There are some books which are called leisure fiction. These are the books that we can read in our spare times but, mostly, can’t find any ideas other than pure entertainment or maybe hollow entertainment as well. However, there are certain novels which can provide multiple ideas despite being a leisure fiction. I am talking about ‘Half Girlfriend’ by Chetan Bhagat. Some readers are there who have not read the books of Chetan Bhagat and pretend themselves as Dr Johnson of the modern age by giving a lecture on morality. How a novel should be? In the novel, he has exerted many constructive ideas and these ideas surely relate to our real life. So, let’s have an insight of the novel Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat.
About the Book:
Let’s discuss the book in details and what exactly the author wants to present point by point.
1. Storyline: The story is pretty simple where a boy from Bihar seeks to take admission in India’s prestigious college where he has to face many hurdles due to his bad English. After getting admission he falls in love with a rich girl. But the girl tells him that I am not your girlfriend but you can call me ‘Half Girlfriend’. The girl gets married to a rich person and the boy gets to continue his social work. They meet again and the girl tells him I have ended my marriage. One day she ran away and nobody knows where she has gone? Madhav was searching for her and one day he found her in the USA and they start staying together. The novel ends there.
2. Constructive Ideas the author wants to present: He exposes the mentality of rich persons and upper elites. He has shown the dilemma of the Indian education system. In India, to get admitted to a college you need to understand English, Hindi has no place there. People seldom talk in Hindi at the campus. Knowing Hindi in India is a matter of shame really? When Madhav was attending a party how he was mocked because of being a Bihari and a non-English speaking person – these episodes expose the ugly truths of so-called literate but mindless nincompoops! He exposes the hypocrisy of rich person mindset too. When Riya retuned to her family and told about her husband’s shameful act, her parents did not support her despite knowing the fact she is a victim of domestic violence. So. people often talk about these type of things happening only in the middle-class families but the reality is far from this created illusion. But Chetan Bhagat has unmasked the hypotactic society of upper elites.
Conclusion:
It may be easy for some readers to call it a usual fiction but it depicts some harsh realities of modern society. It provides us with a view from outside about the condition of modern society. I find the book entertaining as well as meaningful. However, I don’t endorse all the novels by Chetan Bhagat. For example, his novels like An Indian Girl is purely a waste of time!
You can certainly enjoy reading Half Girlfriend by Chetan by getting a copy from Amazon. Here is the link:
Buy the novel – click here to buy from Amazon
review by Amit for Egoistic Readers
Half Girlfriend
110 rs
Pros
- Easy Language
- Straight Plot
- Short Read
Cons
- Lacks Depth
- Casual to an extent
2 Comments. Leave new
The novel is interesting and compact. Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat presents a scenario among the readers what you think about how society works. Maybe his language is not so exalted but his ideas are great in this novel at least.
Very well explained Amit! thanks for the review. I always wanted to read this book but cudnt do becs of some reasons. i will read this now and see what’s there for me…