Stilettos in the Newsroom
is an important glimpse into the journalism industry.
Its written from the perspective of a female journalist in what seems to be highly autobiographical (or perhaps that is just the way the book is written?) and tells you about the struggles that Radhika will face as she enters the tough and demanding world of journalism - office politics, power struggles, sullen bosses, back-stabbing friends, mismatches between the picture and the caption, relationship problems and a great deal of craziness - with people inside and outside the industry. It seems to be written without any pretense, there is a lot of stuff in it that is controversial - like relationships between the Press members and the people they interview, or relationships with bosses in order to get better stories. Moreover, Radhika is ambitious enough in this book to be doing just about anything to get what she wants - a big plus.
The characters in this book, aside from the main character, are according to me a little under-developed. I can hardly keep the names and places straight, most people just become one single character trait and quite a few of them don't appear very often. Even Radhika's love interest, Sameer, is a rushed character who doesnt get the screen space he deserves - after reading this book, I have trouble with knowing anything about him other than the fact that "he was a nice guy." I also failed to understand the motivations or why some of them acted the way they did, but perhaps this is a personal thing. This is one of the things I didnt particularly like about the book.
However, there were a lot of things that I did like a lot about the book. I like the 'chat-with-the-reader' style the book is written in - its a simple, fast, entertaining read and I appreciate that. I really like the 'journalism tip' of the day at the end of each chapter - its a nice conclusion to each event, some of it is hilarious, and a lot of the tips arent just limited to journalism but are rather applicable to everyone's lives. I also enjoyed how the author describes various facets of the journalism industry, they are fascinating, especially since I've never read anything in a similar vein (though perhaps I should). The book is humorous at parts, touchy at parts, and written in a no-nonsense way that makes the humor more try and the emotion less tacky, which I appreciate.
Final thoughts: An interesting book on a young's journalists struggles. Worth a read for sure.
(Come back soon to catch my interview with author Rashmi Kumar.)
Other thoughts: This is my third book for the Book Readers Challenge 2011! Come join us, and discover a new genre...or just get an excuse to read a lot.
(Financial disclosure: Book source was the author.)
is an important glimpse into the journalism industry. Its written from the perspective of a female journalist in what seems to be highly autobiographical (or perhaps that is just the way the book is written?) and tells you about the struggles that Radhika will face as she enters the tough and demanding world of journalism - office politics, power struggles, sullen bosses, back-stabbing friends, mismatches between the picture and the caption, relationship problems and a great deal of craziness - with people inside and outside the industry. It seems to be written without any pretense, there is a lot of stuff in it that is controversial - like relationships between the Press members and the people they interview, or relationships with bosses in order to get better stories. Moreover, Radhika is ambitious enough in this book to be doing just about anything to get what she wants - a big plus.
The characters in this book, aside from the main character, are according to me a little under-developed. I can hardly keep the names and places straight, most people just become one single character trait and quite a few of them don't appear very often. Even Radhika's love interest, Sameer, is a rushed character who doesnt get the screen space he deserves - after reading this book, I have trouble with knowing anything about him other than the fact that "he was a nice guy." I also failed to understand the motivations or why some of them acted the way they did, but perhaps this is a personal thing. This is one of the things I didnt particularly like about the book.
However, there were a lot of things that I did like a lot about the book. I like the 'chat-with-the-reader' style the book is written in - its a simple, fast, entertaining read and I appreciate that. I really like the 'journalism tip' of the day at the end of each chapter - its a nice conclusion to each event, some of it is hilarious, and a lot of the tips arent just limited to journalism but are rather applicable to everyone's lives. I also enjoyed how the author describes various facets of the journalism industry, they are fascinating, especially since I've never read anything in a similar vein (though perhaps I should). The book is humorous at parts, touchy at parts, and written in a no-nonsense way that makes the humor more try and the emotion less tacky, which I appreciate.
Final thoughts: An interesting book on a young's journalists struggles. Worth a read for sure.
(Come back soon to catch my interview with author Rashmi Kumar.)
Other thoughts: This is my third book for the Book Readers Challenge 2011! Come join us, and discover a new genre...or just get an excuse to read a lot.
(Financial disclosure: Book source was the author.)
Seems good. i will try this.
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll like it. :)
ReplyDeleteI had liked the book in parts and have some issues with it. Will be posting my review on it soon :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to read that. I hope you'll send me a link, or I shall keep an eye on your blog. :)
ReplyDelete