The Dumb and the DumbFounded by Abhinav Shrivastava and Prerna Varma!!!

             The fourth book of 2013 is been read. Reading is the best habit that I have and hence, I keep on promoting as much as I can so that others reading this medium can also indulge into this habit as it is been said to be the best Habit by many great men in history. :-) This time, I have read "The Dumb and the Dumbfounded" which also has the tagline "Life as we see it!". This is 231-pages novel published by ABC Publishers. This is the first time when I have picked up this publisher and I am satisfied with the quality of the cover page, pages, binding etc. I would like to specially mention that Cover Page of the book is something that I have seen very rarely- 5/5 to it.  The book is written in co-authorship by Abhinav Shrivastava and Prerna Varma. Both of them are debutantes and it is the first time when they have written a novel. Both are writers who have pursued their education from Amity University and Delhi University. They have written over 500 articles for local sections of leading newspapers and websites while freelancing for magazines. They work for causes like cerebral palsy, fight against female feticide and right to education. 

For few, college is the temple of learning, for some it is their ticket to romance, for others it is a place to make new friends, creating countless memories !
What does 'college' mean to you?Does it remind you of your 'best friend?'The friend who has been there, shared your dreams, acted as an advisor and an agony aunt!
But what if this same 'friend' betrays you, tries to sabotage your career and threatens to reveal every single detail of your life?
Would you sit in a corner and sob? Or would to stand up and retaliate?
'The Dumb and the Dumbfounded' is a tale of two friends- Aarav and Dhruv, who embark on a thrilling ride of life.But soon the thin line between thrill and fright starts to dissipate.
Aarav begins to lead a 'dual life.'Dhruv gives a new meaning to IIT.And one of them discovers other's plans.
Would they forgive and forget? Or would they seek vengeance? But first, they have to make the ends meet, without actually making them meet!
This is a journey where there's nothing right or wrong.

                 Coming to the authors- As they are young debutantes, I did find some drawbacks in their writing but I was satisfied with no grammar and spelling mistakes in the book. They have kept the book as simple as possible. They have generally targeted the age-group of 16 to 22, it seems. Because, the book is too simple for anyone who has passed out from college. The college children would love to read the book. Narration is fine. At few places, it seemed as if authors wanted to touch a landmark but missed it by couple of steps. They'll have to work little more before writing their 2nd novel. I would suggest them to read more books in this genre. It will surely help them to get the real way in which one should carry forward a story which has suspense hidden in it. Else, I would say that their writing skills didn't disappoint me. 

              Coming to the review, the first chapter of the book itself gives a feel that we are not going to read something that young authors publish these days. The initial pages of the book are very interesting when it's about lying to the stranger by the characters of the book and later meeting him/her co-incidentally and then dealing with it casually. The characters are defined very well. What I liked about the book is that authors haven't inserted sexual and intimate scenes to add spices in the story even when the book is about flirting, loving, committing, ditching etc. They have kept it decent. Kudos. College life ends soon in the first half itself. Another exciting feature of this novel. As soon as the ambitions and career's talks comes in the book, my reading pace fastened. The fights that both-Aarav and Dhruv keep having with their girlfriends in respective relationships are funny and cheap. Haha! The second half of the book is, actually, the winner. And the best part of the book is its climax. It saved the book.

             Coming to the drawbacks- The book is very slow. I felt that they should have added more ingredients in these 231 pages than the very few that they have. The diary part should have been written in some different form and format rather than in the same tone as the whole book is been written. Narration sometimes felt weak, I think its because of the lack of co-ordination between both the authors at times. I felt that there wasn't any need of describing few things in detail as they are already understandable. As the book is about unfolding the suspense in the end of it, authors should have made the plot little doubtful at times so that it would have been fun when the story unfolds in the end. 

             But still, the climax is the winner and for me, it saved the book, literally. I can say that this is a book-form of the comedy movie- Garam Masala where two males keep fighting for girls and also against each other. If you enjoyed watching Garam Masala, you will love reading this book. :-) I would give it 2.75/5. One-time read? Yes, for the age group of 16-22. 

 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU