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The Reverse Journey
Book Summary of The Reverse Journey
This is a story about a young man faced with a decision - to follow his heart or brain. The heart wants happiness in India, among his family, friends and people who are like him. His brain wants money - without it what security does he have? All his friends are relocating to the USA. He feels isolated. And so he decides to follow 'the rat race'. He travels to America. Will the journey to a foreign land bring happiness? Will money be the answer to his prayers? Or will he finally realise that true joy is the sense of belonging?
About the Author
Vivek Kumar Singh belongs to Class of ’96 of IITKanpur.Since then, he has been part of the IT revolution — travelling across the globe and working for various companies. He learned conscience and sensitiveness in the jungles of Jharkhand where he did his schooling, at Netarhat, a government residential public school, and a spell at Science College, Patna, made him a politically sensitive animal. Presently Vivek is based in Bangalore and can be reached at vivek_ks@hotmail.com
This is a story about a young man faced with a decision - to follow his heart or brain. The heart wants happiness in India, among his family, friends and people who are like him. His brain wants money - without it what security does he have? All his friends are relocating to the USA. He feels isolated. And so he decides to follow 'the rat race'. He travels to America. Will the journey to a foreign land bring happiness? Will money be the answer to his prayers? Or will he finally realise that true joy is the sense of belonging?
About the Author
Vivek Kumar Singh belongs to Class of ’96 of IITKanpur.Since then, he has been part of the IT revolution — travelling across the globe and working for various companies. He learned conscience and sensitiveness in the jungles of Jharkhand where he did his schooling, at Netarhat, a government residential public school, and a spell at Science College, Patna, made him a politically sensitive animal. Presently Vivek is based in Bangalore and can be reached at vivek_ks@hotmail.com
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
1 person is currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Vivek Kumar Singh
41 books2 followersVivek Kumar Singh belongs to Class of ’96 of IITKanpur.Since then, he has been part of the IT revolution — travelling across the globe and working for various companies. He learned conscience and sensitiveness in the jungles of Jharkhand where he did his schooling, at Netarhat, a government residential public school, and a spell at Science College, Patna, made him a politically sensitive animal. Presently Vivek is based in Bangalore, India.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 1, 2012
Intro : The Reverse Journey by Vivek Kumar Singh .. I found it an excellent read, real life and it would have helped me greatly in getting the bigger picture about career and life which I so desperately needed in IITK, got it only in pieces and couldn’t grasp the full meaning and implications of it when it came from faculty or seniors.
Short Review : A MUST READ FOR ALL. Packed in 120 pages with NO masala and true realism, The Reverse Journey is a novel where The Author Himself, takes the normal path taken by lakhs of Middle Class people in India, observes the society and people around him as they evolve and presents a compelling story, that most of us can relate to. The Novel evolves through a series of seamless short stories and each story by itself is an inspiration and truly REAL. The whole novel by itself is a lot of hard work .. The blend of evolution, realism and inspiration is what makes The Reverse Journey so compelling.
LONGER DETAILED REVIEW:
I had been struggling to find the right words for The Reverse Journey for last 3 weeks .. I absolutely loved it, and there was absolutely no other book that came close to the delight that I got while reading it . Yet, I didn’t know why I liked it so much .. I could relate to it from my personal experiences, feel most of the experiences, author goes through, but it wasn’t just that. It was good novel, where character and people around him evolve and mature. Physically as well as mentally .. But it wasn’t just that .. It had quite a humor and easy language and never let your attention divert but it wasn’t just that .. It told story of struggle of thousand of student’s and migrants, the cultural differences that we have and provided a really good and accurate explanation but it wasn’t just that also.. Finally, I learned what makes it a great story and novel at same time, when I exchanged with a lady (she visits same doctor as my wife and I never spoke a word before to her) my copy of Moving On by Jaya Jha, because I really wanted her to read and just out of curiosity borrowed her Short Stories book on Spanish by John R. King and one line read “Novels are result of hard work and evolve few characters, stories are work of Inspiration”. (mistakes mine in quoting). The Reverse Journey is a novel which evolves through a series of seamless short stories and each story by itself is an inspiration in itself. And the whole novel by itself is a lot of hard work .. Packed in 120 pages with no extension and masala. The Author of Novel takes the normal path traveled by thousands and lakhs of people in India, observes his the society and people around him as they evolve and presents the compelling story and most of us can relate to .. The blend of evolution, realism and inspiration is what makes The Reverse Journey so compelling.
Short Review : A MUST READ FOR ALL. Packed in 120 pages with NO masala and true realism, The Reverse Journey is a novel where The Author Himself, takes the normal path taken by lakhs of Middle Class people in India, observes the society and people around him as they evolve and presents a compelling story, that most of us can relate to. The Novel evolves through a series of seamless short stories and each story by itself is an inspiration and truly REAL. The whole novel by itself is a lot of hard work .. The blend of evolution, realism and inspiration is what makes The Reverse Journey so compelling.
