DOUBLE OR QUITS by Shilpa Gupta: Book review

[dhwanis]

Double or Quits is a quite fast paced book with an excellent story line and even better characterizations. While each part of the book is great, it was the characterization that took the cake.

The protagonist Jyotsna is a strong, independent and an intelligent woman with the world at her feet. Her fighting spirit sees her out of hell and all through the story you find yourself rooting for her. She, and the other characters, are so real and relatable that they feel like the people you meet regularly.

It is not just Jyotsna, but her relationship with the women and men around her give the story its fun element. The story covers elements from Jyotsna’s past to the present, to show the readers why she is the way she is, this was an excellent move! As a reader, after reading about her past, I could empathise with her as well as understand why she made a certain mistake that she did.

As the story has the backdrop of Investment banking, the author also includes explanations about the different terms quite effortlessly so even those who are not from commerce would understand Jyotsna’s work and the mistake that she makes which leads to her downfall.

For me, the best part of the book was after the downfall. I did not expect the way she would handle things the way she did. While I thought it would be something along the lines of “Orange is the new black” with long descriptions of sad, bland and dirty life along with many issues that she would face in adjusting to her circumstances, I was in for a surprise with the way the things turned up the way they did! This was the part where I actually fell in love with the character.

The only issue that I found was there were minor grammatical errors like “lied down” or “revert back”. If these errors would be sorted in the next edition, this one would be a faultless and perfect read.

I rate this book a 3 out of 4