Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss

Three things happen in Chandra's life at the beginning of the book. He falls off his bike,
has a heart attack and has missed the coveted Nobel prize yet again. Not a lot else could go wrong one would think. He has spent so much time working hard, his wife left him and not all of his three grown up children are speaking to him. He revaluates his life and wonders if he could take a break away from students and his now lonely life. He was advised to take a break and to find his Bliss.
He eventually finds happiness and peace but he has a long road ahead of him before he attains it. He attends a retreat and meditates to find himself. His children realise how hard he is trying to be an understanding father, and eventually it pays off and the children start to come around to look on him with more understanding.
The book was interesting and I enjoyed reading it. I was a little disappointed as I thought it was going to have more humour. Several of the short review's said it was hilarious and very funny. I didn't laugh once.
I give this book 7/10

The blurb of this book told us that it was ‘searingly funny’ , witty, hilarious etc. I found it none of these things. In fact not comic in any way, as far as I was concerned. However, I did enjoy the book.
I found it easy to read with a gentle story. In my opinion it was not funny but rather sad in places, as Chandra tried to change his life, and his family, who did not want to be changed.
The characters and family members were not particularly likeable, which seems to be the trend in books lately, however there was always the hope that they might conform to the life Chandra wanted to live. The book was slow to read in places, possibly because I did not find it humorous at all. I have read a few reviews and I think it was just me that found no humour. I would give it a score of 7

I found this book so easy to read that I finished it quite a long time ago
I enjoyed it and found the characters believable
The contrast between the logical professor and the world of feelings he was forced into was well written and the inter- generational differences rang true A pretty good book but not very memorable
That may be my declining faculties! 7/10

I tried. Really, I did. I just found the book so bland. Actually, I found the professor so bland. I didn’t like the characters- his daughter, his ex wife and her husband, the other students. I gave up, unfortunately. So, I best not give it a score as I didn’t read it all.

I found this easy to read and quite enjoyed it. It was funny but had a serious side to it as well. I liked Chandra and felt for him with his relationships with his children. I give it 6

Professor Chandra's Dr tells him that the stressful life he is leading is slowly killing him, he advises him to stop working and go and find his bliss. This takes us on his very bumpy journey to achieve it.
His reflections on his life and his attempts to regain his families love and favour are uplifting and often funny.He does get there in the end having learnt that a life loving and nurturing his family would have been so much more fulfilling than his work and his many fruitless attempts to win the elusive Nobel Prize. I did liked the book and give it a 7.

From the blurb, I thought this would be a light, easy read. However, I found that the text covered some profound aspects of disappointment and disillusion e.g. disappointment in his career, disappointment at the breakdown of his marriage and disappointment as to the relationship with his children. This was not a light- hearted read. Nevertheless the Professor's droll and dry wit made me laugh at times. All in all I enjoyed the Professor's journey of self discovery.I give it a 6.

I'm going to be honest I decided I didn't like the book based on the title and the write up of it so I didn't bother downloading it. So I'm giving this book a miss.

Sorry but I haven't read enough of the book to give a review. Started to read it and got into it quite easily and found bits quite funny and thought I would enjoy it but soon got bored with it. The characters were quite complex and I found that I couldn't relate to them

I really enjoyed this book. Although the plot was a simple one about a small family, the writing was really good, with plenty of clever observations. It allowed you to like, dislike and empathise with all of the characters as they dealt with the ups and downs of their family life. I think that the Professor and his family all evolved over the course of the book to become better, happier versions of themselves, and I was keen to find out what happened to them all. 8/10

I could not get engaged with this book at all and found myself skim reading a lot of it. Very bland just not my kind of book and certainly did not live up to the hype on the cover. Just a 3 out of 10 from me.

Average score approximately 6.5 out of 10.

I really enjoyed this book, Professor Chandra works at the University of Cambridge, nearly 70, with a broken family. He starts the book believing that winning the Noble prize will fix everything. After a cycling accident and heart attack, he finds ways of reaching out to his family.

Although you may think that it’s a wushu washy cuddly type story line, it does deal with some serious issues such as drug abuse, marital breakdown, a long list daughter and a son that believes that NLP is the solution to all life’s issues.

As I said, I think it’s a great book, with some laugh out loud moments at the retreat, however, it is a little slow in places. In particular, it took me an age to finish it since the loose ends (there were many) took a while to conclude.

Would read another by this author though.

Gifted this by #BookSwapDurham in return for an honest review.

I really couldn't get into this book, so I didn't finish it. It was a bit dry. I wouldn't recommend this book to others.

Absolutely loved this book - the ins and outs of family, love and success - but most of all, how he fearlessly manifested his dreams! Such a good comparison between generations, but not generalization. Brilliant! I would recommend this book to others.

Didn't get the American humour. Didn't understand dysfunctional family relationships. Didn't enjoy it. I would not recommend this book to others.

There are so many issues contained in this entertaining novel. Professor Chandra has reached a crisis point in his life and on his doctor's advice travels to America to "seek his Bliss". We meet his two daughters, his son, Chandra's ex wife and her new husband Steve. All of these characters are very well rounded and none of them are without faults. Professor Chandra's exploits in the USA are described with humour and compassion.

Professor Chandra is an economist at the top of his career and has narrowly missed out on receiving a Nobel Prize for his work on two occasions. His work has always been his main priority, taking precedence over family life and everything else. But it is a stressful modus operandi and, although it is the way he has always lived his life, unbeknown to him it is not necessarily giving him true happiness. But all that is about to change. When he has a biking accident, his Doctor tells him in no uncertain terms that he needs to take a break and “follow his bliss”. This is the start of a life-changing journey, both geographical and personal.

This really is a very good book, whose title belies its depth. “Following one’s bliss” was not a phrase I had come across before but apparently it means taking a natural direction in life which maximises joy, fulfillment and purpose. And this is what Professor Chandra does. Whilst it is amusing and does have laugh-out-loud moments it is certainly not trite. In essence it is a journey of self-discovery with lots of introspection as well as wise musings on such complex issues as family dynamics, parenting and teenage angst.

I cannot think of a bad word to say about this book. It was certainly not an easy read, but it was a very interesting one indeed and it far exceeded my expectations, which were not that high.

I will definitely be looking out for more books by this author and would like to thank him for this wonderful contribution. I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys books that deliver wisdom and depth in a humorous and very readable style.

This is a charming read about a man trying to find happiness. The writing is easy to read, although there tends to be a lot of dialogue. The story is humourous and the main character, Professor Chandra, is an endearing, intelligent, and somewhat dismissive individual.

I enjoyed reading the trials and tribulations of the Professor but found his children somewhat overindulged and difficult people. His ex-wife’s husband is a ‘new age kind of guy’, and gets the Professor to try some self-improvement, despite much resistance.

The story is a light novel, nothing too deep to read into the story, except that the Professor tries to find enlightenment and eventually reaches some peace in his life. Perhaps that is the message for all of us.

There's much more to this novel than I thought there would be from the title and the cover. It has a charming lead character, the professor himself, and his awkward, struggling family. The book tackles a number of issues including family relationships, ambition, self-fulfillment and the pursuit of happiness in a very palatable, easy to read way and with a delightful sense of humour. It somehow manages to convey some very serious messages in a very light-hearted way and manages to poke fun and be serious simultaneously. Great read for a book group.