Title- Keys
Author-Santhosh
Joshi
Publisher-SJ
Foundation
Source-Review
copy (via Think Why Not)
Pages-270
Price- INR
280/-
| (Book cover and author's pic) |
Self-help is one of the money minting
genres as far as ‘Indian writing in English’ is concerned.’Keys’,the debut work
of Santhosh Joshi,a life coach and past
life regression therapist based in Mumbai(India) belongs to the same.Though
this book exhibits many of it’s generic traits what makes it different from the
rest,is the inherent honesty and sincerity put in by the author to break free
from the genre stereotypes(in which he has been successful to an extent).
Through this book,the author gives
us tips to live a happy and fruitful life.He tells why it is important to ‘Heal
your past’,’Live your present’,and ‘Plan your future’(which he thinks are the ‘keys’
or the HLP way to a regret-free life).In keys,Joshi hasn’t attempted anything
new,it follows the same set patterns of any other successful self-help book,(so,we
get to read so many real life examples and notes on measurable steps to be taken
during ‘stressful situations’ .There are even beautifully drawn and
intelligently worded cartoons before the beginning and a quick recap box at the end of each
chapter!)but still ‘Keys’ stands out from the rest as the author is confident
about what he wants to convey and at the same time is bold enough not to dress
up his thoughts in a quasi-spiritual language
About the
book- As I mentioned before,’Keys’ belong to the self-help genre.If you are not
a great fan of inspirational/motivational stuff,you can safely keep yourselves away
from this book but if you are,then I am glad to say this one is not only worth
trying but also one of the decent works belonging to the genre to have hit the
Indian book stores in the recent past.The book has three ‘keys’ and each one is
again divided into eight to ten chapters.So the first ‘key’ has eight chapters
which will enable ourselves to a)heal our past by making ourselves realise the
importance of learning from our past,b) utilise our true potential c) get rid
of our residual emotions from the past d)release attached emotions e)reconnect to
the inner child in ourselves f)forgive and forget ;to name a few. Likewise the second section deals with
living our present life to the fullest wheras the third one discusses the
importance of planning the future .
The
Writing- The language used by the author is simple,conversational
English(obviously, in a ‘self-help’ book,what else do you expect?).Thankfully,there
aren’t many hindi words (unlike the recent desi ‘inspirational books’)appearing
every now and then.Typos and grammatical errors are also very few which was
also a pleasant surprise(honestly,I was anticipating more of them as the book
is from a relatively new publisher!)
What I
liked the most about the book-
1.The book
is written in a simple,conversational manner so that the reader can easily
relate to most of the things which the author is talking about.
2.The real
life examples which the Joshi has described are also believable and
relatable.Be,it the story of Kavitha,who is anxious about her future or
Kavya,who can no longer be a ‘kid’ as she is a “mother now!”The author has
intelligently linked each and every message he wants to tell to one of his
personal experiences.
3.The
cartoons which are there before the beginning of each chapter made a lot of
sense to me.The author has drawn his pictures himself and deserves a pat on his
back for not copying pictures from anywhere else for his book.
4.The cover
design of the book was also really good.
What I didn’t
like-
1.The
length of the book-At 270 pages,the book is too long.
2.Repetition
of thoughts-Some thoughts and messages are repeated which easily bores the
reader.
Verdict- A
decent self-help manual.Rating-3/5
Reviewed by
nikhimenon.(please do not copy)
