Five Point Someone: What Not to Do at IIT Review by Vanga Srikanth

Book Description
Novel set in the context of the changing Indian IIT world, funy, but also insightful concerning Indian culture and modernization. excellent reviews. soon to be made into a major movie.

About the Author

Chetan Bhagat is the auhtor of 5 blockbuster novels, Five point someone [2004], One night at the call centre [2005], and The mistake of my life [2008]. All three books have remained best sellers, and have inspired major Bollywood films. The New york Times called the author the biggest selling English language novelist in India's history. 

Five Point Someone: What Not to Do at IIT Review by Vanga Srikanth
 My first reservation when I picked up this book was whether the story and characters would be true to life on an IIT campus. My second reservation (having read a random page from the book) was whether I would be able to remain patient through the casual and colloquial writing style. The book well exceeded my expectations on both fronts. The characterization and writing style turned out to be strengths of the book.

What happens when you put together hundreds of completely different people who only have one thing in common - they have all mindlessly and goallessly topped their way through school to now live together away from their controlled environment for the first time. The sudden realization of mediocrity and the sudden freedom to choose how to live ones life brings out the best and worst in people. Reminiscing about life at IIT is most often about those stories about the bests and worsts of those people. This is one such story.

It is hard to guess if non-IITians would enjoy this book. Though, I can certainly say that all IIT undergrads who lived on campus would find it a thoroughly enjoyable read. The book is a shockingly honest narrative written by a guy with a unique sense of humor that I have come to associate with fellow IITians - cynical, crass, insensitive, asocial, lateral, imaginative, visual. Quick read. Funny plot. Very nostalgic

Thanks
Vanga Srikanth