. Their style of approaching their editor and making things worst. Each chapter is packed with comedy sequences. The protagonist unnecessarily falls into the pothole named page3 for which he didn’t ask for and I couldn’t help laughing at that. Good or bad, the books get published, some leading to trouble and failure too, but Akshay is smart enough to get over these reckless writers.
This short book carries a lot with it, reality and truth about the publishing business, all types of writers and so much more. And it all Ahmed Faiyaz covered in just one-ninety pages. That'swhy I would still give it a 5 stars rating. If there is anything negative I would like to point, that is lack of description. It is good that there is no unnecessary description and is written to the point, but when it needed, like for portraying love and romance, the author missed it. Also, there is no depth to the characters, except being funny. Not all though.
Except for that one thing, I loved it. When some serious moments close in, the author gives a reason to laugh out loud. I literally squawked and screamed and laughed at such moments. Characters themselves are funny. I read this book in two sittings and wow, it is really a very fast paced, so it becomes a very light read. Ahmed Faiyaz has done a really great job.
Coming to the conclusion, if you relate to books and publishing in any way, then you have to read this. It provides you insights and reality check of the publishing world, where every writer is thriving to be on a bestseller list. With a touch of humor. Even if you are looking for a light read for your journey or want to read a comedy then here you go. I loved it really and it is filled with so much knowledge too. Thanks to Ahmed Faiyaz for writing such funny characters, Sudhir and Roshan.
Happy laughing!
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