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A review by varunob
The House that BJ Built by Anuja Chauhan
3.0
In most of Anuja Chauhan’s (Baaz, Battle for Bittora) work, you’ll find an antidote to the darkness that engulfs us in reality and in fiction. The House That BJ Built, a spiritual successor to Those Pricey Thakur Girls, fits that billing perfectly.
Gone are the times of the alphabetically-named sisters. The 80s are over and done with. Mamta-ji has passed on, though Judge sahib remains. Gone too are Debjani and Dylan, replaced by Bonu, the daughter of Sister 2 Binodini, and Samar, the step-son of Sister 1 Anjini.
We are now in the 2010s and Judge sahib’s health is declining rapidly. Chachiji, his sister-in-law, remains a pain in the backside, and he is happiest when visited by four of his five daughters. The daughter of the dead daughter – named Bonita aka Bonu – lives with him, operating out of his house a successful garment business and looking after the old man.
Trouble arrives in the form of numerous things – Samar, a successful filmmaker lying low after a drunken rant goes viral being the first of those. Then, when talk of selling the titular house comes up, Bonu refuses to comply with her aunts’ demand that she too sell her hissa.
Just as crackling as Chauhan’s other novels, the book is easily one of the breeziest novels you’ll come across, filled with Chauhan’s trademark wit, the Hinglish dialogue that is hers in a way it is nobody else’s.
There is maturity in how she depicts the inter-personal relationships between her characters, especially that of Anjini and Samar, who are never shown to be quibbling in the way stepparents and stepchildren do. There is also chaos, and the actual plot is not really something that would hold for four hundred pages were it not for the incidents that happen around it. Yes, at one point I did fear the novel was turning into a Priyadarshan movie, but that moment passed swiftly.
The House That BJ Built is “balls”-out entertainment (people who’ve read the book will get that joke), and a great choice for a quick, relaxing read if you are looking for one.
More at Varun Oak-Bhakay's Writer's Block
Gone are the times of the alphabetically-named sisters. The 80s are over and done with. Mamta-ji has passed on, though Judge sahib remains. Gone too are Debjani and Dylan, replaced by Bonu, the daughter of Sister 2 Binodini, and Samar, the step-son of Sister 1 Anjini.
We are now in the 2010s and Judge sahib’s health is declining rapidly. Chachiji, his sister-in-law, remains a pain in the backside, and he is happiest when visited by four of his five daughters. The daughter of the dead daughter – named Bonita aka Bonu – lives with him, operating out of his house a successful garment business and looking after the old man.
Trouble arrives in the form of numerous things – Samar, a successful filmmaker lying low after a drunken rant goes viral being the first of those. Then, when talk of selling the titular house comes up, Bonu refuses to comply with her aunts’ demand that she too sell her hissa.
Just as crackling as Chauhan’s other novels, the book is easily one of the breeziest novels you’ll come across, filled with Chauhan’s trademark wit, the Hinglish dialogue that is hers in a way it is nobody else’s.
There is maturity in how she depicts the inter-personal relationships between her characters, especially that of Anjini and Samar, who are never shown to be quibbling in the way stepparents and stepchildren do. There is also chaos, and the actual plot is not really something that would hold for four hundred pages were it not for the incidents that happen around it. Yes, at one point I did fear the novel was turning into a Priyadarshan movie, but that moment passed swiftly.
The House That BJ Built is “balls”-out entertainment (people who’ve read the book will get that joke), and a great choice for a quick, relaxing read if you are looking for one.
More at Varun Oak-Bhakay's Writer's Block