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Thursday, October 1, 2015

Klass by Prita yadav : A Review



BOOK TITLE: Klass
ISBN: 978-1505365528
AUTHOR: Prita yadav
GENRE: Fiction / High School
NUMBER OF PAGES: 312
FORMAT: Paperback
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
REVIEW BY: Dhivya Balaji
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: The author sent a personalised copy with a beautiful message and a signature. Thank you so much, Prita :)
SUMMARY:
          Jolene Jordan has been forced to join KLASS by her father and she dislikes the fact that she has to toe his line. She makes up her mind to be extremely rude, disobey the teachers and break all rules; so that she would be expelled from school and her father would be humiliated. For sometime Jo is the ‘Mind your own business’ girl and the bottom performer in her class until a sudden unfortunate twist in her life makes the girl change over a new leaf. The story revolves around Jo's whirlwind journey through KLASS, her dilemma to choose a game as her MAJOR, her resolve to get thrown out of KLASS as a rebuke to her father and her struggle to overpower her notion to be friends with anyone at KLASS.
REVIEW:
          KLASS – A unique read, with a much deeper storyline than expected
First Impression:
          The first time I heard of the book, I thought it was a deliberate misspelling of the word ‘Class’ since this was a story about a school. But this is, as expected, an acronym. The cover is of a girl who is looking over her a fence into a campus. It looked photographic and was alluring in a way. But I felt that it could be designed to be made much more attractive. The summary was crisp and intriguing. But again, for a story that was really introspective and impressive, the summary could have been a bit more enticing and should have made readers take it up immediately. But there are no overall complaints about the same.
The story:
          Jolene Jordan – truant girl, whose favourite phrase is ‘mind your own business.’ She is forced to join KhanchanSingh’s Lessons And Sports School (KLASS) by her father against her wish. She hates her father and wants to insult him by getting herself thrown out of school. She is rude to everyone; she performs very badly in classes and tries her best to annoy everyone in school. But there is a reason for all this hatred and unruly behaviour and it is a reason that will tug at your heart strings.
          But a sudden drastic accident / incident in her life changes her whole outlook. She learns truths about herself and her life. Angus Jordan turns her life upside down – a good is born out of the bad, and Jolene wants to turn a new life. Jolene unwillingly tries to continue her journey to school and like only school children could do, the people around her slowly become her friends.
          Jolene Jordan tries to choose her life path and the second half of the book is as interesting as the first, thankfully. There are a few chapters that drag the story in some places but overall, it is a high school story, a story of how different each individual child is, and the story of how everything is not as it looks.
         From the strict Marian Ma’am, to the firm but lenient Sonawane ma’am and obviously the founder Kanchan Singh Yadav, with every teacher’s character, you will remember one or more of your school teachers. Needless to say, the whole headboy/ school captain / CR and other school specific terms coupled with each character – funny, reclusive, extrovert, introvert, nerd, truant and the prankster… The list is endless. They would surely remind you of your friends in school.
          The ending could have been a bit more dramatic, considering the number of twists and turns the story had. But on some level, I understood that this is the apt ending for this story. It does not have to be a thrilling one with full of closure – it can be filled with a hopeful outlook towards the future – a small hope that festers amidst all the chaos that is life.
          The story adheres to the plot, the twists and turns demand the reader's complete engrossment in the book, and the language is good. The writing seems from the heart and thankfully, I didn’t have to mentally correct many typos. Kudos to the author for writing this detailed book. I will surely recommend this book for my fellow classmates.
WHAT I LIKED:
  1. ·        The parts about Jo and her rudeness, her love for her mom whom she had met only twice, her truancy and of course every adolescent behaviour that has a deeper root cause.
  2. ·        Mature writing style
  3. ·        Excellent characterisation
  4. ·        Detailed knowledge of school and sports that take you back to your school memories in some way.


WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:
  1. ·        There is no ‘a’ in definitely. It is spelled with an ‘e’.
  2. ·        The book’s paper is good, but the font is small and sometimes difficult to read at a stretch. In the copy I received, the print was faded in some places (sometimes even whole sentences and words were not printed clearly). 
  3. ·        The story needs tighter editing, and of course some parts are unnecessarily long and detailed.
  4. ·        I wish there was a closure to the stories of Rino, Angus and Rashmi.

VERDICT: Go for this. You will not regret reading this one!
(This is not to be categorised as an adolescent school story. This is a story about many deeper things. Fit for both parents and children to read).
RATING: 4/5(Points taken for the book typeset, the length and the lack of proper back stories and comparatively dull ending. Points given for the mature writing and of course, the nostalgic memories!)
EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Paperback
PRICE:$14  and Rs. 180 for Paperback,


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