Review: Just the Way You Are

Just the Way You Are by Sanjeev Ranjan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just The Way You Are - Nonstop Humour & Satire! (#BookLysis 4.25/5)

Cover: Book cover of Just The Way You Are is really catchy. The cover itself gives a hint of a romance genre. A young couple’s image is captured on the book cover. Sky blue and the pink color combination looks really charming. Couple’s stuff like footwears, a ball, and a guitar can be seen beside girl’s right side. Vegetarian food like slices of watermelon, arranged in a neat order and cold drink/beer bottle inside the basket can be noticed beside boy’s left side. Green background of the cover resembles green grass in a lawn. How can I forget a smartphone and an earphone? So, this is not a sketch but a perfectly captured photograph by the big firm in photography ‘Images Bazaar’. Yes! Yes! Same ‘Images Bazaar' which is founded by the popular motivator Sandeep Maheshwari. Just The Way You Are is a romantic title. I would give 5 stars to 'Images bazaar' for the cover image and Tara Upadhyay for the cover design.

Themes: The novel Just The Way You Are is a romantic fiction based on love, humor, and satire.

Setting: The story of Just The Way You Are runs through different locations. Though Sameer’s (main protagonist) love story belongs to Delhi, the main story is set up in different locations of Delhi and Noida. The story also runs through Bhopal, Agra, Gurgaon, Patna in India, Bern in Switzerland. The story also travels to America. All the locations are described in detail so the reader feels like not only reading but also visiting that place in real.

Language and Writing style: Sanjeev Ranjan uses very simple language to narrate the story. The language is very lucid. The story helps me to add some new words in my vocabulary. The Author narrates the story in the first person through the character Sameer. He uses flashback technique. I like the phone conversation between Sameer and his mother which is narrated in a brilliant way. Sanjeev’s presence of mind while describing the story adds more humor to the scene. He uses fantastic satire to remark reader’s attention towards errors in the system and society.

Characters: Sameer is the protagonist and the narrator of the story. He leaves his girlfriend Shagun who luckily becomes his wife alone on their first wedding night. Shagun is the female protagonist of the story. Sameer’s mom Rekha is one of my favourite characters. Her innocence and funny English makes us laugh. She represents a typical mother. You relate yourself to your father while reading the sacrifices of Sameer’s dad in the sixth chapter. Further, there are so many notable characters like Sameer’s friends Rakesh, Gaurav, Sankalp, Satyan, Mayank and colleague Taufeeque, Kajal, Shweta and cab driver Vishu.

Plot: There are thirteen chapters divided into three parts. I like the drama on the first night of Sameer and Shagun’s marriage because that is portrayed beautifully. A scene in which Sameer compares two decades is fantabulous. I would like to note a quote in which Taufeeque tells Sameer that how girls end up a boy’s proposal, they say- “I have never thought about it. I thought we were friends. I consider you to be a very good friend of mine, you are such a nice guy and you will get a beautiful and nice girl.” An example of Rama hitting an arrow really inspires us to achieve our goal. Reference to other books is enough for readers to understand author’s knowledge in reading literature. Sameer indirectly appeals to donate to an orphanage; he says- “If you get some time, please visit an orphanage. When you look at the children there, your heart will be filled with an overwhelming sense of peace. You will wonder how life gives everything and will understand the art of appreciation better than before.”

Sameer comments on spam phone calls. Sameer’s dad points out the dark reality of corruption that how one needs to pay a bribe to officers for transferring a job. The book comments on girls’ makeup. Sameer indirectly remarks the reality that how conservative parents don’t appreciate and don’t accept inter-cast marriages of their sons and daughters.

Humor is the main aspect of this novel. In the beginning, funny pronunciations of English words by Sameer’s mom make us laugh out loud lol. Her diction like phoren (foreign), Amreeka (America) may seem like spelling mistakes, but those are intentionally misspelled by the author himself and he succeeded in creating humour from those funny pronunciations. A discussion about Delhi girls and special tips to impress sexy girls will make you go crazy. Sameer also comments on long queues in a humoric way. He indirectly comments on ladies’ show off. The first chapter is full of fun and humor.

After reading Sameer’s facebook status on his first Delhi visit, I remind my facebook status in my first Kota (Rajasthan) tour. I didn’t go to a parlour in metro-cities but Sameer’s experience in Anis Unisex Parlor Delhi felt me realistic. I relate myself with Sameer’s expectation from to be wife.

Like humor, satire is the soul of this novel. Author Sanjeev Ranjan or his characters don’t attack or criticize directly but they point out dark reality in the system and society through the combo of satire and humor. This novel also comments on security guards, south actors and ladies’ show off. Sameer comments on the day to day issue of the late arrival of Indian rail- “No train journey in India is fruitful until and unless it is late by a couple of hours. This is almost inevitable to mark as a subsidiary tribute to the legacy of Indian Railways, where time runs in a different dimension altogether.” He adds, “Nothing can ever be said absolutely about train journeys in India, at least until the train actually reaches the destination. Till then everything is musky.” The author doesn’t spare even a pillow in Indian rails from his satires. A scene inside the train is portrayed beautifully. Sameer’s satirical comments on arrange marriages are remarkable because of logic and reason. I would agree with Kajal’s statement that having a boyfriend (or girlfriend) is just a status symbol today.

Quotations:

“The one thing we can never get enough is love, and the one thing we never give enough is love.” – Henry Miller
“There is a great value in disaster because you can start all over again” – Thomas Edison
“I understood that whenever one faces a problem, one should look at the people who have lived a harder life than one and who have worked harder than one to get what one already has by luck and inheritance. And that will make one forget all of one’s problems.”
“Power of love is just the same as the power of innocence.”
“A relationship doesn’t work on candle light dinners but on trust, understanding and mutual affection.”
“I have always thought that a relationship requires care, patience, understandings and trust.”
“I understand that just like ‘these young people of today’ do not understand what elders say, ‘these grown-up parents’ will also not understand the logic of not wasting money on marriages.”
“Good boys get heaven and bad boys get women.”
“People who read, generally have a lot of time on their hands and they wouldn’t want to spend or waste time with a girlfriend doing all sort of thing.” (Correct in my case! razz)
Drawbacks:

Poor page quality
Italic fonts could have been used more properly.
Typing Errors: you (your), A (As), and Bhagnra (Bhangra) on page 18, 117 and 138 respectively. ‘you’ is missing in 2 interrogative sentences on page 55. ‘the’ and ‘that’ are repeated in a sentence on page 69 and 103 respectively. A punctuation mark (‘) is missing in the last line of the first paragraph on page 94. Closing inverted comma (’) is printed instead of beginning inverted comma (‘) on page 60.

A NOTE BY THE REVIEWER

"Just The Way You Are by Sanjeev Ranjan is a well-narrated novel. This novel keeps readers engaged with the plot and the story. This novel does not only make you laugh with its humor but also make you think on the dark reality in the system and society by criticizing with the use of satire.”

Rating: Just The Way You Are deserves 4/5 according to me, but I would give 0.25 as a bonus for the humor. So, I rate 4.25 on the scale of 5 stars to the novel Just The Way You Are. If you like humor, you must read this novel.

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