Double or Quits

“Double Or Quits” by Shilpa Gupta is one of those books which will be loved by every people no matter which age group they belong to. Reading the blurb gave me slight hint that the book holds story of betrayal and be an emotional read. The cover of the book was designed well according to the theme and plot. The title of the book was captivating too. The story all over revolves around the life of a girl Jyotsna. From her student life to her professional life. The book contains stories of IIM journey too. The story begins with Jyotsna meeting with Mr. Aryan Sahani who was promoter of Sahani hospitals. Jyotsna along with Nitin Mehta was assigned for this project. Nitin Mehta was batch mate of Jyotsna at IIM and now both of them joined Clifford and Morrison company. This was the start of Jyotsna and Aryan meeting.The official meeting turned into friendship and then love blossomed. Jyotsna’s had a small family consisting of her mother and grand mother only. They both lived in Delhi whereas Jyotsna lived in Mumbai. Jyotsna had two best friends Sanchita and Richa who were with her since college days. While reading the first page, honestly I could not understand what is IPO? But in the later chapters while Jyotsna was explaining her mother about IPO, even I understood it. I personally loved every character in the book except few.(Let those few names be the secret). Jyotsna had to struggle a lot in her life. She has to face the worst side of life. She had gone through those days when other person would have decided to end up her life but Jyotsna was a strong girl who did not give up. All the good people around Jyotsna were extremely good. I feel Jyotsna would feel blessed when she had full support of those few people in her life even during the mess. Jyotsna life was full of up’s and downs. But once she decided to start something and she surely did along with her friends. Overall,the author has done a brilliant job. The author had very well maintained the suspense and being a reader one cannot guess. Even the book hold parts of stock market and some technical words, the book doesn’t bore you at all. It was easy to understand. I even loved the writing style of the author. The book had various emotions in it and was an emotional and enjoyable read. I would love to read other books of the author.

Double or Quits is a quite fast paced book with an excellent story line and even better characterizations. While each part of the book is great, it was the characterization that took the cake.The protagonist Jyotsna is a strong, independent and an intelligent woman with the world at her feet. Her fighting spirit sees her out of hell and all through the story you find yourself rooting for her. She, and the other characters, are so real and relatable that they feel like the people you meet regularly.It is not just Jyotsna, but her relationship with the women and men around her give the story its fun element. The story covers elements from Jyotsna’s past to the present, to show the readers why she is the way she is, this was an excellent move! As a reader, after reading about her past, I could empathise with her as well as understand why she made a certain mistake that she did.As the story has the backdrop of Investment banking, the author also includes explanations about the different terms quite effortlessly so even those who are not from commerce would understand Jyotsna’s work and the mistake that she makes which leads to her downfall.For me, the best part of the book was after the downfall. I did not expect the way she would handle things the way she did. While I thought it would be something along the lines of “Orange is the new black” with long descriptions of sad, bland and dirty life along with many issues that she would face in adjusting to her ciscumstance, I was in for a surprise with the way the things turned up the way they did! This was the part where I actually fell in love with the character.The only issue that I found was there were minor grammatical errors like “lied down” or “revert back”. If these errors would be sorted in the next edition, this one would be a faultless and perfect read.

Shilpa Gupta's Double or quits was a fast-paced, exciting yet emotional read. The way Jyotsna's character is portrayed is commendable. She is a strong female protagonist with a hard past who makes a name for herself. The book begins with an interesting narrative. Being a female in today's corporate world isn't easy when people demean your ideas based on gender. Enter Mr Aryan Sahani, the charismatic billionaire who is kinda sexist as Jyotsna believes which isn't the truth as we soon find out.The thing I didn't like about this book was Aryan and Jyotsna's relationship, it might be a major moving point for the plot, but I found it lacking in that emotional connect. Individually, I was impressed with both the characters, but together, they just didn't make much sense to me.This is book is about betrayal and failures in life, that much is evident from the blurb and while I loved the way it was executed, knowing what was about to happen killed the surprising element, and I wasn't awed by any twists.Yet I loved reading about how she handled the situation and picked herself up from rock-bottom. That struggle was an inspiration. You can do anything if you just put your mind to it. The friendship bonding of Jyotsna with her girl friends was another enjoyable element. The writing style of the book is quite simple and elegant. It presents the hard stock market terms and explains it in simplistic terms so that the readers can easily understand it. The real story (for me) was towards the end. Everything Jyotsna had experienced, every hardship had molded her and made her stronger. Also, Nitin, I won't talk much about him but he was my favorite throughout the book.Another thing I totally loved about this book is that it was so easy to connect with the story because of the realistic approach.