The Accidental Accountant by Deepak Kaul (Book Review)

 

Title – The Accidental Accountant 

Author – Deepak Kaul  

Genre – Fiction

Book Format – E-book 

Publisher – Amazon Kindle 

No of pages – 96

This book is available on Amazon 

The Blurb

The Accidental Accountant is a short-fiction by Deepak Kaul. The protagonist in this fiction is Deb who has graduated from the Arts stream. He is very much confused about career options just like other pass-outs and thinking of doing an MBA. He tries his best to clear the MBA entrance exam but fails to do so. Dejected Deb is completely blank about his future but then his uncle advises him to go for CA. He applies at various CA firms and eventually gets selected at one of the CA firms. Little did he know that his decision would change his life forever. Does he become a successful CA or his life gets entangled more? Do give a read to this amazing short fiction. 

 

The Review 

The Accidental Accountant is a must-read fiction as it represents a working-class well. Deb, a recent graduate finds it hard to understand people and politics around him when he starts working in a CA firm. The author has yet again masterfully showcases the inner conflict of a working person who struggles to make his path in dirt which is full of ill-minded people and corrupted with politics. Deb’s experience with leaders like Prajay, Anthony, or Mukul matches with those who are office goers and everyday struggle to please their seniors with sincerity and hard work. Deb’s inner conflict with a lot of ‘What if’ situations let the readers remind their plight when they graduated from college and were beginning their professional lives. 

 

When you’re working with well-experienced people, your opinions are often clouded with self-doubts. And that’s what happens with Deb when he chooses to work in a CA firm despite his different background. The author beautifully showcases how the working class had to manage with people of different temperaments. When a junior like Deb tries to share his reasonable doubts with seniors, he not only gets sidelined but also gets an earful from the bosses. 

Deb’s inner conflict matches to every working professional as we often have self-doubts about ourselves especially working in a politically corrupted environment. Deb find himself surrounded with unfounded fears and sometimes he is caught in sticky situations because of lazy colleagues. Sometimes he doubts over his decision of working in a CA firm and sometimes he has self-doubts about everything. 

Reading this fiction personally gave me immense pleasure as I’ve had such experience in one of the firms in my professional life. I could relate my professional experiences with this fiction and that is what the author’s job is to write relatable experiences. And I must say Deepak Kaul has done a wonderful job with this fiction of 96 pages. 

 

I recommend this e-book to every professional out there. Some may get a different perspective from this and some may learn about different temperaments and people, especially those who are soon going to start their professional life. 

 

Writing style 

I know only a handful of authors who write stuff in real good creative English and one of them is Deepak Kaul. I hate when writers don’t use such rich language generously in their novels. However, Deepak has created his niche in writing English novels. Thankfully, his writing is rich, and does not write in plain English. 

 

The book cover & The Title 

The book cover does not represent the theme of the story. It is a very plain cover with no creative inputs. The title is okay-ish. 

 

Is the book price reasonable? 

The book comes in an e-book format and it has hardly 96 pages. I feel the book is a bit pricey as the publishing company did not have to bear the cost of printing. 

 

Rating 

4/5

 

Working professionals must read this fiction once for sure! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jasmine Builds On Shifting Sands (Book Review)

 

Title – Jasmine Builds on Shifting Sands

Author – Sanjay Desai 

Genre – Fiction & self-help book

Publisher – ConsciousLeap Insights 

No of pages – 134

Main characters – Jasmine, Shaheen Jaiswal, Bala 

 

The Blurb 

A captivating narrative that ties two seemingly distinct tales in an intertwined journey on a quest to explore manifestation. At the center of the book is Jasmine’s dream of making it a successful model in the cut-throat world of fashion. This tale of victories and failures is enveloped within the master narrative of Sanjay, an erudite knowledge-seeker meeting his spiritual guru — Ma. Set in the esoteric location of the Himalayas, the master story transports the readers to a higher plane. Together the two parallels create a reality that is all your own.

 

The Review 

Jasmine builds on shifting sands is a self-help fiction by the author Sanjay Desai. Jasmine is the protagonist in this fiction who is a normal college-goer. Her life takes an unexpected yet pleasant turn when she wins a fashion show in college. She is approached by Ms. Shaheen Jaiswal who runs a modeling agency. She prepares her for a Miss Mumbai contest. From then on, Jasmine’s life becomes one roller-coaster ride that she never expected of. She jumbles between her preparation for crown and academics. Life throws a lot of opportunities in the form of small modeling assignments, brand endorsements, etc. She finds it difficult to cope with the mounting pressure of professional modeling life and her personal life. Through this self-help fiction, the author introduces several characters like Shaheen, makeup artist cum friend Prasad, Bala, and other model friends. 

In the first few pages of the book, the author narrate his journey and introduce his spiritual guru Ma Krishnangiri. The spiritual guru explains different lessons and concepts of life and then Jasmine’s narrative takes on. Many people follow spiritual gurus in their life to have a meaningful direction. However, I am not in favor of spiritual gurus as they usually misguide people. To give an example, people used to follow Osho blindly for his spiritual teachings, and in the end; they got cheated as he was involved in various crimes. The author’s introduction to his spiritual guru seems very personal and again this does not add up any value. 

Jasmine’s story is relatable to common folks like us as we everyday struggle to become something in our life. Even if the story of Jasmine is relatable, it does not add up an extra value to a commoner’s life. Struggling to be at the top in a cut-throat competition is not everyone’s ambition. The most common struggles are how to become an efficient worker, become a team-builder, having an effective conversation with others, and many more. The author did focus on some common strategies but it does not give any extra inputs or something that we never heard of. 

There are many self-help books in the market already. The only difference this book makes is a relatable narration. Overall, this book is preferred by those who are looking for some self-help in simple and easy English. 

The writing style 

The author’s writing style is extremely simple. The author has chosen a direct and plain writing style since the book falls into the category of self-help. 

The title & the book cover 

The title justifies the narration as the protagonist does shape herself with the changing times. The book cover does not convey the theme of the story at all. 

 

Rating

2.5/5

 

About the author 

Sanjay is an entrepreneur and an ex-banker, an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, and a Chartered Accountant. During his successful career, Sanjay has been integrating the essence of a parallel spiritual journey with his material pursuits. He has now set out to share the ways and means of seamlessly traversing through the material and spiritual world.