Sriram Ramakrishnan

Recently we were approached by Sriram Ramakrishnan in the context of his debut book "Chennai To Chicago: Memoir Of A Software Engineer". While the title is almost self-explanatory, we were not sure about the way the book tends to explore the cultural cross-overs and the journey of a youth from one country to the another. But, reading the book was an interesting experience for sure. Despite the fact that the book was provided by the author, the book review is unbiased and uninfluenced, by all means.

The book is written almost throughout in first person (with a few exceptions) and thus remains true to the tagline. Those who are grown in a typical middle-class environment can link their lives to the many incidents mentioned in the book. These realistic exploration and deja-vu feelings make readers connect with the book strongly. That is the success of the author for sure.

The interesting time of the protagonist growing up in a middle-class, the way he was introduced to the metro-city and explore the college life there, and eventually, visits many foreign countries for the job perspective and explore the "way of living" there; is worth exploring through the author's pen.

The book takes quite a spiritual turn the mid-way, where the protagonist became self-inquisitive and wanted to know the reasons of his being. This works like a charm for some readers while it may found quite distracting from the main story for many others. So, we can consider it as the positive as well as negative point of the book.

I like the way the author has avoided any cuss words or adult-only material in this book, which even some of the well established and bestseller authors cannot do. The characters are really well defined and you got to see almost majority of them in the real life. The innocence of the small town boy and his attitude when he was the in-charge who is outsourcing the work to his home country; is something you shouldn't miss reading.

Here are some of the interesting lines from the book:
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An unenergetic teacher will put anyone to sleep.

“Hope” is the most beautiful thing, it’s the very core of human existence.
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Overall a genuinely written straightforward story which becomes a little heavier when the "journey to know the self" is started by the protagonist. Definitely worth reading.

Book Review Link: https://thinkerviews.com/books/english-books/chennai-to-chicago-memoir-of-a-soft...… (más)