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fidoe's review against another edition
2.0
Week 4 Book 6
Family Planning by Karan Mahajan
Rating: 2/5
I heard this audiobook on Audible. This book has mixed reviews and throughout my listening, I kept yo-yoing between 'funny book' to 'wth'. I think I've settled down to 'meh' in the end.
FP revolves around a cabinet minister in Delhi called Mr Ahuja whose claim to fame apart from his work on flyovers, is his ever increasing family, which already had 14 children and 1 on the way. It also discusses his relationship with his very ordinary and perpetually pregnant wife Sangeeta, and his oldest child, a moody teenager called Arjun.
Set in the early 2000s it touches upon the telecom revolution, the rapid expansion of the city, lots of politics both at home and at work, and yearning in love, of different kinds. The characters and plotline had good scope for humour but somehow fizzled out for me. Another let down was choosing an English Indian actor for the narration, whose weird accent didn't do justice to the novel and only took away from it. Maybe if I had read it I'd have rated it better. Or maybe I'd have abandoned it altogether. Bottomline: it's avoidable.
Family Planning by Karan Mahajan
Rating: 2/5
I heard this audiobook on Audible. This book has mixed reviews and throughout my listening, I kept yo-yoing between 'funny book' to 'wth'. I think I've settled down to 'meh' in the end.
FP revolves around a cabinet minister in Delhi called Mr Ahuja whose claim to fame apart from his work on flyovers, is his ever increasing family, which already had 14 children and 1 on the way. It also discusses his relationship with his very ordinary and perpetually pregnant wife Sangeeta, and his oldest child, a moody teenager called Arjun.
Set in the early 2000s it touches upon the telecom revolution, the rapid expansion of the city, lots of politics both at home and at work, and yearning in love, of different kinds. The characters and plotline had good scope for humour but somehow fizzled out for me. Another let down was choosing an English Indian actor for the narration, whose weird accent didn't do justice to the novel and only took away from it. Maybe if I had read it I'd have rated it better. Or maybe I'd have abandoned it altogether. Bottomline: it's avoidable.
diggitalot's review
2.0
Bitvis en riktigt bra bok men den har också några riktigt djupa dalar. En form av uppväxtroman där författaren följer en trettonbarnsfar och hans äldsta son.
Det blir liksom vaken hackat eller malet, jag lyckas inte förstå någon av personerna i boken vaken fadern, sonen eller frun som "råkar" få ett kapitel mitt i boken.
Det blir liksom vaken hackat eller malet, jag lyckas inte förstå någon av personerna i boken vaken fadern, sonen eller frun som "råkar" få ett kapitel mitt i boken.
cykia's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
bethreadsandnaps's review against another edition
3.0
This story primarily focused on Rakesh Ahuja, a politician in India, and his wife and one of his many children. I found the marital relationship fascinating. I didn't quite understand his work political issues, but it could have been that I was so intrigued by the marital aspect that I was just phoning it in when he was dealing with the work issues. The son Arjun was interesting but really didn't get a lot of airtime except for his crush on the girl on the bus that he tries to do a rock concert for.
lckeser7's review against another edition
2.0
Like, it seems, almost every other review written by people who read [b:The Association of Small Bombs|25810398|The Association of Small Bombs|Karan Mahajan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441308136l/25810398._SY75_.jpg|45666384] before this, I have to begin by stating my disappointment. [a:Karan Mahajan|1856113|Karan Mahajan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1438552833p2/1856113.jpg]'s second book is fantastic. This one, not so much. Making it even more disappointing is that the premise has promise, but the book never lives up to what it could have been.
My biggest concern has to do with pacing. Not that the book ever gets too slow or bogged down under itself, but at almost every turn, I can feel Mahajan purposefully withholding information. I understand that authors do this; it's how you control pace and plot complications, but as a reader, I don't usually feel the writer doing it. Mahajan's presence in these moments definitely makes this withholding feel artificial and not organic.
It was funny at times, but not often enough to cover up its deeper flaws.
My biggest concern has to do with pacing. Not that the book ever gets too slow or bogged down under itself, but at almost every turn, I can feel Mahajan purposefully withholding information. I understand that authors do this; it's how you control pace and plot complications, but as a reader, I don't usually feel the writer doing it. Mahajan's presence in these moments definitely makes this withholding feel artificial and not organic.
It was funny at times, but not often enough to cover up its deeper flaws.
hersheys's review against another edition
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
librarimans's review against another edition
4.0
A funny and quirky debut novel that follows the life of an Indian politician named Rakush, his eldest son Anjur, and the rest of his enormous family. The narrative jumps back and forth between Rakush and Anjur as they both are going through trying times in their lives. I'm nowhere near an expert on Indian culture or politics, but from what little I've heard, this seems like a fairly spot on send up of both.
jennseeg's review against another edition
2.0
While this book did have funny parts, I was honestly, quite bored by a lot of it.
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