Author:
Vikram Seth
Genre:
Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Personal copy
From Goodreads:
Vikram Seth's novel is at its core a
love story, the tale of Lata - and her mother's attempts to find her
a suitable husband, through love or through exacting maternal
appraisal. Set in post-Independence India and involving the lives of
four large families and those who orbit them, it is also a vast
panoramic exploration of a whole continent at a crucial hour as a
sixth of the world's population faces its first great General
Election and the chance to map its own destiny. 'A SUITABLE BOY may
prove to be the most fecund as well as the most prodigious work of
the latter half of this century - perhaps even the book to restore
the serious reading public's faith in the contemporary novel ... You
should make time for it. It will keep you company for the rest of
your life' Daniel Johnson, The Times
What
I thought: So
this is our book group book for July. Given it is close to 1500 pages
long, and the type is small, we set it at the beginning of the year
so everyone had plenty of time. By the time I started to read it, I
worked out I needed to read around 50 – 60 pages a day! Thankfully
by the time I started it I was on holidays!
The
book is stunning. The lives of the characters interweave in ways that
are not always clear, but suddenly come into focus when it's needed. It
a cast of many, but I found it surprisingly easy to keep track of –
something I usually struggle with when they are so many characters.
Seth’s characters are so clearly their own people, with their own
personality traits and struggles in life. I must admit the family
trees at the beginning also helped keep track.
There
were many clever things in this book. Seth has also published poetry
and he uses rhyming couplets in this story to great effect. There is
the Chatterji's, a family whose younger members often rattle of
couplets to describe or make fun of a situation.
What
is Krishnan in the end?
Just
a mushroom, just a friend.
Always
eating dosa-iddly,
Drinking
beer and going piddly!
The
book has 19 chapters, with each chapter having a rhyming couplet
which describe events in that chapter. While it couldn't replace the
book, it was very useful for reminding me of what had happened
previously, especially after a break from the book.
While
it’s not difficult to read, it is dense. Interactions between
people are described in detail, with many nuances to keep in mind,
along with previous events and meetings. I found this meant that
after awhile, I had to put it down, even if it was only for a short
amount of time. While reading A Suitable Boy, I read three other
books, but found it easy to pick up the thread again when I went back
to it.
Set
at a time when India was a new democracy, A Suitable Boy provides a
rich insight into a country starting new, finding it’s feet and
struggling with issues. In truth, it has not only made me want to
read more on the history of India and the role of the British Empire
within it’s history, but to also visit the country.
If
I had one criticism of the book, its that it is not available on
Kindle! And lets face it, it’s size makes it a perfect candidate! A
times I had to put it down not through strain of the brain, but
strain of the wrist! This is a fact the author acknowledges in a poem
titled A
Word of Thanks
at the beginning, in which he thanks those who have helped him in
writing the book and finishes with this:
And,
gentle reader, you as well,
The
Fountainhead of all remittance.
Buy
me before good sense insists
You'll
strain your purse and sprain your wrists.
A
Suitable Boy is not a book you can approach lightly. You need to have
time and commitment to see it through, but I promise you, the effort
is well worth it.
