Jolene Jordan has been forced to join KLASS by her father and she dislikes the fact that she has to toe his line. She makes up her mind to be extremely rude, disobey the teachers and break all rules; so that she would be expelled from school and her father would be humiliated. For sometime Jo is the ‘Mind your own business’ girl and the bottom performer in her class until a sudden unfortunate twist in her life makes the girl change over a new leaf. The story revolves around Jo's whirlwind journey through KLASS, her dilemma to choose a game as her MAJOR, her resolve to get thrown out of KLASS as a rebuke to her father and her struggle to overpower her notion to be friends with anyone at KLASS.
Goodreads I Amazon
I picked up this book with a wistful feeling… The cover depicting a girl looking at what I assume to be school campus and the blurb revealing that this book is about the life in a school made me think of my own boarding school days. What I expected from this book is nothing more than a young adult coming-of-age story of the protagonist at a boarding school. What I got out of it is something I will discuss towards the end of the review.
Jolene Jordan is forced to join Khanchan Singh’s Lessons And Sports School (KLASS) by her father against her wish. KLASS is a renowned school both for its academics and sports. Not that it mattered to Jolene – she was determined to hate her father for sending her away and to let it backfire on him by getting herself expelled. We all have plans for ourselves and sometimes they clash against what life has planned for us. After a life changing experience, Jolene’s attitude changes and slowly she starts making friends and settling in school…
The characters in the book were many and each has managed to etch their place in the story. I particularly loved the way the teachers were portrayed. Each character there reminded me one of my own teachers back from my schooldays. The strict one – the lenient one – the friendly one – the encouraging one… each of these teachers have featured in our lives as well as in this book. Then there are the friends that Jolene makes. Once again the group had an uncanny resemblance to the people I share my classroom and dorm room with. It is what makes this book so magical – the reality of it. I am sure that each reader, no matter from what background will be able to identify at least one character from the book as someone they have known.
Coming to the plot, the blurb makes it sound so simple. But trust me there are some hidden surprises beneath that simple packaging. The book covers some depth and it is not really just another school life story. Also, I do admire the author for highlighting the importance of sports in our lives when people a going crazy and pushing their children for academics only. The general Indian mentality of having to become Doctor / Engineer in order to ‘achieve’ something in life has managed to isolate people and rob them of a lot of things that life has to offer.
The book could do with another round of editing though to make the narration bit tighter. Some chapters felt like a drag at time as such making it cumbersome to continue. Other than that this book is quite an entertainer.
Review Copy received from the Author
No comments:
Post a Comment