LONGER DETAILED REVIEW:
I had been struggling to find the right words for The Reverse Journey for last 3 weeks .. I absolutely loved it, and there was absolutely no other book that came close to the delight that I got while reading it . Yet, I didn’t know why I liked it so much .. I could relate to it from my personal experiences, feel most of the experiences, author goes through, but it wasn’t just that. It was good novel, where character and people around him evolve and mature. Physically as well as mentally .. But it wasn’t just that .. It had quite a humor and easy language and never let your attention divert but it wasn’t just that .. It told story of struggle of thousand of student’s and migrants, the cultural differences that we have and provided a really good and accurate explanation but it wasn’t just that also.. Finally, I learned what makes it a great story and novel at same time, when I exchanged with a lady (she visits same doctor as my wife and I never spoke a word before to her) my copy of Moving On by Jaya Jha, because I really wanted her to read and just out of curiosity borrowed her Short Stories book on Spanish by John R. King and one line read “Novels are result of hard work and evolve few characters, stories are work of Inspiration”. (mistakes mine in quoting). The Reverse Journey is a novel which evolves through a series of seamless short stories and each story by itself is an inspiration in itself. And the whole novel by itself is a lot of hard work .. Packed in 120 pages with no extension and masala. The Author of Novel takes the normal path traveled by thousands and lakhs of people in India, observes his the society and people around him as they evolve and presents the compelling story and most of us can relate to .. The blend of evolution, realism and inspiration is what makes The Reverse Journey so compelling.
June 16, 2015
This is a story about a young man faced with a decision - to follow his heart or brain. The heart wants happiness in India, among his family, friends and people who are like him. His brain wants money - without it what security does he have? All his friends are relocating to the USA. He feels isolated. And so he decides to follow 'the rat race'. He travels to America. Will the journey to a foreign land bring happiness? Will money be the answer to his prayers? Or will he finally realise that true joy is the sense of belonging?
Reverse Journey is one of those books where author is not sure which tone is suitable to take forward the narrative. So it becomes autobiographical when the author starts narrating own experiences while becomes a fiction when he decides to throw in a love story. As a result, it ends up being a mixture of awkward plot-points, cringing dialogues and clunky transitions. What finally manages to stay with you is the detail with which the author has penned down the minute details about living away from the country, adjusting to the new culture, momentarily forgetting your own and hypocrisy of Indians when subjected to racist remarks.
The book is thought provoking, delving deep into the psyche of Indians abroad or who move abroad after living for a substantial time in India. The author manages to capture the small nuggets of life abroad sincerely, but fails to enthuse any kind of reliability to the characters. Yes, you can relate to them at human level but all of them are written with flat note and hardly any variation, that in the end it fails to enthuse you.
I am going with 2/5 for Vivek Kumar Singh's 'The reverse journey'. It makes some pertinent points about brain-drain and living away from India but it is so poorly structured and told with flat narrative, that it will leave you with an empty feeling. How you wish author showed a little restraint and properly-laid straight storytelling to complement very competent thoughts about his journey.
Reverse Journey is one of those books where author is not sure which tone is suitable to take forward the narrative. So it becomes autobiographical when the author starts narrating own experiences while becomes a fiction when he decides to throw in a love story. As a result, it ends up being a mixture of awkward plot-points, cringing dialogues and clunky transitions. What finally manages to stay with you is the detail with which the author has penned down the minute details about living away from the country, adjusting to the new culture, momentarily forgetting your own and hypocrisy of Indians when subjected to racist remarks.
The book is thought provoking, delving deep into the psyche of Indians abroad or who move abroad after living for a substantial time in India. The author manages to capture the small nuggets of life abroad sincerely, but fails to enthuse any kind of reliability to the characters. Yes, you can relate to them at human level but all of them are written with flat note and hardly any variation, that in the end it fails to enthuse you.
I am going with 2/5 for Vivek Kumar Singh's 'The reverse journey'. It makes some pertinent points about brain-drain and living away from India but it is so poorly structured and told with flat narrative, that it will leave you with an empty feeling. How you wish author showed a little restraint and properly-laid straight storytelling to complement very competent thoughts about his journey.
November 3, 2011
This is a story about a young man faced with a decision - to follow his heart or brain. The heart wants happiness in India, among his family, friends and people who are like him. His brain wants money - without it what security does he have? All his friends are relocating to the USA. He feels isolated. And so he decides to follow 'the rat race'. He travels to America. Will the journey to a foreign land bring happiness? Will money be the answer to his prayers? Or will he finally realise that true joy is the sense of belonging
October 11, 2011
This is a wonderful book I read. It touches heart - written in simple but impressive style.
It defines the "Belonging". I found one moe review at http://onesstandpoint.blogspot.com/20...
http://www.bihartimes.in/book_review/...
It defines the "Belonging". I found one moe review at http://onesstandpoint.blogspot.com/20...
http://www.bihartimes.in/book_review/...
October 22, 2011
It is a wonderful book which talks about middle class and their aspirations. It is witty and thought provoking. It also talks about NRIs and their minds.
Language is simple and lucid but poweful. Every page seems like our story.
Language is simple and lucid but poweful. Every page seems like our story.
October 24, 2011
I read this book after reading the review at bookrack
http://bookreviews.bookrack.in/2011/1...
I agree with reviewer. Tt is a very good read. It connect to us so well.
http://bookreviews.bookrack.in/2011/1...
I agree with reviewer. Tt is a very good read. It connect to us so well.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews