The Great Indian Bust: A Coming of Age Fiction – Review

Novel: The Great Indian Bust: A coming of age fiction
Authored by: Rishabh Bhatnagar
Publication Company: Amazon Kindle
Published: 2019
Available in: Kindle Ebook
Associated Genres: Coming of age fiction, semi-autobiographical,
Reviewed by: Sony for Indian Book Lovers
Rating: 3.4/5 stars

This novel was offered to me for a review as a coming of age fiction and even the subtitle of the novel says so. I was excited to read what coming of age fiction The Great Indian Bust offers me. I also knew about the novelist Rishabh Bhatnagar before reading the book. A young man in his early twenties, a law student and an ambitious and aspiring author. Well, this was enough to awaken my interests in the novel and I began reading it with ‘great expectations’.

What does the novel offer?
The novel offers a simple, straight and easy to comprehend story to the readers. I am telling this because this has become a rare quality of the novels of the day. An author always wants to make his novels interesting with unimaginable twists. However, these ‘twists’ can, sometimes, take the novels into ugly streets as well. Rishabh’s Bhatnagar novel is about a boy who grows up with his parents in Chandigarh and in Delhi. A boy who learns about life among his friends and his society; a boy who learns to become the person he needs to be in order to survive and live up to the expectations (by many from him). Memories from childhood and memories from teenage years are what a reader will be getting in this novel. So, as I have highlighted earlier, and many critics for many of the best book review websites in India have done the same, The Great Indian Bust is semi or even fully autobiographical.

Critically, how has the author done?
Rishabh Bhatnagar’s novel is an attempt by a novelist in making. Therefore, there have to be mistakes. Moreover, I would rather say that every novel by every novelist has mistakes and it has to be this way. We even criticise Shakespeare (though a dramatist) and Dickens… Now, Rishabh’s work is something that tries to connect youths with their memories and also their outreach toward the society they live in. It begins from home and you, as a reader, can easily find it – a parent-child relationship’s depths and shallowness. And then it goes beyond the walls of a family into society. However, there is no certain systematic growth of the narrative. It is just random. The language is easy and there have been the Hindi phrases invoked at times. That’s good to give the novel an Indian colour. The theme is vivid the author is not in control of it most of the times. It takes the writing to different distances. Still and even then, The Great Indian Bust is successful in entertaining and there is no doubt that teenagers will like reading this work. It is not so long and so it does not take that much of one’s time as well!

My Rating:
Out of 5, I have rated the novel with 3.4 score. My rating goes for the narrative which has been the binding feature in the novel. I have also liked the way the story randomly shifts from one theme to another but still maintains to echo the aspirations of the readers. I am sure it will be a good one-time read for most of the readers. The young novelist has a very long way to go! You can get a copy from Amazon Kindle store and read the novel yourself to judge. Here’s the link to buy:

Buy Rishabh’s novel – Amazon Kindle (India)

Thanks for reading the review!