Book Review - Five Point Someone

Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat

When I heard about a book called "Five Point Someone" written by Chetan Bhagat, few questions started boggling in my mind. Should I be an IITian to read the book? (Because I am not one) Will I understand the humor if I have absolutely no idea of how life is inside an IIT? Do I need to have a fairly good grip over English language to understand the humor or the point? Will it be worth to spend my valuable free hours (which I get rarely now-a-days) on this book?
But the poster on the book was too tempting and I decided to go ahead with the read. And for the next few hours I was surfing through the lives of three teenagers. Three teenager buddies from IIT Delhi. They have a five-point-something GPA out of ten, ranking near the end of their class and called as under-performers. This GPA is a tattoo that will remain with them forever, and come in the way of anything else that matters - their friendship, their future, their love life. While the world expects IITians to conquer the world, these guys are struggling to survive.
Meet Hari. He is just a bumbling guy who can’t get his grades or life in order. He is always confused, hopelessly in love, physically unappealing and tongue-tied during vivas. Can’t help but feel sorry for this guy. This Hari bumps (literally) into Neha, daughter of a prof. Their unique relationship is one of the major threads of the book.
Meet Ryan. The cool dude with a physique to kill for. He has very rich parents but spent most of his life at boarding school. The leader amongst the three and has a gift of exceptional brains. Extremely upset with the cruel system prevalent in IIT wherein an individual is identified by the number of marks he obtains in a particular test. He could have made it big in life, but he chooses not to and blows it off.
Meet Alok. The other extreme of Ryan. Although he wanted to become an artist, comes to IIT purely to get a job with big bucks, not because his lust for money, but because for survival of his family. With the preferences of his friends wholly different, Alok’s character is tested throughout. A clash in egos and goals forces him to part ways, but he returns as the trio enjoys a roaring reunion.
It’s amazing how you identify yourself with each and every situation in the book. Hari represents an average teenager. A guy, who wants to live life like Ryan, wants to go all the way to impress Neha, even dares to steal question papers to impress her dad. He keeps drawing funny observations about almost everything.
Neha steps in as the female psyche. She is a special character in the book due to the fact, that although she is not one of the three friends, it is she, who indirectly causes all the major events in the story. The story of her dead brother lies on another track which smoothly merges with the main story. Apart from lending a push to the story, her brother Samir represents a bare fact - the drastic steps which many students take due to parental pressures.
Ryan forces his ways on the others especially on Hari who knows nothing else but to blindly follow Ryan. One finds him as a heartless guy who takes strange pride in hating his parents. The transformation of this self-centered, high-handed Ryan into sensitive and responsible one is portrayed beautifully by the author.
Alok has sole aim of getting a decent job with an attractive salary. With a paralyzed father and an unmarried sister, his shoulders carry the weight of not only his future, but also his family’s. He has been serving his dad since the age of twelve confined to a room full of books. He never had real friends and temptation of making merry with Ryan and Hari pushes him hard until he tries to end his life by jumping over the top of their institute building.
The book has a riveting climax with things getting worse and worse for the three friends while they keep fighting hard to prove that they are not just a five-point-somebody but a five-point-someone.
Chetan Bhagat deserves accolades for his style of writing. The language used in book is very casual which sounds more like a teenage talk. It also puts forward some strong messages. Like, academic performance is not the only thing as a student. But, Friends are an equally important part of your life. Our academic systems, even the very best – IITs (Some people call it as Indian Institute of Tortures) - are too course oriented. This, at times, suppresses true creativity.
Overall, “Five Point Someone” is a breezy read with a universal appeal of all the characters which will definitely strike a chord with you.

-Tushar