The Girl in Room 105 By Chetan Bhagat | Short Book Review

Being a book lover you come across books from various genres penned by different authors.

Of course, not all of them are same.

But, each type of tale and storytelling style, there is a fanbase! The same happens with Mr. Chetan Bhagat, he enjoys a notable fanbase.

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He is probably one of the most criticized authors of modern times in India, and at the same time, his books found their places in the bestseller lists.

Today, we are going to talk a little about his book The Girl in Room 105.

Book Cover:

As the cover page serves as the gateway to the virtual world explored within the book, it definitely impacts a large number of read/purchase decisions.

As you can see, the cover page of this book is eye catcher.

Rachita Rakyan has done a decent job here. Her decision to use a real person to model (Kashmira Irani) for the cover page instead of using illustration seems paying off. The photograph used on the cover page is taken by Aishwarya Nayak.

The book title doesn’t giveaway much (about the story), but it is a love story merged with a thriller. And thus, the red/black theme syncs in honestly with the theme of the book.

Storyline:

Let us take a bird’s eye view of the plot.

The book starts in an interesting way. The author Chetan Bhagat meets with a fellow passenger named Keshav Rajpurohit. And, they have had a quite interesting conversation. And, it seeds the story.

Keshav was studying in college and living with Saurabh, his partner cum friend in a rented accommodation.

He meets with Zara Lone, a girl whose roots are in Kashmir. They eventually fell in love and… Well, it is not the story of – and then lived together happily ever after!

Zara got murdered and now Keshav is left heartbroken, convicted and determined to find the truth about Zara’s death.

Will it be even possible? Will his life be in danger? Will he be able to survive? And, most importantly, will he be able to find the truth?

To get your answers, you need to read the book. Over the course, you will meet with Keshav Rajpurihit, Saurabh Maheshwari, Zara Lone, Arora sir, Chandan Arora, owner of Chandan Classes (and our boss), Inder Das, Vikas Rana, Watchman Laxman, Safdar Lone (Zara’s father), Raghu Venkatesh, Nurse Janie, Arijit, Naman Rajpurohit (Keshav’s father), Laxman Reddy, Ruchika Gill, Biren, (Zara’s stepmother, Zainab), (Zara’s stepbrother, Sikander), Prof. Vineet Saxena, Mrs Parminder Saxena, Suketu, Rajpal, Nizam, Hafiz, Mohsin, Ali, Salim, Captain Faiz Khan, Salma, and others.

Views And Reviews:

Spread over in 34 small chapters, this book starts with an interesting conversation between Keshav and Chetan Bhagat. The author writes some interesting lines reflecting the environment outside.

We passed through angry clouds. They didn’t like this hard metal object disturbing them. The aircraft rattled like a pebble in a tin.

As you can see, the author has used simple language to keep the reader hooked by making the book an easy read.
Of course, it is Chetan Bhagat’s book, so there are some stuff that is for mature readers only.

The author has opiniated his views about power and politics at various platforms. And, we found some such lines in this book as well:

‘People have a different side to them when they have power over someone.’
————–
The only way to make power behave in India is, well, more power.

And, yes, you find sarcasm shining in this book at various places.

This passive-aggressive stealth communication mothers do with their sons’ girlfriends is a refined and deadly art form.
————–
‘Can you stop eating so much? What did you weigh last time? Ninety-six kilos?’
‘Ninety-five-and-a-half. Anyway, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. One should eat it well,’ Saurabh said, and took a bite of his toast.
————–
From this height, the valley below seemed peaceful. Of course, from here, you couldn’t see human beings, the cause for most troubles on the planet.

The author’s takes on various social situations and our changed way of living are reflected in this book through some impactful lines like:

Nowadays, people don’t fall in love. They swipe left and right…’
————–
While we prepared children to face cut-throat competition, our own business wasn’t immune to it.
————–
… even these “good for you” things are only good for you up to a point. In small portions.

See, how brilliantly the author has infused some wisdom lessons into them.

As one of the prominent character is foody, the book includes food/drink related lines like:

I gulped down my first cup of coffee. I felt like a phone with low battery that had finally met a charger. I rebooted, at least for a few minutes.
————–
I shunted the plate of food towards him. Saurabh looked at the plate like he had found his missing child after several years.

If you want to read lines with a light tone representing the trickey situations, you get some of them like:

‘I don’t know about the terror part,’ the Kashmiri think-tank guy started to say before the socialite lady with a bindi the size of a ten-rupee coin outshouted him.
————–
Paharganj would make a great setting for a video game. Navigating the streets while remaining unhurt could be the challenge.

Here is a line that I found quite interesting. See how interestingly, the author has incorporated two opposite stuff here.

There can’t be a tastier or unhealthier way of eating vegetables than pakoras.

I am avoiding more discussion about the plot to avoid spoilers, but these quotes must have given you a fair idea about literary qualities of the book.

The book has contemporariness, the life style of current generation, the political scenarios and many other areas are explored quite authentically. The book is curated for the masses and thus some unwanted stuff is also there. See, the author knows his goal and walks on to the path accordingly.

This is the first thriller by the author and keeping his style he has explore this new genre quite well. Actually, Keshav Rajpurohit and Saurabh’s story continues in the next book, which we got a chance to read before this first installment of the series :). Based on this experience I can say, both the books are good individually and can be read without the compulsion of reading the other.

Summary:

A typical Chetan Bhagat book that blends a nice thriller quite well. The book contains some stuff for mature readers only.

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 7 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

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Over To You:

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