Broken News is broadcast journalist Amrita Tripathi’s
debut novel and tells the story of M (whose name as we find out in the end is
Meera), an overworked and paranoid journalist with a news channel who is on the
verge of losing control of her life and facing a nervous breakdown. Broken News
is essentially the story of a young professional whose life has been taken over
completely by her job and whose problems have begun to get bigger than she can
handle. The book follows M’s journey in
the news world, generously sprinkled with the predictable; cigarette and coffee
breaks, profanity, bitchy and competitive colleagues, being overworked and the death of a close friend.
The book starts with being a monologue of sorts by M
and I was seriously missing more characters and most importantly, dialogue. A
few characters come along as the story progresses, but nothing deep really.
It’s difficult for me to give you a quick beginning, middle and end of this
book because to be honest, it was hard for me to find one while reading it.
Broken News barely skims over the surface of M and the other minor characters
in the book and really does nothing deep in terms of plot and character and the
reason I found this a tad disappointing was because as an insider, Tripathi
could have easily added more depth and flavour to this book.
The one point in this book on which I would like to
congratulate Amrita is on having brought up the issue of mental illness and
stress in the Indian context, considering how most such problems are
conveniently brushed under the carpet and what a taboo it is in India to
visit a counselor!
All in all Broken News isn’t exactly an earth
shattering book, but if you’re looking for a light and not very complicated
read, then pick up a copy.
Westland Books gave us a lovely opportunity to
interact with Amrita Tripathi over coffee and delicious finger foods at the
very lively Fresc Co at Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj. It was wonderful to talk
to Amrita about the book, her experiences in the news industry and what she's working on next.
(This is a book review requested by the publisher)
(This is a book review requested by the publisher)
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