Title: With a Pinch of Salt
Author: Jas Anand
Publisher: Srishti Publishers
ISBN: 978-93-82665-13-7
Number of Pages: 181
Price [INR] : 100
Genre: Humour
There are some people who can never come straight to a point. If you ask them a simple question like what is the time? They would probably reply, Time! This is the most horrible time of my life. My father is not sending me more money, I cant understand any damn thing in the lectures, no girl ever seems to be interested in me and the hostel food is pathetic. It is the worst time of my life.
In short, this book is like a handbook of everyday humor. It is based on observation of funny tendencies in people and then creating fictional caricatures and anecdotes around them.
The tendency of beating around the mulberry bush has been converted into a fictional character called Simon Satellite. And yes, there are many more such characters and anecdotes, served With a Pinch of Salt.
Life is a perpetual series of anecdotes, one after the other. If one observes keenly and closely, we do come across some unique characters who give us innumerable anecdotes and memorable stories to share.
The first chapter which is an introduction to the book, states that With a Pinch of Salt is collection of numerous unique characters that the author has come across in his life and some anecdotes related to them or related to their tendencies. According to the author, the book is about every day humour also that the book is a piece of fiction and the inspiration is drawn from multiple sources that have been merged /integrated to give it a readable format.
With the expectations set right, I started reading this book. Various characters and their special features and tendencies along with the anecdotes are shared in various chapters. No doubt characters like Simon ‘Satellite’, Googly Gilbert, Gregory Gilbert, Wally Wordsworth, Goofy Gordon, Venkat Borapathy etc have some unique idiosyncrasies. What I found that in all these incidents and short narratives about these characters, the humour and jest was rather low while the ridicule quotient was very high. And that didn’t gel well with my sensibilities. There are incidents which are fun and funny too.
May be because of the Genre-Humour mentioned on the back cover page and the expectations from the book in the introduction chapter, I anticipated With a Pinch of Salt to be a laugh riot and not finding that, it dampened my reading experience. May be if one reads without these biases, they may find it appealing.
With a Pinch of Salt is pretty okay one time read.
Rating : [usr 2.5 text=”false” size=20]
23 Responses
Well, the title and cover certainly seem fun!
Yes, they do look great! 🙂
Hmmm looks like it is a book that should be read with a pinch of salt.
😛 😀
Hi Shilpa,
I always look forward to your book reviews. This sounds like a ‘fun, light read’ book.
Thank you Swapna for your kind words. Yes, do check out, it will surely make you see people around you in a new light too 🙂
Unfortunately, a lot of humor seems to depend on making fun of others. Recently someone told me that they were laughing at someone in a supportive way. I pointed out you can’t laugh at someone and support them at the same time. Thanks for ‘taking one for the team’ on this read, Shilpa. U ROCK! :O)
I know what you mean. We have some comedy shows on TV which are based on this premise of ‘making fun of others’ and they are pretty popular too, sadly! Thank you LuAnn, appreciate your support on this one 🙂
May be you expected too much. That is why this kind of disappointment,
Yes, you are right! 😛
Thanks for the review. This gives me a different perspective and a challenge at the same time; to try harder next time to make you laugh. That’s just said on a lighter vein.I genuinely believe “Life does not get tough, we get too serious” – the book was written to find humor in day to day life so that boring everyday life gets seen through a funny lens and hidden humor can be spotted. Hence there are some exaggerations made obviously “with a pinch of salt …”, but as I understand some of those can be perceived as ridiculing. That was not intended; but nevertheless I take this feedback and will try reduce the “Ridiculing Robert” quotient and add more of “Appreciating Albert” quotient in the sequel / or in the next book
Hi Jas. So good to see you here. Thank you for sharing your viewpoint and accepting the feedback so sportingly! Looking forward to read more from you and yes, more about ‘Appreciating Albert’ too 🙂
I loved the title of the book, different from the usual. The character name sounds quite interesting. Wonderfully reviewed.
Yes, it is a different one. Hope you are able to read and enjoy it too, Raj 🙂
Seems like a good read. Interesting title 🙂
Yes, it is an interesting one!
Seems interesting, will try to squeeze it in between the boring sllybus books! 😛
Do that… it will freshen you up and lighten the mood too, Nibha 🙂
I ordered this book today noon after reading this review 🙂 It sounds fun to read 🙂
Swathi
Cool! Happy reading, Swathi 🙂
That’s what I love about your reviews. You don’t beat about the bush. You say what needs to be said- the good, the bad, the mediocre. And with panache. I love humour, but cannot tolerate downright ridicule over and over again. Thanks Shilpa.
I like reading your refreshingly honest reviews, I too won’t like this book much 🙂 Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Another honest review…bringing the author onto your page… That’s wonderful. Pretty detailed one.