Book Review of The Evolution of an Inglorious Moron: Pros and cons

Title: The Evolution of an Inglorious Moron

Authors: Ritesh Rangare and Harshal Gondane

Publisher: NotionPress

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 255

Price: Rs 195 (exclusive of discounts)

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Review:  Ritesh Rangare and Harshal Gondane are young debutant authors and ‘The Evolution of an Inglorious Moron’ is their joint effort under the wings of self-publishing firm NotionPress.

This book traces a modern day story of a budding engineer Amar and explores various facets of his life. From romance to heartbreak to collegehood- these are segments which seem to be the firm favorites of the current crop of writers. Despite the hackneyed storyline, such books can be always enjoyed since they make for excellent light reads.

This book has been written with a lot of heart. But it seems like it was written and published in a hurried manner without any major editing. Even though the young, amateur authors have tried their level best to put in an engaging narrative, what comes as a dampener is the unprofessional style of writing. The language is not up to the mark and the ubiquitous grammatical mistakes are not acceptable for any published literary work.

Though, Ritesh and Harshal tried putting their best foot forward, it is clear that they are still raw in the world of writing and need to polish their skills. And they need to do some basic homework to ensure that these mistakes are not repeated, in case they ink a second novel in the future.

However, as a professional publication house, NotionPress clearly disappoints. How could any reputed publication house publish a book without ironing out its basic grammatical and English-related flaws?

Lackluster English and unforgivable editing work are the chief reasons why I have rated the novel at 2.5.

Coming to the plot premise, this book is centered on Amar, a small town guy, who spends a few years in NIT Calicut and keeps shifting between studies and romance. With a soft heart for his old coaching friend Tanvi, he keeps trying to win her over. However, with another boyfriend Anuj by her side, she does not reciprocate and Amar has to go through those soul-wrenching pangs of pain. His sentiments have been very beautifully depicted and are very relatable. His yes-no moments with Tanvi form the best portions of the book and tide over many of the less-impressive segments.

The last leg of the book also injects a refreshing sub-plot as the authors sketch a vignette of the world of eunuch (kinnar) community. The authors skim through their well-hidden community and leave behind an impressionable social message.

In a nutshell, the pros and cons of the book are:

Pros:

-          Charming and relatable romance

-          Engaging narrative laced with adequate humor

-          Some fresh sub-plots

-          Non-clichéd climax with a social message

Cons:

-          Unacceptably sub-standard English

-          Inconsistent pacing

-          Some hurriedly written portions

-          Incongruous  title

Final verdict: You may like the book if you love modern cheesy stories for light reads. However, if your shelf is loaded with classics, then this book may not fit into your scheme of things.

~Ritesh Agarwal

Email: ritzy182000@gmail.com

[The review for this book has been penned on personal requests by authors Ritesh Rangare and Harshal Gondane, who were generous enough to courier me a copy of the volume.]