A Flawed God

This is probably the last book I am reviewing this season. And it was just about ok.

The title is quite intriguing, I expected to find some novel about one man who fights against different odds and probably comes up with some sort of theory about a flawed God and a flawed universe. Well, I couldn’t have been farther from the plot. Of course it is a story about a man who fights against some kind of odds in his organization. But then, the flawed God refers to the stock market. The book talks about how organizations are controlled by the stock market which is in itself a dicey concept, and how they don’t care enough about the employees. A little communistic? Yes yes…

Plot. Plot is essentially the story of how the protagonist gets recruited a s part of a secret organization and how he later on tries to take control of the situations he faces, with the new confidence he has gained from joining the organization. Also, how he later on discovers that most of these have been fabricated by his co-worker (and love interest) in order to help him realize his true potential. The pace is not too fast, while the mystery of the secret organization drives your interest, there are points where the pace is too slow to sustain.

Theme is definitely different. Someone has finally tried to talk about how employees are treated and power play at work and all the untold secrets of workplaces. However, there is a risk in writing a novel about a theme that is by itself considered a little boring. And a theme which people try to forget while at home. When you take such a risk, it is incumbent on the author to try not to use language that is too official or boring. In this case, the author has not written that way, and at some points his style has a tad too much legalese. In fact, talking about style, maybe it is his choice of words or sentence length or I don’t know what else, but though the plot is quite simple the story telling seems a little laboriously done. There are points where the book is too heavy on the reader.  But then again, maybe that was intended, and maybe it adds to the theme :)

Charactewrs. Not much to say here, because there are very few characters being talked about. While the protagonist and lady love are the main ones, and it is obvious this guy is one of potential, but who needs a small push, while the lady is one who is clever enough to identify the right candidate and who can go great lengths to help him, there is not much else to understand about either. And the other characters are much worse- no one really stays in your mind for long. Maybe the author was too busy concentrating on the issues he wants to cover and the plot that he didn’t too much on this one.

So, overall- the book is ok. One-time read if you are interested in HR stuff and people and their interactions at the workplace. Else, it does have some interesting viewpoints to offer (the one that explains ‘flawed god’ is pretty good) and though a little red, it has some constructive suggestions as well. The booklet portion (games at the ‘playshop’) could have been included as part of the plot, as they seem to be quite interesting. And yes, great title! ;)

Well, that’s all folks! :)

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com.