Another English Assignment: A Book Review.

The Inscrutable Americans

By Anurag Mathur

The name suggests partially what the book actually speaks about. The ambiguous nature of the Americans and their culture’s contradicting customs can all be seen well-framed and structured in the book as the reader journeys through the adventures of the hero. But one realizes that it’s also a book that mocks at Indians in one way or another. The book’s full of hyperbole and sarcasm put forward in the most amusing way at every action of the characters. It is a fictional but true to real-life book that’s very intricate at every page.

The story is about a local simpleton Gopal who goes to America for higher studies and as he discovers American life. The setting of the story is in a university campus at a town near Chicago.

His struggle to not get distracted by the freedom that can be experienced and to excel in academics is very humorous. One can sense familiarity with the background of Gopal and his Indian ness. The story starts off with the letter that Gopal writes to his younger brother back home; that gives the reader just a glimpse of what he’s going to read in the next two hundred and forty pages. The character is very well drawn with every minute detail like his typically broken English language and his personality of a spectacled nerd who’s trying his best not to get distracted by American beauties. The situations created are simply stated – laughable. There’s one in which Gopal mistakenly gets into a massage parlor and demands for sex.

Other characters to look out for include Randy, the American ambassador to Gopal who takes him to the most happening parties and places like a football match, a bar, each party and other typical American hangouts. The reader definitely gets a taste of the American life and the American people. Gloria is Gopal’s first love in America who breaks his heart. She’s one of those Americans who get close for a sling and then just leave it there typically.

The most significant feature of the book is its style of writing. Anurag Mathur has written it with tiniest of the detail and the best part is the structure of the book – Every event that occurs in the book is very well described with the character’s (or country’s) perception. During a football match, the author brings in humorous comments about the fact that American football neither looks like a round ball nor is it played by foot. Another style used by the author is that of character’s thought process in every action. Like, while putting on the seatbelts, Gopal thinks that he never understood this American mania for seatbelts since in India they didn’t even have seatbelts.

The story flows from discoveries to ridicule, distress and finally to a pleasant state of happiness. The book is a bit patchy with the plot since it doesn’t have a constant flow. It’s a wild journey of emotions and humorous comments, facts and ridiculous situations. You realize that the adventures take him to unbelievable and funny experiences. It’s definitely a light delightful read which will make the reader smile.

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