Former US president Barack Obama's new book 'A Promised Land' lands a sharp left hook on Rahul Gandhi's "nervous, uninformed quality" while directing warm, not-so-political praise at Rahul's mother Sonia Gandhi, according to a book review Thursday in the New York Times.

The first rush of book excerpts swirling on the internet point to a brutal takedown of Rahul Gandhi. "Rahul Gandhi has a nervous, uninformed quality about him, as if he were a student who'd done the coursework and was eager to impress the teacher but deep down lacked either the aptitude or the passion to master the subject," notes the review.