Wednesday 31 July 2013

I Kissed A Frog & other short stories by Rupa Gulab

Title : I Kissed A Frog & other short stories
Author : Rupa Gulab
Genre : Short Stories / ChickLit
Publisher : Pan Macmillan India
Pages : 230
My Rating : 7/10
Reviewed For : Publisher /
South Asian Challenge 2013 / IQRC 2013 / Chicklit Club

Blurb:

 

Girls arent really made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Well, perhaps some girls are, but those are certainly not the girls youll meet in I Kissed a Frog a collection of wacky short stories, tongue-in-cheek diaries and not so grim twenty-first century fairy tales that turn love and friendship inside out and upside down. Youll find it all here: getting even with exes, changes in male-female dynamics, crazy diet wars, besties turning into worsties, dark humour, light comedy and the startling discovery that Prince Charming may not be your pitcher of beer. Young, fun and feminist, I Kissed a Frog is just what a girl needs to chase the blues away.


Review:

 

(This review first appeared on ChickLit Club)

I Kissed A Frog is an eccentric mix of 17 tongue-in-cheek short stories which revolve around the themes of love, friendship and modern-age fairy tales highlighting most of the woes of singledom.

"Love" is a bewildering emotion in itself and the first section (Love and other four letter words) of the book addresses exactly that via four stories. “Hell's Angel” is based on the age-old adage that love is not essentially found in handsome boyfriends, instead in places we least expect it to be. In “Love in F Major”, the heroine falls for an older, married man and needless to say it's a downhill ride for her from there on. “Welcome to the Sisterhood” portrays the bittersweet relationship between the heroine and her boyfriend when he comes out of the closet and has a sex change operation. “Heavy Weather” is a sweet story of a chance encounter with a stranger, falling in love with him, getting estranged only to fall in love with him - again!!

The second section (The Friendship Diaries) sketches the complex dynamics between friendship and love through five stories. “The Ex Files” deals with getting even with your ex, with your partner-in-crime being none other than your mum!! “Best Friends and Boyfriends” is a laugh-out read about a heroine whose boyfriend and best friend hook up leaving the heroine baffled albeit a little wiser. “Au Revoir” is a heart-touching story about losing your best friend to a fatal disease. “Diet Wars” speaks about the desperation of weight loss and the extreme steps that are associated with it. “Wannabe Mum” portrays a heroine who is obsessed with the idea of becoming a mother but then gets a dose of her own medicine when she is faced with an equally daunting task of baby-sitting.

The third section of the book (Not-So-Grim Fairy Tales for Big, Bad Girls) consists of eight ultra-short stories with illustrations and hilarious morals at the end. As a child, we all believe in fairy tales, Mr Right, Prince Charming and Happily-Ever-After only to be hit by reality later in life. The author takes on the conventional fairy tales and replaces them with practical and not-so-happily-ever-after endings.

Needless to say, the protagonists are nothing like the sweet, docile variety but are sassy with a tangier side to them. The book itself has a witty and quirky tone which is refreshing. Pick this up, if you are looking for a breezy weekend read or want to drive away those blues.

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Monsoon Magic!!!

Bonjour my virtual friends!!!

It’s the season of showers and for all those who are unaware, Mumbai was once again soaked (err…more like waterlogged!!) last week as the incessant rains just didn’t cease…even to take a breath!!!
And what better thing to do in such a weather than to just curl up with a read and a steaming cuppa??

Speaking of books, going by my blog updates or the lack thereof, we all might just unanimously agree that it's been quite some time (almost two months, gasp!) since I have blogged. What do I say to this? Life, in all its glory, took over for a while and here I am wondering how the time just flew away. But I digress…

Aaannnnyway, so I have this massive backlog for reviews pending that is just ready to go up on the site and you can be rest assured that it will be raining reviews soon!! So watch this space & see you on the other side!! J