... slices into the soul of contemporary Indian society ... This is a cinematic caper – HBO already holds film rights – and though Raina is highlighting expired dreams and inequality, he is always perceptive and playful. No one is beyond scrutiny, from the Americans to the Chinese. Social commentary meets standup comedy, as with a biting wit ...Raina stretches stereotype and cliche into incisive satire.
... it is his depiction of bustling, hustling Delhi and its grafting populace that makes this tightly written, fast-paced, often sharply savage societal satire such a rollicking read. [Raina] conjures up a memorable world that is ghee-greased, polluted, mired in dust and corruption, but also thrusting. At times his punchy sentences overreach and the rollercoaster action flags towards the end. Still, it’s an impressively entertaining but also insightful debut. The future probably belongs to the Rudis but the reader will root for Ramesh.
Raina’s debut novel lives up to its billing as a fun caper and social satire thanks to strong characterization, a fast-paced plot, and an eye for the ridiculous. His delicious skewering of the social mores of Delhi’s über-rich and clear-eyed rendering of India’s social hierarchy propel sheer entertainment into striking elucidation in the mode of Aravind Adiga ... There is drama in the dizzying turns of events, which Raina makes good use of with his unerring ability to neatly capture whole segments of Indian society and their corresponding absurdities, while his keen depictions of rich, ambitious, and unscrupulous parents, the frenzied media, and systemic inequities are universally recognizable.
You can absolutely imagine How to Kidnap the Rich blazing across the screen. It roars through New and Old Delhi, sending up new money and old money, and taking an acerbic yet affectionately head-tilted, eyebrow-raised look at the corruption, hypocrisy and dynamism of modern India ... I only hope an adaptation manages to find a way to convey Raina’s distinctive tone as well as his blockbuster plot, with its sometimes one-dimensional heroes and villains. He just about gets away with putting bad movie dialogue in his baddies’ mouths – but the love interest, perfect TV producer Priya, is unforgivably flat. Fortunately, Ramesh is a bracingly cynical and funny narrator: endlessly snarking about insincerity and greed, with a side helping of self-flagellation for being no better than he ought to be – just a kid from a chai stall, plucked from poverty and educated by a saintly white nun, who’s somehow ended up a serial kidnapper ... no opportunity to throw in a dig at India’s government, its super-rich, or its geopolitical rivals is missed, to the extent that his wince-inducing similes come to feel like something of a laboured tic ... Still, How to Kidnap the Rich takes its readers on such a hurtling ride, it’s hard not to get carried along.
... hilarious yet poignant ... The author’s voice is fresh, and so is his breezy narrative of the twin evils of greed and ambition. When the stakes are high, Raina’s characters will go to the limits, and they’ll take us along for the ride ... This fresh comic thriller is entertaining from start to finish. Raina’s bright voice shines through thanks to his narrator’s unique viewpoint and perceptive observations. Ramesh criticizes India thoroughly for all the country’s corruption, but he is also quick to poke fun at the West for setting bad examples. No one is safe in this novel—not even the narrator! ... a vibrant, unusual story.
Debut author Raina’s gritty description of Ramesh’s downward spiral and the story’s over-the-top action give this novel a cinematic feel. Ramesh has a singular voice, and readers will come to understand how and why he has made the decisions he has.
Irony and satire collide in Raina’s sparkling debut ... Raina ably shows both the seedy and privileged parts of Indian society through Ramesh’s biting wit...Readers will enjoy the ride.
