Oh Yes! All Men are Dogs - Book Review

Oh Yes! All Men are Dogs

By Nikhil Mahajan

Review By Ila Garg

Oh Yes! All men are Dogs, a novel I was really looking forward to for a lot of reasons. For starters, the author of this book, Nikhil Mahajan is a good friend. The title is alluring and the cover of the novel is quite intriguing too.

It’s a dreamy tale of Sid and the three other characters, Piyali, Akash, and Jenny. The weird definition of HANDSOME made me laugh; the character descriptions will leave you elated too. I loved all the four characters to the core.

The phrases like ‘Love guru says: We never care about what’s on our side of the table; it’s always about what’s on the other side.’ And ‘Wise men say: Fuck your past…Just don’t let it fuck you…’ make the story interesting.

Every chapter leaves you amazed. In chapter 3, the way Sid uses three tricks to get a kiss from Piyali by striking off all the other competitors actually stuns you; as a guy you laugh in agreement but as a girl you feel ‘OMG! These guys can cross all limits!’ Haha! In that sense, Nikhil’s book appeals to both the genders equally.

The LHS=RHS theory is another feature of the book that captures the attention of the readers. From the insides of the book, ‘First LHS means “let’s have sex”, and RHS is “right to have sex”. So what make them equal here is “A boyfriend has all the right to fuck his girlfriend as his fundamental right so let’s have sex here means he owe to have sex, with all laws of love and sex.”

The childish banters, Sid and Piyali, depict a roller coaster of love, lust, sex, etc. The cat mouse fight between them makes the readers wonder that how can they still be together but then sometimes fights are necessary to keep the relation alive. The way they act like ‘friends with benefit’ and stay together for the carnal pleasures is also awe-striking. Their mind games, revenges that they plan, their break up, their patch up, their disagreements, their agreements, the elements which are keeping them together, and the outburst of their emotions, are all wonderfully penned down by Nikhil.

The friendship part is a different description too. The friendship shared between all four of them gets weird at times in the book but it only adds to the overall flavour. It also keeps the readers glued to the book till the end.

The narrative is good and well - paced. Language used is easy to comprehend so readers wouldn’t find it abrupt or difficult to read. 1-2 errors are there but then they can be easily ignored though I really feel that the editor should have done the work properly before the book is out.

There are various bold dialogues like, “Don’t tell your father how to fuck!” and various other bold and elicit descriptions in the story.  Though the ending is very unpredictable in the light of the flow of the story. Its surprises you and shocks you but still you smile.

The adulterated parts can be read without much hype or disgust as they were the requirement of the story and add to the flow of the narrative. Love always starts with fights as the back cover indicates, ‘She was definitely not what he was looking for and neither was he; but destiny has its own sense of humour. The question was never “will they ever give their hearts to each other” but whether they will be able to “be” together.’

The 130 page book comprises of 12 chapters. All of them are well knit and sequenced. One of the major things that kept me turning pages till I reached the end is a question, ‘What will happen at the end? Will Sid and Piyali ever get along?’ To find out these answers, you will have to read this book and get on the mesmerising ride of Oh Yes! All Men are Dogs. 

Happy Reading everyone! And good work Nikhil as always. Just one quick suggestion to the author: Hire a good editor next time. :D

Ratings: 3.7/5