Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss

 Book 12 of my 2021 Reading Challenge

Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss

by Rajeev Balasubramanyam

Summary (via the book jacket)

published 2019

Professor Chandra is about to embark on the trip of a lifetime.

In the moments after the bicycle accident, Professor Chandra begins to reassess his life, his career, and his relationship with his three children. 

He's just missed out on the Nobel Prize (again). All this work. All this stress. It's killing him.

Professor Chandra needs to take a break, and reluctantly agrees to visit a Californian retreat, to follow his bliss.

And so he must try to crack the most complex problem of all: the secret to his own happiness.

First Impressions/Judging a Book by Its Cover

This is the first book I received from the monthly "book and chocolate" subscription box my family gave me for Christmas.  This book came with a bookmark, Willie's Cacao chocolate (Raspberries & Cream and Milk of the Stars), Lotus biscuits, and Galaxy hot chocolate.

They picked the "Hidden Gem" genre for me which is a great choice for my random reading.  I haven't heard of this book before but the cover is simple and bright.  I also really like Marian Keyes, the author that wrote a blurb on the front of the book.  Blurbs haven't been something I've paid much attention to in the past but it's something I'm starting to notice more as I've been taking time to actually look at the book before jumping right in.

My Opinion

3 stars

I didn't realize Esalen was a real place until reading the author's acknowledgements.

I wasn't very invested at first; I liked it when I was reading it but when I set it down there was no huge urgency pulling me to pick it up again.  Once everyone loosened up and started talking I liked it more and that's when I realized that since it was from Professor Chandra's POV and he started off detached and unemotional, I felt detached from the scenes being described.  Once he started letting people in, I also felt drawn in.

I like these kinds of books, where there are events that serve as jumping off points but the majority of the book is based on the small interactions between family and friends and how they react to each other.  I liked the arc of the book and thought it ended in an appropriate place.