A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Published July 28, 2004
If you're a voracious reader who sniffs haughtily at thin little girlie man books when planning your summer reading, Suitable Boy might be just what you're looking for. Weighing in at almost 1500 pages, it's a big fat book that will keep even a speed reader occupied for a while.
Don't be so quick to dismiss it as chick-lit, either. Yes, it has a female protagonist, and yes, the main theme, as you may guess from the title, has to do with her life partner selection process, but make no mistake, this is an Epic, with a capital E. BBC Radio even did a full cast dramatization of it, which you can get on audiobook.
If Lata's matrimonial future is the river, there are plenty of tributaries, and, you are obliged to become acquainted with many other stories involving four very large families functioning and dysfunctioning against the backdrop of a changing society.
The ideal way to read this book is under a ceiling fan, propped up with several pillows, with a large plate of ladoos or Oreos or whatever floats your boat, unplug the phone, and let Seth take you all over India, and introduce you to what seems like a good chunk of the population; a book this long is going to have quite a few characters.
What will surprise you is how familiar all these people are (Rupa Mehra will be recognizable to everybody from anywhere within 3 sentences of her introduction) and how involved you will become with them.
How in the world such a mammoth book could end too soon is a mystery, but it does, and you will continue to wonder about Lata and her fellow characters, and imagining all sorts of sequelae, kind of like you do after seeing a Majid Majidi movie.
Go ahead and embrace that. This book is a gift from Vikram Seth, and your post-reading musings on it are the paper and ribbons it's wrapped in.
- A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
- Published: July 28, 2004
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- Section: Books
- Filed Under: Books: Literature and Fiction, Books: Original Fiction
- Writer: DuctapeFatwa
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I can't think of many more books I enjoy more fully than A Suitable Boy -- and you're right, it ends way too soon. I've been thinking for awhile now about reading it again, because it's been at least ten years and all that sticks with me are scenes: from the shoe factory -- it was a shoe factory, right? -- the fight over teaching Ulysses, the guy who visits the Indian prostitute, and that great scene of the mass drownings at the river. As you can tell, my references sound very spotty, but the book is truly a sumptuous feast.
LOL! The reason I picked it to write about here is because I am about to read it again. I kept thinking of Lata so thoughtfully studying the Kama Sutra drawings, and poor Haresh at the Dinner For the Family. It really is so many books packed into one, and the characters stay with you, probably because they always were with you even before you read the book!
I just finished it!
I found it in my sister's room and randomly started reading it, not a good idea mid-semester when assessments are due but I couldn't stop. Loved it. It's taken a week on/off but mostly on with lots of good food on my tight student budget. The ending did disappoint me though, well it was not so much disappointing as unsatisfying, I wanted more than realism.
I actually think the blurb is a turn-off, they should change it. When I looked at the back of the book I didn't think much of it but sheer procrastination drove me to read the first few pages and boy am I glad I did. Vikram Seth, what a writer. Not only were the personal lives of the characters compelling but I gained such an insight into India at that time and Indian cultures and social constructs in general.
Oh and I can't help but mention the Chatterjis, what a family, they were all crazy and mad and I would love to have found myself in the Chatterji Parliament at breakfast.
According to Wikipedia a movie is in the works, I can only hope it does the book justice.
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I enjoyed the first 1/4 of the book, and I wish I had taken it with me when I redeployed. Now I will have to by m own copy to read the rest of the story. It really draws you in and will probably take the better part of summer vacation to read, but you won't be bored.