Scan barcode
A review by jaredpence
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
When you read a book this long (1474 pages), you can start to get so comfortable with the writing and with the world and with the characters that it becomes a pleasure every time you pick it up. That's what happened to me. When I got near the end, I wanted to put off reading because I didn't want the story to end. The ending was absolutely shocking to me because I could not believe that she married Haresh when she was clearly in love with Kabir. The way she chose a safe, expected husband that pleased her mother went against everything literature has been telling a Western reader like me for centuries, so it shocked me that she made the choice she did. Perhaps that is part of the joy of reading of book from a culture different from mine: the characters make decisions I wouldn't make and don't even necessarily understand. In that sense, the book was highly educational for me.
In a book of nearly 1500 pages, there are course many characters and plots, but I found nearly all of them engaging, complex, and worth reading about. The central plot focuses on Lata Mehra, an English literature student in Brahmpur, Purva Pradesh and her mother's search for a suitable boy for Lata to marry. Over the course of the novel we encounter Lata's suitors and get to enjoy her reactions to these men, as well as the reactions of her mother and the rest of her family. Alongside Lata's plot towards marriage, we follow the lives of her family members, the families of both her married siblings, and several other families with more distant connections. There is a pretty hefty engagement with some of the politics of 1950s India, with the 1952 election playing a key role in several of the characters' lives. I cried at characters deaths, at beautiful scenes of family and love, and at some of the hilarious moments. I was pleasantly surprised that same-sex relationships were explicitly acknowledged and even described once, particularly because the novel is set in the 1950s (Wikipedia says the author is bi-sexual, so perhaps it is not surprising). The book deftly takes you through conflicts of family, religion, gender, misunderstandings, love, class and caste, shoe company politics, and violence, including several scenes of crowded violent events. I've heard that Seth compared his book to Dream of the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone by Cao Xuequin, but it reminded me most of George Eliot's Middlemarch in scope and style (it's even directly alluded to when one of the characters describes writing a very long novel against their better judgement because they still "carry the scars of Middlemarch.")
Despite (or maybe because) some of the plotlines did not unfold as I would have expected or even wanted, I found the book irresistible. It challenged my expectations and assumptions about literature, about love, and certainly about India. I would highly recommend the book to anyone, especially those unfamiliar with Indian culture. However, it is perhaps best recommended to those with a fierce commitment to finishing long books. I was lucky to be reading the book with others for a book club, and that accountability was helpful to push me to keep reading and finish the book.
In a book of nearly 1500 pages, there are course many characters and plots, but I found nearly all of them engaging, complex, and worth reading about. The central plot focuses on Lata Mehra, an English literature student in Brahmpur, Purva Pradesh and her mother's search for a suitable boy for Lata to marry. Over the course of the novel we encounter Lata's suitors and get to enjoy her reactions to these men, as well as the reactions of her mother and the rest of her family. Alongside Lata's plot towards marriage, we follow the lives of her family members, the families of both her married siblings, and several other families with more distant connections. There is a pretty hefty engagement with some of the politics of 1950s India, with the 1952 election playing a key role in several of the characters' lives. I cried at characters deaths, at beautiful scenes of family and love, and at some of the hilarious moments. I was pleasantly surprised that same-sex relationships were explicitly acknowledged and even described once, particularly because the novel is set in the 1950s (Wikipedia says the author is bi-sexual, so perhaps it is not surprising). The book deftly takes you through conflicts of family, religion, gender, misunderstandings, love, class and caste, shoe company politics, and violence, including several scenes of crowded violent events. I've heard that Seth compared his book to Dream of the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone by Cao Xuequin, but it reminded me most of George Eliot's Middlemarch in scope and style (it's even directly alluded to when one of the characters describes writing a very long novel against their better judgement because they still "carry the scars of Middlemarch.")
Despite (or maybe because) some of the plotlines did not unfold as I would have expected or even wanted, I found the book irresistible. It challenged my expectations and assumptions about literature, about love, and certainly about India. I would highly recommend the book to anyone, especially those unfamiliar with Indian culture. However, it is perhaps best recommended to those with a fierce commitment to finishing long books. I was lucky to be reading the book with others for a book club, and that accountability was helpful to push me to keep reading and finish the book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault