Jobless Clueless Reckless

by Revathi Suresh

My name is Kavya. That I can live with.
My brother's name is Dhrittiman. That I'm still trying to come to terms with. And I get the feeling he has a tough time coping with it too. But we'll survive his name.
We'll survive the mortification of giving out an address that goes: 708, Kansas, Grand Canyon, Bangalore, India.
I'll survive the company of friends who think I'm a vampire at best and an axe murderer at worst.
I'll survive Kiran. I'll survive swimming sinking drowning in his blue eyes.
And Dirtyman will keep himself sane watching Resident Evil.

But what about the rest?
What about a mother who's out to cut us off from society in general?
And a father who'd much rather cut himself off from us?
What about the board exams that loom large while I paint kolam patterns on random walls?

Basically can I please scratch my life out and start over?

Genres: Young Adult

182 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an incredibly fast read, I grant you that, but there were too many characters and unfinished plotlines with very little character building. It was clearly a book meant to pleasantly pass your time and it did just that.

But, some of the dialogues were actually laugh-out-loud funny while some were downright cringey

These types of books aren't really my cup of tea, but they might just turn out to be my next guilty pleasure!

[Samidha; समिधा · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars!
This is by far the most funny contemporary I've come across.
It's a coming of age sort of a contemporary.
I laughed so hard my insides literally hurt. Such insults and such amazing undertone filled with sarcasm.
The most appreciable aspect is that you totally side with her decisions and feel as if an actual sixteen year old is writing this.
But obviously it's not. The author happens to be the mother of one of my most amazing friend.
I wish she'd write a part 2 though.
Reasons to ADORE this book:
• Kiss-ass and Kick ass humour.
• Amazing family morals.
• Such writing, much wow.
• Sarcasm.
• Morals that you could take away from the ending.
Recommended to everyone, who is looking for a light read ,which will give you a bucket full of laughter :)

[Priyamvada · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jobless Clueless Reckless was my first read in the genre of Indian young adult fiction and it ruined the genre for me. The book was neither interesting nor was it well written. However, my biggest problem with the book is that it spreads the wrong message. the book is extremely homophobic and that is not something that teenagers should read as it will stick to their impressionistic mind. The ending will also form false ideas about the way consent works in a relationship and its importance.

[Divya · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel lost and difficult/infuriated to follow Indian YA fiction.

[sandhya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this book lying on my to-read shelf for a long, long time, and somehow I never got to actually reading it. I know the author, and one day, she got in touch with me for a talk that she was going to have based on the book, and the concerns of parents as to the appropriateness of the book for kids. For in many ways, the 'jobless, clueless, reckless' bit of the whole thing is counterintuitive to what parents would want for their children.

So I picked it up from my shelf, and I just couldn't let go of it until I finished it in a marathon read. Let me just say this - if my daughter turns out anywhere like Kavya, the teen protagonist of the book, I'll be fine. Though she seems to be irreverent, irresponsible, insubordinate, impulsive, annoying, always at loggerheads with her younger brother, Dhrittiman (great choice of a name there - clearly quite a character), Kavya is actually an intelligent, smart, articulate, caring person, who is handling all that life throws at her the best she can. She shows an extraordinary strength of character through it all, and comes up top despite everything. An absentee mother who turns up to exercise her rights at the wrong moment, a father who has to be dragged in to help, a home address that doesn't really help in her image among peers, friends (friends???) who think she's weird, probably a blood-sucking vampire or murderer, or at least a thorough liar, and a possible boy-friend who expects favours in return for favours in the most unsavoury manner.

A great addition among YA books by Indian writers, more relevant to today's teens here than many of the YA books of the west.

[Sharanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book goes off into too many directions, leaves plot points hanging and introduces too many characters who don’t have much of a role. But around halfway through reading this, I fell for the snarky, lonely teenaged protagonist Kavya, and was quite sad to leave her life after finishing this book. Kavya’s family life, including her rapport with her brother, is the best part about this book. Towards the end, as the writer seems to become more confident, there is more humour and heart.

[Reshmi S · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be frank, I didn't understand what was the whole theme of the book. Perhaps it was just a story of a 15 year old

But I liked Kavya for she was very clear about what was right and wrong even though she stumbled on the path her friends forced her.
The story did a good job in showing how teenagers succumb to friend pressure.

