This is yet another book that I got through Indiblogger for reviewing. When Yashodhara Lal left a comment on my blog regarding the release of the book and a contest, I was so interested to read this book.I am sure you remember her from my review of Yashodara’s debut book – Just Married Please Excuse.
Sorting out Sid is based on the life of our Hero -Siddhart Agarwal aka Sid, who is thoughtless,vain,Master of denial,amiable easy going,beer loving,witty,impulsive,well meaning, comical and in trouble!!
Sid has been married for 15 long years and has a bunch of friends and life looks like a swell! Or does it?
On taking a closer look his life has no meaning!He is for ever arguing with his wife,Mandira, who was once the love of his life, 3 years his senior!
He does not seem to have a good relationship with his parents either and tries to avoid them at all costs .Even visiting them ,talking to them over the phone seems chore to him and tries to be away from all these.
Meanwhile, Sid meets a spunky single mom,Neha through his ‘buddy boy’ -Aditi. Aditi is Sid’s best friend and she feels the two may click well.Their meeting and subsequent chats start off on a bumpy note.
While life moves on ,he becomes the youngest ever VP of the company. But on the home front, things don’t change and he finds out that his wife is having an affair with his best friend!
As things go on like this for Sid , he makes an appointment with Cynthia, a psychic ,who is a friend of Neha. Sid is revealed some shocking news about his life!
He is all the more confused and finally Sid and Mandira decide to file divorce papers.But the judge wants them to be together for 6 months and see if they can sort out things between them. Sid muses that when things could not be understood for 15 years what good would 6 months of being together do to them! Somehow both are adamant in not getting back together.
If all this is not enough, Meenakshi, the HR in his office who is dubbed the vixen, is keen on seducing Sid, or so he thinks….
While Mandira and Sid lead lives like strangers under the same roof, Sid goes out with Neha and spends time with her in her flat.He befriends her daughter Kippy. Sid finds out so many things about Neha and he is all the more attracted to her.
Matters move on and one day Kippy falls sick and Neha has a small flicker of hope that Sid would drop by to help.But since he is childless and clueless in dealing such situations, he keeps mum. Aditi who was keen on seeing Neha and Sid together cautions him to move away from Neha.
Things go hay wire when Sid confronts Shiv, a handsome young guy whom he meets in her apartment and almost threatens him about being together with Neha. This frustrates her.
He is angry, confused and dismayed.Sid distances himself from everyone and spends his birthday alone at home with bottles and bottles of beer.
Sid also learns from his best buddy Vikas that Mandira had come to him seeking his help in solving her problems with Sid. That’s when he realizes that they were not having an affair!
One fine day Kippy goes missing from her day care . All of them search high and low and finally Aditi seeks Sid’s help.
Who has kidnapped Kippy and what happens to Neha and Sid after that is for you to find out and you can know that by getting a copy of this book 🙂
In all these incidences and instances, Sid puts up his different masks like ‘Party Sid’, ‘Work Sid’, ‘Uncle Sid’ etc and that explains his mood so well! It would have been so nice to see him in the husband Sid mode too. One of the best characters in this book is his buddy brownie with whom he is very frank and does not put up any sort of mask.And Brownie happens to be his favorite bean bag…
What I like about this book…
- A male centered book laced with humor.Something I enjoyed reading. I finished this book within a day of receiving it!!
- This is a book that brings characters to life and they are like someone we know or have heard about. The incidents have an undercurrent of humor .
- That being said, the incidents that are told are totally worth laughing about.Like the one in which Sid gears up to cook and gets recipes online only to find that his ex-wife has taken away all the cutlery when she moved out!
- The narrative is simple and enjoyable.
- The story moves fast without any lull in the narration.
- And I love the front cover 🙂
I would love to see a sequel to this book…
Book – Sorting Out Sid
Author – Yashodhara Lal
Publisher – Harper Collins Publishers
Genre – Fiction
No. of Pages – 336
Price – INR 250
It is a nice book and you have written a brilliant review. Keep it up. I am also thinking of writing a review of the same book for http://www.keveinbooksnreviews.in