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• Genre: Contemporary
• Publisher: The Write Place
• Pages: 246
• Format: Paperback
• Source: Review Copy
• My Rating: 4 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Ravi Bhalerao is a top of the rung business strategy consultant struggling with two disquiets in life – a festering career disillusionment and a festering wound in his posterior. Stung by an unfair performance appraisal, he pulls off an outrageous stunt at his workplace, drops off the urban map and reaches his ancestral land, a village in drought-prone Vidarbha. There he encounters India in its elemental form. Convinced that his destiny is somehow entwined with that of his country, he sets off on a truth-seeking mission. On that mission, he finds love, revolution and most importantly, a redemption for the disquiet in his rear.

Anand is a former physicist on a spiritual quest through esoteric India. He realizes that the path to realization is beset on all sides by gurus, their cults and their boundless quirks. As he hops from one ashram to the other, he grows convinced that liberation does not come with a user manual in a neat little box.

Wrapped in light-hearted, almost tongue-in-cheek prose, ‘Mango People In Banana Republic’ is a tale of an Indian’s search for personal identity, against the backdrop of a country divided along fault lines of countless social identities. Teeming with a cast of characters and ideas that encapsulate modern India, the tale ascends from the gross to the sublime, much like the Kundalini powers some aspire to acquire. With a steady pace, and gentle mocking humour, this book is an absorbing read and a laugh.

My Thoughts

It’s always great to read a book when it not only has an interesting cover and title but a great story as well.

The writing style and narrative are witty and gripping. At the beginning of the book, Ravi’s narrative is especially hilarious. The book gets unexpectedly serious after that. I really liked Ravi. He was sarcastic, sassy, and he questioned a lot of things. There are some jokes on the current state of the world due to westernization and technology. There is a lot of politics involved in the story. The plot takes a spin in the middle of the book as does Ravi’s life. The book is written in a very free and bold manner.

This is an extremely enjoyable book. it keeps you hooked and makes you think about a lot of things. I highly recommend it.

Thanks to WritersMelon for a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.