My 2 cents worth on ‘2 States’

Hi All,

I recently finished reading Chetan Bhagat’s [CB] latest book ‘2 States’ and boy it has been one good read. Chetan in his typical style has rendered yet another book in first person narrative. This genre of writing is usually considered not as interesting as third person narratives. But Chetan has repeatedly proven us wrong.

The book is by and large a realistic account of what lovers have to go through in India (Though I am not one myself, I have enough friends who vouch by this book). So I really liked the realistic tone of this book. Many conversations between key characters are very much stuck to the ground and showed how typical Indian family conversations would be.

CB has taken the liberty of dramatic license and exaggerated the gimmickry performed by the lovers to convince their other half’s parents but still he has been careful enough to keep it within conceivable reach of imagination. From taking tuitions for his lover’s brother to preparing business proposals for her father, our hero seems to be doing everything and anything to win over the bride’s family. His lover proves she is no lesser when she ensures the smooth function of her lover’s cousin sister’s marriage.

But many arguments among key characters are not taken to their logical conclusion. CB has ,intentionally i believe, shied away emotional outbursts of older characters which you would normally expect given the gravity of the situation the characters find themselves in. Probably he has done this keeping in mind commercial considerations, after all he is writing for a young audience and we dont want to read about oldies crying and screaming at each other.

Overall, a good book to read and ponder over.