Bollywood Nights

Bollywood Nights

by Shobhaa De

Genre: Women's Fiction

Synopsis: Bollywood is no place for a vulnerable, small-town girl like Aasha Rani. But that doesn't stop her mother from pushing her into a world of exploitation and bedroom casting calls. Aasha has no choice but to thrive-despite the vicious circles of starlets, pimps, and celebrities who want to see her meet her end.

But the day she meets Bollywood's leading man, everything she's worked so hard for is jeopardized. Because she may be falling for Akshay Arora-and there's no room for love in a business where it's the stranger under your sheets holding the key to your success. With her innocence stolen and nowhere else to turn, Aasha knows her downfall could come as quickly as her rise to fame. And letting herself love might just be the most fatal career move of her life...

Review: I really wanted to like this book.  I often want to read books about cultures that are foreign to me so I can learn something and get a glimpse into how other people like, work, and play.  Bollywood is fascinating to me as it seems so different from Hollywood.  I thought this book would be great for looking into the culture.  It's too bad that this book wasn't good.  It was vulgar at times.  It was full of Hindi phrases without translations so I had no idea what they were talking about in the book.  It really was a hindrance rather than a help to immerse myself in the culture.  I think the author made a huge mistake in not translating the phrases she used.  I don't know what kept me reading but I did finish the book.  The second part was better than the first as it was not vulgar but the author added this ridiculous storyline in one of the last chapters that was so unnecessary.  The main character, Aasha Rani, is not likable in any way shape or form but the author tries to make the character likable in the second half but by that time it's too late and she continues to be so dumb.  None of the other characters are likable either and their motivations seem to be lacking.  All of a sudden the characters would do something that seemed totally out of their character that they had no motivation for.  It was not a well written book and I would not recommend reading it.

Rating: 1 stars