Title:
Sorting Out Sid
 |
| Source: Goodreads |
Author:
Yashodhara Lal
About the story: The story is
about a man, Sid, in his late 30s whose marriage is in shambles and works in
the management section of a leading toilet cleaner company. Does he love his
job? No, but it does provide him with some toilet humor in those parties where
he has to don the ‘Party-Sid’ mask. And it’s in such a party hosted by his good
friend Aditi, he meets Neha, a single mother. Although his first meeting with
Neha does not go as good as he had expected, he just cannot get Neha and her
infectious laughter out of his head.
At work Sid has
to tolerate his half-witted boss, Akash, and laugh at his crude jokes even when
the only thing on Sid’s mind is to strangle his unscrupulous boss. Things are
not better at his home too, what with his wife, Mandira, and he heading for divorce
after several years of being married. Things just get worse when his parents
decide to visit his house and Sid does not know how to break the news of his
impending divorce to his parents.
Can Sid finally
sort his life out? Will Sid divorce
Mandira or will they reconcile? This is not exactly a coming of age story but the
story of a man, who with his chaotic life and a propensity to avoid unpleasant
situations, finally decides to take control of his life. How successful he is
in his endeavor is something you will find out after you read this book.
My Review: The story completely belongs to Sid and his
eccentricities in life. And as the story moves forward the author manages to
peel off yet another layer of Sid’s personality and leaves you confused.
All through the
book Sid comes across as a person who tries to live in his fake identities, his
various masks that he dons to entertain people. But almost at the end of the
book, there is a paragraph where Neha accuses him to be too narcissistic and
claims that even after months of knowing her, Sid never bothered to inquire
about her two year old daughter’s full name, who she nicknamed quite oddly as
Kippy.
Sid remains
silent but as he strides out of Neha’s house, he softly says Kippy’s real name
and remembers that he had noticed the name the first day he entered Neha’s
house. That’s when you realize that there’s still hope for Sid. Such little
gems in the book keeps you engrossed in between the toilet jokes that
evokes a few chuckles.
As a writer,
Yashodhara Lal, has grown tremendously from her last book. Fortunately the
author, unlike in her previous book, managed to keep the usage of Hindi words
to minimum. Sid’s characterization takes a major chunk in the story and I did
feel that the other characters were a little sidelined. But I am not
complaining because Sid has enough potential to keep you entertained with his
antics throughout the 300+ paged book.
Funny thing is
even though the storyline vaguely reminded me of ‘Wake-Up Sid’ movie, I just
couldn’t shake off the image of Jim Carrey in Sid’s role.
Verdict: Overall a
delightful read that managed to keep me riveted and entertained till the end.
Rating: 3.5/5
Agree with your review :) Btw was the usage of Hindi was more in her previous book? I thought it was a bit over the line here as well..
ReplyDeleteI bet Sid had lots of great "potty'" jokes. Haven't read this book, but it looks mildly entertaining.
ReplyDelete