Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss: A Novel
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Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.1 out of 5 stars 573
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Follow the eccentric, cantankerous, utterly charming Professor Chandra as he tries to answer the biggest question of all: What makes us happy?

“Searingly funny, uplifting, and wonderful.... Professor Chandra is as unbending a curmudgeon as one could wish to find scowling from the pages of a novel.” (Helen Simonson, New York Times best-selling author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and The Summer Before the War)

Professor Chandra is an internationally renowned economist, divorced father of three (quite frankly baffling) children, recent victim of a bicycle hit-and-run - but so much more than the sum of his parts.

In the moments after the accident, Professor Chandra doesn’t see his life flash before his eyes but his life’s work. He’s just narrowly missed the Nobel Prize (again), and even though he knows he should get straight back to his pie charts, his doctor has other ideas.

All this work. All this success. All this stress. It’s killing him. He needs to take a break, start enjoying himself. In short, says his doctor, he should follow his bliss. Professor Chandra doesn’t know it yet, but he’s about to embark on the journey of a lifetime.

Praise for Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss

“Professor Chandra is a wonderful character - stodgy, flawed, contentious, contemptuous - yet vulnerable, insecure, lonely, repentant, and ridiculous enough to win our sympathy.... In the end, Balasubramanyam’s novel is a sort of Christmas Carol for a new age.” (NPR)

“Impressively, Balasubramanyam...balances satire and self-enlightenment [in] a surprisingly soulful family tale that echoes Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections in its witty exploration of three children trying to free themselves from the influence of their parents.” (The Guardian)

“Funny from start to finish.... Spending time with Professor Chandra feels like you’ve been in therapy, in a good way.” (Irish Times)

“Funny, affecting...Chandra is a delightful creation: peevish, intolerant, intellectually exacting, unwittingly eccentric, nerdy, needy yet lovable. The book, like its picaresque hero, is a one-off.” (The Sunday Times)

Previous page
  1. Listening Length
    10 hours and 2 minutes
  2. Author
    Rajeev Balasubramanyam
  3. Narrator
    Ramon Tikaram
  4. Audible release date
    March 26, 2019
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B07ND4SRLX
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 10 hours and 2 minutes
Author Rajeev Balasubramanyam
Narrator Ramon Tikaram
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date March 26, 2019
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07ND4SRLX
Best Sellers Rank #86,003 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#876 in Humorous Fiction & Satire
#1,723 in Family Life Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#2,696 in Humorous Fiction

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
573 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

A reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Pure enjoyment
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2019
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I read this on my Kindle, first downloading a sample and then buying it after reading the first few pages. I came across the author after reading an interview with him in the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's best known English-language newspaper, in which he recounted his generally negative view of his time in Hong Kong and of what it is like to be here. Having spent much of my adult life in Hong Kong, I have had a very different (much more positive) experience of the place to the author and I was expecting this to affect my enjoyment of the book itself. So I really began reading it as a way of pushing myself to try something that would challenge my views.

What I found was completely different, though. It certainly left a deep imprint, in the way that getting to know the life and closest thoughts of anyone would do (Professor Chandra), but the experience was pure enjoyment.

I was totally immersed in the story, and found the process by which Chandra begins to understand himself quite uplifting. Normally, by the time I'm two thirds of the way through a book, I'm quite keen to get to the end and move on to the next one, but with this, I could have just carried on reading. Not that it was rushed - it was just that the experience itself was so pleasant. A mix of totally real characterisation, decent people, flawed people, troubled people, amusing people, and their interactions moving through a plot in a way that never once made me impatient to get to the end.

I would totally recommend this and will be reading more by this author.
4 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer Sharon Tripp
4.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2019
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The book was okay. Given the title, I was expecting Chandra to be more quirky in that funny way so many movies and books about Indians are (Cutting for Stone for one). I have known quite a number of Indians and while they are not all alike, of course, they have all been more interesting than the professor. My family hosted a man from Calcutta one summer when I was a teen and he brought all his friends from the program to our home frequently. All of them were interesting, with great acerbic wit and full of funny stories. Even Dr. Bimul Chandra, although quiet, had great charm and, of course, had swum The English channel. So Chandrasekhar just seemed flat; of course, there surely must be boring Indians, I just don't want to read about them.
The story was also kind of depressing. Yes, real life families are often similarly troubled, which is why the story was a little too mundane. Readable and some of the characters were likable enough, but I didn't love it.
4 people found this helpful
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Shazar
3.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining read
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2019
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I was not bored by this book, but the depth was lacking I felt - it certainly entertained me but I seek something a little more than entertainment so if you are looking for a relatively light read that keeps you occupied than I recommend it.
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G. Messersmith
5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, Funny, and Enjoyable
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2019
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It begins with an unforgettable first line, "It should have been the greatest day of his life." Instead we find Professor Chandra upset over the fact that once again he had not received the Nobel Prize. This is not the only disappointment in his life; however, as his wife as left him for a hippie American and his oldest daughter refuses to speak to him. He does what any self-respecting man would do and goes to his doctor for some advice on his life. The doctor tells him to "follow his bliss." Of course, Professor Chandra has no idea what this means or how to go about doing it.

