The Sanguinarian

The Sanguinarian

Wednesday 1 February 2017

Review-Figmented Reality- Zuko



Addiction blurs our hold on reality; people say. But what if addiction becomes our reality? Siddharth had a fair few addictions in his wake. The challenge now was to differentiate between the ideal world and the real world. Will Siddharth be able to overcome his addictions and find true love. Or is it just another addiction? This book is not a biography of the author but is written in a way that author is the protaganist. 


Figmented Reality starts out as the story of one Siddharth, which he narrates himself. From page 1, the author weaves an interesting tale with Siddharth's internal monologue. The reader gets to experience a colorful miasma of thoughts...from his addictions to his rift with his conservative parents. From his misogyny to his awkwardness with women. From his obsession with sex, porn and compulsion to talk to women about porn, to his erotic fantasies about a woman who's more than a decade older than him.
His failed love stories and friendships. His horrible history which was responsible for his addiction to sex.

What I liked about the book is that it's very realistic. Unlike the way-too-saccharine and impractical books about human nature and relationships selling like hot cakes in the mass market, this book keeps it real about how males think; about addicts, about chauvinists and their attitudes towards women; about grown women who are sturggling between love, freedom and the 'responsibility' towards children and family society imposes on them.

Yes I did find some crass generalizations which annoyed me, but otherwise, I liked the story, especially the twist at the end- the direction his thoughts take.

However, there are problems with the execution of such a brilliant story.

First is the grammar and language. The way this book is written, it's not even first draft material. The author needs to work on his prose style, the language, the phraseology, grammar and punctuation. The finesse is missing.

Second casualty is the editing. I don't know why no one bothered editing this book properly to iron out the errors, the typos and the technicalities. Probably a good editor would have suggested erasing the generalizations the author seems to have carelessly made in the book.

Every great idea fails to work if executed poorly. Therefore, I'd suggest the author work hard on his prose skills, language, punctuation and storytelling. The author has potential much greater than exhibited in this book.

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