Revathi Suresh’s first book is a pleasant surprise and good for a lazy read.

For me, the warning bells started to ring when I heard Jobless Clueless Reckless’s author is a first time writer out with her first book. “Why?” you may ask. Well, blame the last few books that I read. I wanted to be sure what I am getting into. Was it going to be another book about IIT, IIM, MBA etc etc, which seems to be norm these days. As a result, probably for the first time, I researched about the writer first before reading the book. But my apprehensions flew away after I read few of Revathi Suresh’s blogs . In one of her blogs Revathi says, “I figured I didn’t have the magic formula. I didn’t have an IT background. Nor had I ever been part of any other kind of set up that allowed me to lean heavily on my job or my life for inspiration. Depressing. Life sucked because it was good.” Her above lines reassured me that Jobless Clueless Reckless was going to be a different experience. It indeed was!

Jobless Clueless Reckless doesn’t have a plot, a storyline or so to say a definite beginning, middle and end. In Revathi Suresh’s own words, “There’s no summing it up and no synopsising it.” What we can say is that JCR is a glimpse into the world of Kavya, a teenager. She is the narrator of the book and hence you get to see the world from a teenager’s eyes. Her world includes her annoying brother Dhrittiman, her absentee mother, AWOL father and the usual girl gang and eye candies, which are part of any youngster’s life. Kavya is lovable, funny, awkward, witty, smart and goofy. It’s easy to become a part of her life and be interested in what next she has to share with us.

There isn’t much to write about the language. It’s narrated by a 16 year old so the language is pretty much how today’s teenager speak. You will spot ‘dude’ after every 3rd sentence. And then there are the usual ‘cos’ ’fu*king’, ‘ssup’!

Though meant for young adults and I am far from it, I surprisingly enjoyed reading JCR. I wasn’t bored even for a bit and finished the whole book in one sitting. Jobless, Clueless, Reckless turned out to be as honest, candid, realistic and funny as her blogs were. It was remarkable to see how subtly the writer touched upon real issues faced by teenagers like drugs, drinking, smoking, teenage pregnancy, body issues, peer pressure, without getting preachy. It does takes you back in time and reminds of your own struggles as a teenager irrespective of what decade we belong to. For simply this reason, JCR can be enjoyed by all age groups. Primarily because we all have gone through puberty and know exactly how confusing that phase can be!

Non-pretentious, funny, simple and straight-forward, Jobless, Clueless, Reckless by Revathi Suresh is an entertaining read and a very good first attempt at writing minus the IIM backing!
Read other reviews of Jobless Clueless Reckless here and here.