He is a well known and respected professor of economics at Cambridge. But he decides to go on sabbatical and heads to California. Professor Chandra is a well rounded, irascible, often times funny man who learns a lot of things on his journey to find his bliss. He's also insecure, vulnerable, and lovable even to his oldest daughter. There is everything to love about this novel and really nothing to dislike.
4 people found this helpful
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Anon
4.0 out of 5 stars Good story
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2019
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Interesting story line in accepting an opportunity to do something totally out of character, then allowing a change in how we view ourselves, brought about by unfolding events. I gave it 4 stars for being well written, no typos, good grammar and word choices; I rarely give 5 stars. I recommend this to anyone who feels that it's too late to change the way they look at themselves and others.
One person found this helpful
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ALM79
5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Wonderful
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2020
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I was not expecting to love this book the way that I did. It was similar to The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper but I really enjoyed this book more; it was smarter than Arthur Pepper. This story was largely about self discovery and the often choppy waters one must go through on the ongoing journey. The author addresses some tough topics, the struggles (and joys) of a blended family, and the difficult task of learning about ones own true self. Chandra, whom I adored, was often a petulant child....and I guess all adults can be that way. Easily the best book I have read in awhile.
3 people found this helpful
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Irene
4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, sad and happy - a thoughtful read
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2019
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An accident prompts Professor Chandra, a top economist armoured with sharpness, to examine his life, and ask himself what he wants from life. It turns out not to be what he’s always assumed he wanted, and he starts a journey to become more open, to himself and his family, in order to find what he really wants.
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Elaine G. Clements
3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2019
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This was a sometimes touching, sometimes laugh-out-loud book in the "grumpy old man" genre, which includes "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" and "A Man Called Ove", both of which I liked better than this book. I have to admit that the characters in this book are well developed and multi-faceted but a little too predictable. I almost abandoned this book half-way through when it seemed to bog down in a discussion of global economic policy and California guru-worship. I really mostly didn't much care about the fate of any of these characters; they simply didn't arouse any sympathy on my part--I found them rather tiresome.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Sylva Welch
5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book~!!!!
Reviewed in Germany on January 17, 2021
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:-)
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Jodi Biglow
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly enjoyed it
Reviewed in Canada on August 19, 2019
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Wonderful, relaxed read. I enjoyed every minute of it. Great characters and I loved following the main character’s insights. Bliss
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sparky
5.0 out of 5 stars Rare warmth in satire
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2019
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I love this book, and was surprised by how it built from initially sharp, funny character sketches to something warm and profound, the drip-feed of information about Chandra and his extended family pulling me deeper into and through the story, never losing the sharp, comic notes underneath. I liked how initial caricatures on the margins are slowly filled in, made more complex, sometimes by just a couple of deft sentences (his brother, his ex-wife’s partner). A sad, funny and hopeful book, one I’ll return to. Strong reading for cold days.
5 people found this helpful
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Magda
4.0 out of 5 stars Not too bad
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2019
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This is not too bad, but in the usual run of modern novels - a person seeking 'himself' - the theme of so many novels nowadays. It's a sign of the times, I suppose;, this self-absorbtion; however, it's a mystery to me why so many editors, enablers, helpers are needed these days to produce a book - no wonder it's all been turned into an industry now. That is the case with this book - it has the feeling of one turned out according to an editor's formula; very little originality is to be found in it; The characters are not really drawn at all, I couldn't tell you what they look like; good of its sort, but not memorable. I gave it four stars, though, because I gather it's the author's first book, and perhaps he might 'find' himself eventually.
3 people found this helpful
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Kevin Viflanzoff
3.0 out of 5 stars meh
Reviewed in Canada on January 14, 2021
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There are much better books on happiness and bliss than this one.
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