[Toshita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kavya is comfortable with her name. Her brother's name? Not so much. She is mortified of her address: 708, Kansas, Grand Canyon, Banglore, India. She has friends that believe she is a vampire, (at best). Sure, Kavya has issues. But the ones mentioned earlier are the least of them. Her mother is trying to cut them off from society in general. Her father is trying to cut himself off from her, her brother, and mother. She has board exams, and she hasn't studied, at all. Can she just start her life over again?

I started reading Jobless Clueless Reckless and I was shocked. *Eyes pop out of skull, chin hits the floor* I was shocked because of the way it was written. The language, the texting type of writing. and the sentence structure do not in any way seem like something Revathi Suresh would write, (I say this because I do know her and you do not expect this kind of writing from her). After I recovered from that shock I found the book to be good. Which is to say average, not too mind-blowing. I think that the back cover or the blurb hyped up the entire story a bit too much, which made me expect certain things in the book, but my expectations were never realized. Another issue that I had was that the book was a bit hard to follow, in the beginning mostly, but there were certain times later on when I felt a bit lost.

You can find more reviews here: http://colloquyonbooks.blogspot.com/

[Swati Daftuar · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complete review of this book appears on my website, The Booklegger=)
Full Review Here

Honestly, the first chapter of this book is a bit misleading. Which is a good thing, because I didn't quite want the book to be about Kavya's missing friend. I liked that it was this capsule within the story and not the story itself. Intriguing stuff, of course, this whole thing with Manisha, but probably a separate book altogether.


Jobless, Clueless, Reckless is, like I've written already, bloody good fun. It's clever, with quick, sharp writing, and Kaavya is a fitting protagonist. This precocious (though I'm beginning to wonder if ALL Indian YA protagonists are going to turn out smarter than your average teen) voice suits her. She manages to stay slightly detached, slightly angsty, and pretty casual, without making it too superficial or too dramatic. She also has an interesting host of supporting characters, and due credit to Suresh for fleshing them out nicely too.


It's a bit like a diary, this book. It wouldn't have seemed out of place if it had used the epistolary style. It doesn't though, and so, Kaavya's voice becomes even more conversational. Which was completely all right with me...

[Singho · Rating 3 out of 5]

The review was originally posted on IndiaBookStore on 8th April, 2014

Excerpt from my review-

For me, the warning bells started to ring when I heard Jobless Clueless Reckless’s author is a first time writer out with her first book. “Why?” you may ask. Well, blame the last few books that I read. I wanted to be sure what I am getting into. Was it going to be another book about IIT, IIM, MBA etc etc, which seems to be norm these days. As a result, probably for the first time, I researched about the writer first before reading the book. But my apprehensions flew away after I read few of Revathi Suresh’s blogs . In one of her blogs Revathi says, “I figured I didn’t have the magic formula. I didn’t have an IT background. Nor had I ever been part of any other kind of set up that allowed me to lean heavily on my job or my life for inspiration. Depressing. Life sucked because it was good.” Her above lines reassured me that Jobless Clueless Reckless was going to be a different experience. It indeed was!

Read my full review of Jobless Clueless Reckless by Revathi Suresh on IndiaBookStore: http://www.indiabookstore.net/bookish...

[Shweta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book from the start to the finish in one go. My daughter was sick and I was feeding her with one hand and holding and reading this book with the other. It was that engrossing and what I liked most about it was that in the midst of all the humour and brilliant sarcasm, it had different ideas at work in the story, and the writer told the tale beautifully. Personally, I love young adult fiction, because it harks back to why we all began reading in the first place -- the first grasp for fantasy and escapism, and the feeling is magical.

This is young adult fiction with an authentic teenage voice. Kavya is someone we all will identify it. Moody, passionate, hilarious and dramatic, it is astonishing as to how Revathi Suresh has captured a teenage girl's voice so perfectly. The book had me in splits, the clever and funny use of language had me hooked and longing for more, and it brought back so many memories, of high school crushes, board exams and the feeling of finding your identity and wanting to just run away from it all.

