Title: Red Card
Author: Kautuk Srivastava
Publication: Penguin
Blurb: “One team. One year. Everything to lose.“
When Rishabh Bala reaches the tenth standard, life takes a turn for the complicated. The bewildered boy feels the pressure of the looming board exams and finds himself hopelessly-and hormonally-in love. But what he yearns for most is victory on the field: at least one trophy with his beloved school football team. Set in the suburban Thane of 2006, here is a coming-of-age story that runs unique as it does familiar. Hopscotching from distracted classrooms and tired tutorials to triumphs and tragedies on muddy grounds, this is the journey of Rishabh and his friends from peak puberty to the cusp of manhood.
Review: It makes sense to read a book related to football that Sunil Chettri himself calls a ” must-read for everyone who has grown up playing football”. Honestly, I am not a huge fan of football. Sure, I appreciate a good game or stay up once every 4 years to watch the World Cup final- but there is as far as I would go. So obviously I was a bit apprehensive before beginning this book.
But reading it was sheer delight. Narrating the story of some odd teenagers, Red Card is a story of love, friendship, heartbreak and of course, football. Kautuk keeps his writing crisp and engaging. Further, the football lingo is easy for a novice to understand and exciting to read.
However, beneath all the layers the story is about every young adult who is fighting to pursue his passion in the face of board exams, raging hormones and what not. You get the drift, right? The story will tug at your heart- whether you are a teenager or an adult. For teenagers, it is a reflection of what they are going through and for adults, it is a reminder of days gone by.
So you can say it a light read that you can flip through in a couple of days’ time.
Rating: 4/5
Price: 180 INR for a paperback and 161.85 INR on Kindle.
Buy it on Amazon here.
-Mrinaal Datt
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