Book Review: Bitch Goddess for Dummies by Maya Sharma Sriram

Title: Bitch Goddess for Dummies
Author: Maya Sharma Sriram
Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Rupa Publications (2012)
Genre: Chick-Lit
Read: Paperback
Stars: ****/5
Buy On: Amazon | FlipKart
Summary: (Amazon)
Edgy and wickedly funny, this is exciting debut novel that will have readers engaged and entertained throughout.
Bitch Goddess Rule # 52: Dont Mess with a Bitch Goddess. Ever. She Gives as Good as She Gets.
Tired of being a pushover and a wimp, Mira Iyer decides to change her life forever. Thus begins Project Bitch Goddess. She junks her Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes image and brings out the killer stilettos. She demands her bosss attention, and the next pro- motion, and matches her crafty colleague, the impossibly beautiful Sanya, move for move. But when Mira starts playing mind games with the suave Rohan whom Sanya is also desperately trying to woo things threaten to go too far. Then, Miras half-sister lands at her doorstep, and compels her to confront her estranged father and her long-closeted inner demons. Will the snappy Bitch Goddess Rules come to Miras rescue, or leave her scarred?
Set in Singapore and India, Bitch Goddess for Dummies is replete with dark humour and is a powerful antidote for those who must suffer because they are too nice.

My Review:

Note: Thanks to the guys at MySmartPrice for offering me this book to review :)

Cover: Eye-Candy! The cover is true to the book!

Paper and font: The paper's ok, though I would have liked a slightly bigger and spacier font. It's a tad bit small and tight.

Readability, language: The book reads well, with mostly simple language (there are words like solecism) and a subject every working girl knows about.

Why did I choose this book: Something about the name said 'You must read this!'.

A racy chick-lit, I couldn't keep the book down once I started. Mira the heroine is a simple Tam-Bram girl who has been brought up to do things properly. She doesn't know the twisted ways of the world today and ends up being walked over constantly by Sanya in office. Sanya is the epitome of the girl we all called the 'Bitch' in office, the one who with her coy ways always gets her way. Mira tired of being a wimp and a pushover decides to take a leaf from Sanya's book and become the bitch goddess. What results is an account of Mira's conflicts between being her and a bitch goddress, the confusion for her close friend Vinay who can't seem to understand what's got into her and the upheavel caused by the entry of the hero Rohan in the midst of things as Mira finds the right balance of things in her life.

Mira is that girl each one of us was when we first stepped into the corporate world of today, stumbling along and learning the rules of the game. Sanya like I said before is the epitome of the 'Bitch', the one each one of us hated but secretly wanted to be. Vinay is a loveable charater and so remined my of my close buddies at work and how they were my family away from home. All Sriram's characters are well sketched out and easily recogniseable with someone in our lives.

The book is set in Singapore and India and true to Indians working abroad Sriram brings out the Indian'isms' displayed by them. Mira's mother is the typical Tamil Brahmin parent back home trying hard to get her daughter married.

The book is a fast-paced read and I couldn't keep it down once I started, I wanted to know all that happened to Mira. Sriram has mostly used simple language but there are some big words like 'Solecism' thrown in that made me reach out for the dictitionary. Not that am complaining :)

I loved the Bitch Goddess Rules that popped up in-between as I was reading the book. Also Mira's new avatar made me smile big and wide everytime she whooped Sanya. I don't have any complaints as such of the book. As a to-read-once-chick-lit it's great.

I'd recommend this book to all those in the corporate world. Most women will associate with it and men like Vinay (who have 'proper' women friends) will have a good laugh. Definitely worth a read!

Buy On: Amazon | FlipKart