BUY WITH A PINCH OF SALT | JAS ANAND | BOOK REVIEW

SUBJECT: 3/5

RELEVANCE: 3/5

WRITING STYLE: 2.5/5

ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 2.5/5

In this ever increasing competitive world of today, when most of us are running the rat race, it is always good to have a little dose of humor sprinkled between our daily chores. And what a beauty! When that humor seems to be about all the mavericks and maniacs (not in the literal sense off course… until one is working in a psychiatry ward of a hospital) one comes across in your regular life. Ranging from that one psycho classmate, to the one funny fellow passenger, to that one weird relative and even the scary-as-hell boss, these characters indeed grace our monotonous lives and make them vivid with their over-the-edge distinct qualities.

In With a Pinch of Salt, Jas Anand does an impressive job of identifying such “characters” and making them the main focus of this book. The book talks about (in vivid detail) all these funny people and their even funnier tendencies. An example of such a unique character is a person who always beats around the bush and never answers to the point, another lad is as boring as a snail and yet another is always boasting about himself to others. The characters though not so unique are named quite uniquely. You can find Simon Satellite, Googly Gilbert, Wally Wordsworth, Goofy Gordon and Venkat Boropathy.

With a Pinch of Salt though written in a pleasant manner, fails to make a solid mark on the reader. I say this because, after reading the blurb and introduction, I had set my hopes quite high, and needless to say the cause of my disappointment was because my expectations were quite never met. Though being an interesting read, I missed that feel of – “laughing my heart out” which I so wanted to experience. Also, the book seemed to derive almost its entire humor quotient from deriding others. I guess a little dose of positive humor would also have been good. The good thing however, is the fact that the way the author writes makes the reader feel at ease and makes him keep turning the pages. Also, the characters the author has written about are quite relatable and one can always find these in one’s own vicinities.

Another positive of the book was its cover and the title; both meant to draw the readers and I believe both have done fairly well in their assigned tasks. Overall, a light and easy read, I recommend With a Pinch of Salt to all humor fans and sincerely hope to read more of this promising author’s works.