Review by AwinoMasitsa -- Mock My Words by Chandra Shekhar

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AwinoMasitsa
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Review by AwinoMasitsa -- Mock My Words by Chandra Shekhar

Post by AwinoMasitsa »

[Following is a volunteer review of "Mock My Words" by Chandra Shekhar.]
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4 out of 4 stars
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Mock My Words by Chandra Shekhar is a novel about a Chinese man, David, who emigrated to the United States from China to live with his wife, Laura, an American who works at a PR firm in San Francisco. David's marriage has been progressively becoming cold, and his recent appointment as a lecturer of English literature does not seem to be helping. David is also having trouble in his classes; English not being his native language does not help matters. Laura is having trouble at work with a client to appease and her bosses are out for her neck. Melissa is a student at the same university where David works, who needs help from a professor and she just happened to choose David.

There are many reasons why I like Mock My Words. One of them is how relatable it is to people who learned English as a second language. David's struggle with speaking English, and how his students do not understand him will resonate with many. Chandra truly portrays the struggles of speaking a different language to the people of that language. David's problems with some of his fellow lecturers are also something that many people experience in their own lives; the uncertainties of being in a new place and trying to fit in. The relationship problems talked about are universal: David's downward spiraling relationships with his wife, his fellow professors, and his students; Laura's increasing work drama and Melissa's ethical dilemmas are all real experiences. Another thing that I like is the titles of the chapters. For example, chapter three is "Laura Gives a Lecture." The titles are straight to the point, in an almost childish way.

Chandra has written an exemplary novel. Mock My Words is full of humor, both in the style of writing and in the characters themselves. His way of playing with words and sentence structure is phenomenal. Character development is another good quality of this book. No-one is exactly how they seem, and they constantly surprise you. The different meanings of the title are also not lost on me. In his novel, Chandra talks about Rip van Winkle and having never read it, I now find myself interested in the story and I look forward to reading it. I found Chandra’s novel brilliantly written, with no spelling and grammatical errors and a good flow. I would, therefore, rate it at 4 out of 4.

Mock My Words talks about some real issues in the world and how best to protect ourselves from them. In my opinion, I do not think that it is specific to any individual group. All people would enjoy the story, the wordplay, and the different characters.

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Mock My Words
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Jlblawrence
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Post by Jlblawrence »

I just finished this book myself and was happily surprised how excellent it was. I do agree that I became interesting in the book clippings that David gave to his students! Perhaps when I have a little free time I'll look some of them up. Thank you for the review.
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