Book Review: All the best, baby by Karan Singh Surana
All the Best, Baby
Author: Karan Singh Surana
Publisher: Half Baked Beans
Rating: 2.5/5
Summary
“All the best, baby” is full of love and politics. The story revolves around Sahil Surana, the protagonist, who decides to part company from his family and join M. Tech in the Orion University. But the plot is not as simple as it seems. Love is the main hassle in his life. When Sahil decides to teach in a coaching centre, cupid strikes him hard. He gets smitten by one of his students- Natasha and eventually succeeds in robbing the cradle. The wheels of the story move forward, with Sahil and Natasha in their respective colleges, both speaking the same language, spending countless hours on phone calls and grabbing even the smallest opportunity, to meet each other. Perhaps, life is not a bed of roses and the elders set the alarm bells ringing with their endeavours to find the match for their respective children. On one hand, is Sahil’s mother, who has negative views on Inter-caste marriages and on the other hand, is Natasha’s father, who is more concerned about the societal values, name and fame. The issue of Sahil getting married to Natasha becomes a bone of contention for both the families. Sahil chops and changes all the time, but with no fruitful outcome. As if this was not enough, Sahil faces trouble at the college front as well, when Mr Mishra, a barefaced liar, tries to ruin the future of all the students.
Amidst dirty politics in college, love being a can of worms and employment being the upcoming hurdle, will Sahil be able to dodge the bullet? Or will he surrender his dreams and hopes? Read this novella to get all the answers!
My opinion
It is true that every relationship has problems but true love is when you want to stick beside your significant other, in spite of a stormy relationship and all the hurdles that block your path. “All the best baby” is all about holding on to your love, even when the final outcome is not predictable. The author has successfully crafted the characters of Sahil and Natasha, their strict and stubborn parents, their wonderful friends and the corrupt teachers and administration in Orion (or probably every other University) University. The novella is fast-paced, with short and to-the-point chapters. The ambience smells of young romance and the plot highlights the cliché (d) inter-caste weddings that restrict two people from falling in love without prior information about their background, caste, religion and what not! There are some dialogues that directly target the society and are indeed delightful.
Overall, good effort by the author!
Drawbacks
The major drawback of the book is the lack of proofreading and presence of several grammatical errors that make the content ambiguous. Secondly, there is lack of flow and continuity, thereby failing to hold the attention of readers for long.