Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin ‘Einstein’ Varghese Review: Not My Cup Of Tea
I have not read a lot of books narrated from a boy’s perspective. One reason could be that when the story is about a boy, bashing women becomes natural and almost unavoidable. Be it movies or books, when it is seen from a man’s point of view women are shown to be cranky, moody and unpredictable. I am not denying these point but as a woman, I don’t want it rubbed in my face as a point of humour. However, surprisingly that wasn’t entirely the case with Dork. Though the writer has shown the protagonist’s girlfriend to be a little unpredictable sometimes but other than that the lady was cool. So, I am glad that book does not indulge in too much of women bashing.
I bought Dork because it was a peek into an IIM’s life at a consultancy firm. With newspapers going gaga over the pay package of IIM’s I was a little curious to know what kind of a job do IIM’s actually do. Dork not only gave me a glimpse of an IIM’s work environment but also at how IIM’s must be thinking after graduating from highly esteemed institutes.
Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin ‘Einstein’ Varghese by Sidin Vadukut
In April 2006 Robin ‘Einstein’ Varghese, a stupendously naïve young man graduates from one of India’s best business schools with a job at Dufresne Partners, a mediocre mid-market management consulting firm largely run by complete morons. Varghese finds that he fits into the culture remarkably well. Or does he? Through a stunning series of blunders, mishaps and inadvertent errors, Robin begins to make his superiors rue the day they were driven by desperation into hiring him. Dork is for all of those who’ve ever sat depressed in cubicles and wanted to kill themselves with office stationery.
(Description is taken from Amazon.in)
Points I Liked About Dork
I tried. I tried my best to come up with at least one point that was good about the book but I couldn’t. It was a real struggle to finish this one. I am probably not the writer’s target audience. So, this book is not really for me. I finished it only because I paid for it.
Points I Did Not Like About Dork
Narration: Though Vadukut’s writing was much better than a lot of writers on the Indian turf, the narration of the story seemed abrupt and disjointed. I am not sure if this is how men write in their diaries. Vadukut gave a decent description of what transpired during the day for Robin but despite that, I felt that the ‘diary entry’ concept did not work well for this book. At least not for me. The book would have been much better had it been just a first person narration instead of a diary entry.
Occasional Laughs: My brother read this book before me and highly recommended it saying that it was hilarious. As I started reading the book, I was waiting to laugh my guts out but sadly that didn’t happen. No doubt, Robin Varghese leads an interesting life and some of his encounters are funny but not rib-tickling amusing. It takes more than just drunken blunders to make me laugh.
Final View: The book is purely for management students who can relate to the writer’s experiences at a work place. I could not relate to the writer and so I did not enjoy this book. Not my kinda book.
You can check out Amazon.in for a discount on this book.