Sapna Sinha is an electronics salesgirl in downtown Delhi working to support her family after the death of her father. She's smart, pretty, savvy, modest, highly skilled, devout, selfless, resourceful, intuitive to an almost impossible degree, generous, courageous... and completely insufferable. This book is pretty silly, even leaving aside the unbelievable premise (which I was prepared to overlook, having immensely enjoyed Q&A and Six Suspects). At times, it was so melodramatic that felt like I was reading a cross between a Bollywood drama and a high school writing assignment, and the way Sapna harps on about it being 'real life' only drew attention to its outlandishness. Sapna is frustratingly judgemental but at the same time, too kind and selfless to be at all believable. Everyone else is pretty two-dimensional. We are given too much of the wrong kind of detail (furnishings, outfits), and not enough of the things that actually matter - Swarup conveniently boots the reader out of Sapna's head in order to keep her plans (and the plot twists) hidden. The dialogue is not the slightest bit realistic, and attempts to be clever come off as try-hard. There is also an annoying amount of focus on sexual violence, sometimes without any point. The worst part is the writing style. Either this was ghost-written or Swarup's editors are getting lazy. Cliches are overused and misused ('doe-shaped eyes'), metaphors are drawn out to a ridiculous degree, there are too many redundancies, and the reader is hammered with messages such as 'famous people suck', 'drugs are bad' and 'children should not be exploited'. In short, it felt like this one was farted out in a poor imitation of the previous two. The plot is okay. There's certainly a lot happening. It's an easy read, although not an especially enjoyable one. I was disappointed. The only reason which made me pick this book up was the fact it was written by Vikas Swarup, who came highly recommended from a friend. I thought to myself, "How bad can this be?". I was not ready for what was coming my way. I could only finish this book, because of my OCD of finishing books once I start, no matter how bad.This book is bollywood meets pathetic Abbas-Mastan thriller. Right from the beginning, the plot is highly predictable & cliched. The so called "twists" are nothing but a sorry attempt to shove drama, where it is not required. People are getting hurt for no reason, & eventually when the justification comes, the only thing you can do is **facepalm** Give this book a miss, time spent on this can be better utilized in other books or endeavors.P.S. The killer is exactly who you think it is after reading the first 100 pages.
What do You think about A Herdeira Acidental (2013)?
Cada vez mais, este escritor tem sido uma agradável surpresa!!! já me rendi como fã :)
—youngartista
Fantastic one of the best books I have read in a very long time.Wellworth picking up
—Heather
A good holiday read! Heroine is very admirable.
—twilighter4eva
