Title: Sorting Out Sid
Author: Yashodhara Lal
Publisher: Harper Collins
Reviewed for: Indiblogger and Harper Collins
To be honest, the synopsis of Sorting Out Sid wasn’t the
most appealing. It sounded like just another coming-of-age-of-messed-up-dude
story that we are all too familiar with.
But I’d absolutely loved her first book. So I thought “Why
not? Let’s give it a shot”. So I did.
Sure, Sorting Out Sid, in its true essence, IS a
coming-of-age story. And it’s not very different from the many others
we’ve read. But it’s not the story that makes the book an enjoyable read. It’s
how it’s written.
Sid (short for Siddharth, of course) is 36, works for a
toilet cleaner manufacturer, is one of the most promising stars of the company, chugs beer like water, and is an over-all lovable guy. But behind all that, his 15-year old marriage
is falling apart. He and his wife don’t talk anymore, and whenever they do, it
is to fight. He has good friends, albeit slightly over-interfering ones. And
his relationship with his parents isn’t exactly warm. He happens to meet Neha,
single mom, artist, and there’s a spark. Is it anything more than that? Is it
love? Can Sid and Neha move past their turbulent marriages and give each other
a chance? Will Sid and his ex-wife be able to call it a day peacefully? You’ll
have to read the book to find out.
Sorting Out Sid is a good read, one of those books that you
would pick up over a weekend and finish it in two days. It is well written in
simplistic language, which I suppose is characteristic of the author, and
that’s fine, because by now, I’ve come to realise that the mark of a good
writer isn’t exactly the use of big words and literary language. The characters
are well etched out, starting from Sid to his ex-wife Mandira to his friend
Aditi, they all have their place in the story and add significantly to the
story, instead of just walk-on parts.
I had initially found the character sketch of Sid to be
rather clichéd, and was prepared to put up with an annoying hero who is lovable
to everyone in spite of having no redeeming quality whatsoever (ala the
protagonist from Shuddh Desi Romance. I wanted to shake that guy and slap the
stupidity out of him- and out of the girls who keep falling for him for no
discernible reason). But due credit has to be given to Yashodhara Lal for not
overdoing it and creating a believable true-to-life character (no doubt
inspired from real life / lives) who we all come across, or can identify a bit
with.
The problem with having a hugely successful book as your
debut novel is that it comes with the baggage of expectation. The only area
where it fails in this department is the humour. I had found ‘Just Married,
Please Excuse’ to be incredibly funny. SOS (Ah...NOW I get it! Clever) isn’t as
funny, although it tries to be, sometimes a bit hard. The toilet jokes get a
little redundant after a point, but Sid is one those who suffers from
foot-in-the-mouth disease, so that provides quite a few opportunities for
laughs.
On the whole, a well written book. It’s not going to change
your life or give you any life-altering epiphanies. But it WILL make you smile
and want to turn the page to know what happens next in Sid’s fucked up life,
and whether he gets sorted out or not.
My rating - 3/5
