BOOK REVIEW : THE ZOYA FACTOR

An exciting plot of Love and Cricket is what Pournima Surve writes about from this book for BOOK Review.

The Zoya Factor- All’s fair in love and Cricket is written by Anuja Chauhan. The author is from Delhi and a Creative Head in an advertising agency. When I bought this book, I thought this was a non-fiction read based on the real life of the author but later realized it was fiction. The writer has merged some personal experience in her book.

The book starts off well. The story line is outrageous, but what really makes this a good one time read is that one can often relate to the language they speak, the scenarios in a working environment and the absolute madness that exists during an ongoing World Cup Tournament. The book is a good combination of romance and cricket. It helps to understand the kind of pressure each player faces during the matches. The book deals with many aspects like luck, superstition, new versus old in a nation perennially obsessed with cricket and the paraphernalia. The book has a modern and contemporary style to it.

This is a story about an Advertising Executive, who is much fascinated by Shah Rukh Khan and gets really infuriated when she comes to know that she has to forego this assignment and move on to the Indian Cricket team’s project. The story revolves around the luck factor associated with the girl and the consequent win of Indian Cricket team, the clashes between the skipper and the girl and of course, the budding romance between her and the skipper which is an ongoing on and off affair.

The book is good one time read. The character sketch of skipper Nikhil Khoda is fabulous. The attitude that he carries until end of the book is of superiority. The other characters too are extremely well etched. The flow of the language and use of Hinglish words are apt for their situation. The idea of putting newspaper cuttings is good but reading the whole thing becomes a bore. Another good utilization is of ‘Page 3 Columns’ and Bollywood to narrate the story. The writer uses this platform to present Cricket, Bollywood and the ad world. The book is quite expressive and assists you to feel and visualize every emotion and expression of the character.

It is simply mesmerizing to read such a fiction.