Title : Mirrro – At The Weird Wayward
Author : Manoj Kumar Sharma
Genre : Social fiction
Pages : 457
I received this Review Copy from Half Baked Beans in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you Half Baked Beans and Book Marketing Consultant Richa Saxena!!
Blurb
INDIA @ 2030
INDIA, as a developing Nation, grown up manifolds and on the verge of being World’s Super Power with Richest Economy. But at the same time many perennial social problems also grew manifolds, remained inattentive and giving birth to exponential intensification to grievances. The volcanoes of grievances led to Genesis of MIЯЯЯO…
MIЯЯЯO’s unpredictable fearless Modus-Operandi breaks all the Laws and leads to the out-of-the-box solutions as Weird Way Ward, to rejuvenate the Eco-Systems of today’s hypocritical SYSTEMS…it’s up to the discretion of the PEOPLE, to allow or not!
The Story indicates India’s perennial problems through the eyes of the Protagonist, who always dreamt for the solutions as his own personal aspirations, but, couldn’t succeed meeting even single one, out of his own personal flaws. Time compels him taking help of someone, whom he never believed cordially.
Out of gist of many, only 3 problems are selfishly picked-up by the Protagonist, which hurt him most personally.
MIЯЯЯO weirdly solves those 3 problems with the essence of absolute cleansing as permanent solutions… Will INDIA wish to have such weird, but, permanent solutions to all other problems? Let TIME tell…
Review
As it says in the blurb, Mirrro is a story set out in 2030 India, where India has grown exponentially to a better position, in the aspect of economy, science and technology but at the same time all societal problem which has existed for so many years still exist in the 2030 India as well. To be precise the situation is more grave than it has ever been since independence.
The story starts with the commencement of certain weird incidences on the night of the New Year. These incidences hauls the attention of the entire Nation as they are all novel and weird in nature. The Government and the officials are clueless why these weird incidences are taking place and who is behind it. Nobody could come up with a possible explanation for all that’s happening. In short, the whole of India was jolted by these incidences. And it was just the beginning.
The book was written in the conversation form and it was idiosyncratic and interesting. This way of writing also made it easier to read. The author had successfully managed to start the book without letting the readers know where he was taking them with this book. Even the blurb didn’t reveal much and top it all the title Mirrro was as oblivious it can be. This increased the appetite of the readers to know more and kept them hinged to the plot.
Mirrro had a very interesting start which clearly explained about the manufacturing of Alcohol and cigarette. The author had transparently and effectively written the debate session on news channels. It almost felt like watching the news on televison. Through this debate the author had systematically brought in wide range of opinions into the story.
Though the book had an energizing start, in the due course, the story became excruciatingly draggy. The author had unnecessarily inserted various details into the plot which could have been avoided in the first place. And also certain issues were spoken about over and over again which contributed to the size of the book. It felt like the author had deliberately wanted to reach the word limit and so he had written things repeatedly. This made the reading process quite painful but it was the stunning the start and the idea of the book which kept the readers going till the very last page.
The author had spoken about two things at a greater detail, it was the addiction to alcohol and cigarette and increasing rape cases in India. Of course these are two very deadly problems faced by Indians and it should be appreciated that the author took it as a matter of subject to bring awareness among his readers. The author accomplished two things with this book, how people get addicted to these stuffs and how rape victim’s family members and friends are emotionally affected. It would have been even more better if the author had included the victim’s side of the story too. And again, though these were very important issues, certain unwanted details could’ve been cut shorted. And the book also focuses on the cases of ragging in colleges. The gravity of the issue was explicitly explained and the author has also exhibited how ragging can affect a student’s life.
It was expected the reason behind the weird incidents would be the technological developments but Manoj Kumar Sharma had kept a twist in it and the story took a completely different turn. It kind of gave mixed feeling to be very frank. And it was not really believable and I don’t know think pragmatic people would perceive the idea well considering the genre of the book.
The character development of the protagonist wasn’t up to the mark because it doesn’t seem like the protagonist grew as a person in the 400 pages. Despite his age he remained childish and adamant. It seems like he never hit maturity despite being in his mid fifties. Even in his fifties he was behaving like a spoil brat and throwing tantrums like an immature teenager. As a reader, Indo isn’t a character I would like to read about.
Devi, Indo’s grandmother who was also called as India by Indo, acted as the constant conscience of Indo. Her character was quite amicable like that of any grandmother but at times her character was highly hypo-critic, for example, first she says “you shouldn’t do this” and after sometime she’ll say “you should do this” it was unreasonable. The character of Jasmi (Indo’s to be mother-in-law) was like an angel. I don’t know how she even put up with Indo’s childish tantrums which was needless of her.
Another bothering thing with this book was, the relationship between Indo and his girlfriend Maasma. I could hardly fathom this relationship because the age difference between both of them was 17 years. Now you may say age is just a number and I totally agree with it but the author didn’t provide necessary details to justify their relationship to prove that they are indeed made for each other. Maasma accepts Indo’s proposal without a second’s thought and so does her mother, so it kind of felt artificial and forced.
Certain characteristic of Indo was Utopian and puzzling because at most of the times he is self destructively drunk but then suddenly he would talk like he is very responsible towards the society. And Indo also points out certain age old perennial social problems which had persisted till 2030, though I agree with most of them I happen to have problem with one thing. The way the author has written against “The Reservation Policy” of India. As an Indian Polity student and enthusiastic, I completely disagree with him because it was completely misleading. And I kindly insist the readers to look into the Policy with an open mind or consult with a Political Science staff for more details.
The book should’ve been edited more masterfully because there were handful of typos here and there which forbade the goodness of the book. The idea of the book was really new and captivating. I really like the core idea of the book.
My rating for this book would be 3 out of 5 stars
I would’ve given 4 star rating for this book if it had not been this draggy and lengthy. It was a very long and slow read but as I said earlier the core idea was amazing and for that this book deserves to be read despite the flaws.
I would recommend this book to people who are really concerned about the society and magically wants to solve all the issues bothering the country. And to people who want to read something new and unexpected.
Happy Reading Folks!!!
~ Meenu
Read Mirrro, a social fiction by Manoj Kumar Sharma for out of the box solution for all the perennial social problems!!!
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