Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

6 reviews

norimee's review against another edition

2 stars, because it is well written and shows a plethora of well rounded characters and a view into an important time in  Indian History. 

BUT: what really made my blood boil and wanted me to give it even negative stars is how the author handled telling the story ark of Saeeda Bai and Tasneem. The way he just didn't give any importance to the violence against women in his story. 

When Maan attacked first Saeeda Bai and then Firoz, him strangling her nearly to death and her persistent injury and the effects on her voice (her livelihood) is only mentioned in passing. There is no remorse or guilt described in Maan, while the guilt and worry for Firoz nearly eats him up and is described in detail. Not even at their next meeting, the only focus is on how he might have fallen out of love with her and no word about what he had done to her and what she had actually done for him in pretending it never happened and lying for his sake to the police. But even worse was how Seth wrote about the issue with Tasneem. The big scandal being that she was the Nawab Sahib's illegitimate daughter and Feroz's half sister while the fact that Feroz's father actually FUCKING RAPED 15 YEAR OLD SAEEDA BAI AND GOT HER PREGNANT is only mentioned in passing. If there wouldn’t be a child, this would literally not have been an issue. No reason to feel bad about or for any of the characters to acknowledge it, after they learned about it. The widely respected Nawab Sahib drunkenly raped a 15 year old child and 15 years later Maan Kapoor nearly strangled her to death out of jealousy.

 
These facts shouldn't be treated so nonchalantly as if that's a normal part of life and the way you just treat women.  Normalising violence against women is not okay today and it wasn’t okay in 1993 when this book was published. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Suicide, Rape, Misogyny, and Death of parent

natoasty's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Abortion

liaandersson's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Islamophobia, Violence, Classism, Grief, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Dementia, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Medical content, Mental illness, Gore, and Hate crime

Minor: Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug use, Abortion, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Pedophilia

anushareflects's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide

pipbiz's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Racism

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Minor: Rape and Suicide

sherbertwells's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Four families in the fictional Indian city of Brahmpur juggle familial expectations, post-partition politics, and their own desires in the search for suitable matches. After spending 1350 pages with Seth’s sparkling, multifaceted characters, I cannot help but long for a few more pages.

“Every man’s love life is interesting. If he doesn’t have one that’s interesting. If he has one, that’s interesting. And if he has two, that’s twice as interesting” (516)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Medical content, Violence, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Suicide, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Colonisation