You Never Know When You'll Get Lucky! by Priya Narendran - A Review

Chick lits have a purpose to serve in our hectic, racey, dull, morose, sickening, mundane schedules. They allow you muffled laughs while traveling in the metro on your way to work, they give you a lighter take on the most serious-but-relatable miseries in life, and they almost always have a love story you secretly wished you could call your own. The characters are lively and real, and even though the literary content is nearly zero, these books' entertainment quotient is akin to that of a masala bollywood movie - give your mind some rest and flow along on a part hilarious, part desirable journey. That too on a path which cuts across your own backyard in some way or the other.

Priya Narendran has given her readers exactly the same pleasures for the same reasons in her debut book - You Never Know When You Will Get Lucky! (YNK.. for our purpose). So this novel, YNK..., did not exactly bowl me over, but had me hooked onto it pretty strong for the time out of my life I devoted to it.

Kajal, a sassy, enterprising, adventurous and boldly smart copywriter working in an advertising firm in Delhi is the protagonist of this book which gives a light take on the personal versus professional life conflict people face so often. She is surrounded by a bevy of interesting male characters, among whom, Dhir, a successful professional based in Mumbai is her love interest whom she meets in a gorgeously crafted opening scene - perhaps the best I have read in the whole of past year. Kajal and Dhir instantly click, only to be separated and reunited much later and click like first time all over again. Her first date with Dhir extends for days, in circumstances which would make any woman (me especially) go weak in the knees, with a 'sigh' here and an 'aww' there escaping their lips. Locked away in Dhir's apartment, with the outside world rendered unapproachable owing to the legendary Mumbai rains, Kajal has the most wonderful time with her Mr. Perfect, who, she knows in her heart of hearts, is THE guy for her. To add to the magical element in their firey time together, this one meeting with Dhir also gives Kajal a path-shattering, career-elevating idea to launch an advertising campaign for condoms - named Lucky with a tagline which explains the title too. This is one of a kind condom campaign, led by two audacious females in a male bastion, which gives Kajal's career a fairy-tale thrust.

However, like the reputed ogress she is, Fate intervenes to eat up Kajal's happiness, sometimes due to distances, sometimes due to misunderstood circumstances. A few other interesting characters are thrown around to make the picture complete, of which my favorite is Debu (Kajal's next door neighbour, a misinterpreted and misrepresented character). How different tracks in Kajal's life converge and where her life heads eventually is captured in a smartly told tale, one worth reading and enjoying as per me.

A novel scores big when its characters linger on in a reader's mind as prominent takeaways from the book. Kajal was that relatable character whose mention will bring back fond instances of romance and stupidity, both. The plot line is not extraordinary, but sufficiently interesting to catch a readers imagination. There are a few amazingly scripted scenes which would be momentous hits if a movie was to be made out of this book. Characters are convincingly crafted. Unexpected twists do also await the reader in an otherwise consistent, though not predictable, narrative. The youthful zeal to excel and the desires for picture-perfect romance are themes which dominate the book. All in all, a more than good read. Definitely a book you should pick up from stands next time you want to read something breezy.

Perhaps the only thing that did not work for me in this book was the way it ended. Somehow, I have been conditioned into expecting overtly grand, bollywood-ishtyle climax settings for chick lits which thrive on love as the predominant emotion. The concluding chapters in this book were subtle. My conclusion here? 3 stars on 5. If you read this one, share your thoughts with me too!

(Reviewed on request by Fingerprint)