Chetan Bhagat released his seventh novel – Half Girlfriend this month. Being India’s bestselling author with previous five books as hit, the pressure was immense; and I can say he delivered a good one.

Half Girlfriend is a plot which revolves around a central character – Madhav Jha, hailing from Dumraon (Bihar) and his love interest Riya Somani, a Delhite. As what Chetan does in every novel, the character portrayal is rich and you can connect them to usual life people around you.

The novel indeed portrays a love story, with a twist in the end. The main thing which I loved in this one was the turn of plot, in the last 50 pages. This is not usual Chetan, who describes only the love chemistry between couples, this is different.

As pointed out in a teaser by the author himself, the central character – Madhav belongs to a village and meets the girl who is modern in every sense in college. The first struggle of Madhav is to communicate in English, and the other is to peel-off the layers of the girl he loves.

The story revolves around his battle to find the right tag of his relationship with the girl, the pits he falls into while doing so and his never back out attitude to get his love of life. The character of Riya Somani is well written and the story weaved by author to describe her is no short than gripping.

The mid section, of about 20-30 pages does seem stretched but the twist afterwards make up for the lost rhythm. All in all, this is one of the best books Chetan Bhagat has delivered so far. My personal favorite is indeed – The 2 States, but I would urge you to read this one, as it’s a worth read.