[Ed Goodbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reshma Krishnan reviews the book on Goodbooks:"Indian Young Adult fiction is reflective of its readership – hormonal, inconsistent and a while away from coming of age. The key problem authors face is catering to a generation brought up, simultaneously, on two different cultures: One that watches Pretty Little Liars and the Vampire Diaries but finds it hard to string a proper sentence. Revathi Suresh captures this well in her first novel, Jobless Clueless Reckless. The book tells the story of Kavya, a teenage girl living a bizarre fishbowl existence in a gargantuan apartment complex in Bangalore with her eccentric single mother, a dopey yet lovable younger brother, and the ghost of a girl who disappeared when she was very young." Click here to read the full review: http://goodbooks.in/node/7201

[Shuba Desikan · Rating 4 out of 5]

JCR was a gripping read - took me two days of continuous reading. For someone who has led a fairly sheltered childhood, I was so amazed at the life style - the amount of freedom and exposure enjoyed by the characters. Revathi's language and effortless style of story telling keeps you casually engaged while the plot itself actually tends to push you to the edge of your seat. While the characters tread their metaphorical precipices, the reader wonders and wants to change this or that factor to make it safer for the "kids" - I did. The author's chosen consciously to focus on a certain class of people, so while the "world" of the novel is very convincing it is not a complete view - It need not be, and it is helpful even to shine the spotlight on the part of the world you wish to focus on. All in all a thought-provoking book.

[Shruthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book. Though the narrator is a 15-year-old and I couldn't relate to many aspects of her life, the problems of a teenager are timeless - only the situations change over generations. And the author has brought out these problems and insecurities very well.

But what really struck me was the voice of the narrator. As I read the story, I could actually see the faces and hear the voices of the tweens in our apartment complex. The author has got the nuances of speech, the attitudes of the young adults - perfectly right. And the most important thing of all - she has maintained it throughout the book - the voice hasn't faltered at any place. Now that doesn't come easily!

This will be a good gift for anybody - boy or girl - in their teens.

[Deeptha Vivekanand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have thoroughly enjoyed every page. It brought back to my mind, issues that I grappled with as a teenager and struck many a familiar chord every now and then. Revathi’s lucid style makes for easy reading as she tackles serious problems in a light-hearted, funny manner, without belittling them. The hilarious one liners, and the creative name-calling might make you fall you off your chair but by the time you finish the book, you realize the depth of the layers in the book.

I loved it for the fact that it's not trying to solve teenage problems but makes you more sensitive to the issues teens go through and highlights the importance of establishing open and non-judgmental communication channels in our relationships.

While it is a YA book, it really is for everyone.

[Harini Gopalswami Srinivasan · Rating 3 out of 5]

With both my children grown up, I don't really have first hand knowledge of how modern, urban Indian teenagers think, talk or behave. It saddens me to think that this book is an accurate representation of the lives that many of them lead. So, although the book probably achieves what it set out to do, I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to. But I do admire Kavya's capacity to endure all that she has to endure with courage and humour. I also admire Revathi Suresh for pulling off the tough feat of creating such an edgy-yet-sympathetic, believable character.

[Moushumi Ghosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rich book about a 16 year old and how she copes with changes that pummel her from all sides. Her mother who is slowly going into catatonic shock socially; there is her father who has upped and left Kavya and her little brother, Drittiman. There are her friends of all hues, colours and shades. There is a blue-eyed boy who she pines for. Somewhere in the middle of this, all she wants to be is a normal 16 year old girl. Wonderfully written. I totally get the insider's perspective.

[Anusha Phukan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the way it's written.
Down to earth.
I can so relate to Kavya.
She is cynical but she's got reason to be.
Love the way the story ended.
Patti could have had a bigger role; considering that she kind of changed their lives. She seemed more like a catalyst.
Love Dhritti. He's brilliant.
A very refreshing read.

[Anushruti Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

With this book, you travel back to the time when you were clueless and reckless, and I am sure nothing much has altered. The author has skilfully shown the insecurities faced by teenagers of the contemporary age. The best part about reading a young adult novel is that you re-live the times when you took your first flight to fantasy and escapism. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is good for the young adults. Easy and quick read.

[Shruti Buddhavarapu · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a surprisingly lovely and fast read. Gulped it down in a swig.

[Niveditha N · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cutest book i have read so far.... remembering the youngest confusions we ever dwelled in.

[Ankita Gour · Rating 3 out of 5]

funny and nice read :)