Colorful Notions: The RoadTrippers 1.0 by Mohit Goyal | Book Review
I started reading this book right when I
came back from a tiring train journey. It was probably not a good idea to pick
up a travel book when I had just created my own travel tale. My fresh memories
and fictional drama were in for a mental conflict. I couldn’t help but compare
one with the other. It might be one of the reasons why it took me a whole month
to finish this book – Colorful Notions: The Roadtrippers 1.0. A first for me
and I am known to gobble up books in hours.
The plot is about three youngsters and their
exciting pan-India road trip. Two boys and a girl drive out on a Ford to all
famous parts of the country, all the while documenting their journey on a
camera. The scope of the story is evident in the first few pages and teases a exciting journey ahead. The story gets equal portions of drama and humour and adventure.Unfortunately, descriptions about travel rarely found any place in the book --- the one thing it
promised and forgot to deliver.
"Would you give up your high-paying job and comfortable personal life to drive ten thousand kilometers across India? Just for fun!"
As I read on from a promising first quarter, it
didn’t take long for me to realise that this book isn’t exactly about travel.
The author, Mohit Goyal uses the road trip idea only as a foundation base and
instead concentrates more on personal matters of the characters. This would
have been okay, had it been done correctly. But he overdid it. Extreme bollywood-like
plot scenes and inconceivable events just ruin the ambience of the whole
storyline. And oh! Did I mention that Colorful Notions have no climax whatsoever?
Big bummer!
What impresses is the book and page quality, something
that isn’t expected on anything that comes out of Srishti Publishers’ shelves.
The book is also well edited and is written in simple understandable English. (Also,
Hinglish is pleasantly avoided. Thank the gods.) If you love the new
contemporary Indian pulp fiction genre, this is a book you should read. Do not
dive in expecting a travel story and Colorful Notions might just manage to
impress you.
The book is a good attempt by Mohit Goyal. Sir, if you
ever read this, please cut the philosophy and over-dramatic scenes from the
next books in this series. And maybe put in some actual travel insights into
the story. I wish you all the luck.
My Ratings:
2.5/5
Buy the book here: Amazon.in
P.S: I recieved a review copy from The Tales Pensieve as part of Reviewers Programme. Register on #TTP for lots of #book fun and activities.
0 comments