Title: 60 minutes
Author: Upendra Namburi
Publisher: Westland Ltd
Genre: Corporate Drama
Pages: 361
Price: 350
High-profile jobs, reputations, relationships and marriages are at stake. As the battle for supremacy continues, who will falter, who will persist and who will come out on top?
This book is about the corporate world and the drama that enfolds there. The story is mainly based on Agastya- the supposed poster boy for corporate success, Maithili- his mistress and Sailesh- Agastya's rival. Agastya is the CMO of one of the biggest FMGC companies-BCL. He is set for the biggest product launch of his career. The ambitious person that he is, he wants to make sure that this launch reinforces his position in the corporate world. But things never go the way we want them to. And when there is just an hour for the big product launch, Maithili turns up. Maithili is beautiful and intelligent. But when it comes to matters of the heart, she has always had a bad time. She wants to take her revenge on Agastya. Agastya has his adversary in the form of Sailesh- the CMO of BCL's rival company Stark. The story revolves mainly around these people and all of the drama is supposed to happen in just 60 minutes.
When I first read the gist of the book, I wanted to read the book because of the story happening in just 60 minutes. And moreover the book claims to be "A one-of-a-kind corporate drama where all the action will unfold in sixty racy minutes", and hence I signed up to review the book. But sadly the book didn't live up to my expectations. The story is not just about what happens in those 60 minutes but is alternated by chapters which go back a couple of years or a few months earlier. A little bit of background on the characters is indeed necessary, but this wasn't exactly I was expecting it to be.
The characters are confusing. Maithili is supposed to be strong and intelligent woman but the way she is living her life tells otherwise. She sleeps with Agastya and she also has a live in relationship with Ismail, an alcoholic divorcee. The story is supposed to be about how Agastya tries to save his marriage and I was expecting Agastya's wife Nandita to have a major role to play but sadly that doesn't happen. Sailesh only seems to have a corporate life in this book as there are hardly a few things mentioned about his personal life.
The books is a drag and it didn't compel me to read what is going to happen next. So definitely it is not racy! I wouldn't have read this book if I hadn't signed for the review program at BlogAdda. The too much of going back and forth from the present to the past jumbles the plot all the more. The story doesn't seem to exist. Something happens at one point of time and something happens at another instant of time and that is it! The rivalry between Agastya and Sailesh could have been brought out better with a strong base for the rivalry. A lot more thinking could have gone into the making of Maithili's character.
360 pages was too long for a story that is supposed to span for just 60 minutes. A lit bit of the advertised racy feel could have been there if the length was shortened. The book would be a little bearable to read then. And yes there could have been a lot more of a story if there was some more thought put into it. This book is one of the worst that I have read till date. It isn't a page turner and neither it is the type of book where you want to read it slowly and live in the world of the book! This one compels you to get out of it as soon as possible perhaps even as soon as you start reading the first few pages of the book!
My rating: 1/5.
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