Picture Credits: Wordpress
‘It's not the gods
But our own hearts
We need to fear.
The evil starts
Against all odds
Not there but here.’
Introduction
Book’s Name - A Suitable Boy
Author’s Name - Vikram Seth
Genre - Romance fiction
Language - English
Synopsis - Spoiler Alert!
In 1951, a 19-year-old girl, Lata Mehra attended the wedding of her elder sister, Savita, with her university lecturer, Pran Kapoor. Lata’s mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, says that it is now also the time for Lata to get married as well, which Lata completely dismisses as she intends to concentrate on her studies further in English literature. Nevertheless Mrs. Rupa Mehra begins to put out whiskers to her friends and family, for finding a suitable boy for Lata.
In the meantime, Lata is approached several times by a boy of her own age and after a few meetings she also falls in love with him. But a thorn stuck when she found out that his name is Kabir ‘Durrani’, and he is a Muslim and her Hindu family would have never allowed to marry a Muslim boy.
When her early morning meetings with him get discovered, she asks him to run away with her, but he judiciously refuses. Ultimately, Lata agrees to go with her mother to Calcutta to live with her arrogant older brother Arun, who is already married.
As Lata was leaving from Calcutta, she was spotted by Haresh Khanna, who is an ambitious shoe manufacturer and is involved in business with Kedarnath Tandon, the husband of Pran’s older sister, Veena. He instantly becomes intrigued by her beauty and sadness as well. Now what turn did that single glimpse took, is a whole new exciting story to be read.
About the Author
Picture Credits: Hindustan Times
Vikram Seth was born 20 June 1952. He is an Indian novelist and a poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has received several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crossword Book Award. Seth's collections of poetry such as ‘Mappings’ and ‘Beastly Tales’ are a set of notable contributions to the canon of Indian English language poetry.
Seth has published eight books of poetry and three novels. The publication of ‘A Suitable Boy’, which is a 1349-page novel, projected Seth into the public limelight. It was adapted into a BBC television drama miniseries in 2020. A sequel to A Suitable Boy, ‘A Suitable Girl’, was also announced in 2009.
He was also commissioned by the English National Opera for writing a libretto based on the Greek legend of Arion and the Dolphin. The opera was performed for the first time in the month of June in 1994.
About the Book
‘A Suitable Boy’ is a novel by Vikram Seth, which was published in 1993. With 1349 pages (1488 pages in paperback), the English language book has been one of the longest novels which was published in a single volume.
The book is set in a new post-independence, post-partition India. The novel covers four families during 18 months, and centers on Mrs. Rupa Mehra's prime efforts at arranging the marriage of her younger daughter, Lata, to a ‘suitable boy’, justifying the title as well.
Lata is a 19-year-old university student who straightaway refuses to be influenced by her browbeating mother or doctrinaire brother, Arun. Her story revolves around the choice that she is forcefully asked to make among her suitors Kabir, Amit and Haresh.
The narration begins in the fictional town of Brahmpur, located along the Ganges between Banaras and Patna. Brahmpur, along with Calcutta, Delhi, Lucknow and other Indian cities, forms a colorful backdrop for the emerging stories altogether.
Along with the marriage issues of Lata, the novel alternately also offers satirical and earnest examinations of national political issues during the period which was leading up to the first post-Independence national election of 1952, involving the Hindu–Muslim strife, the status of lower caste peoples, land reforms, eclipse of the feudal princes and landlords, academic affairs, abolition bill of the Zamindari system, family relations and a range of further prominent issues of importance to the characters.
The novel is divided into 19 parts, with each part focusing on a different subplot. Each part is described in a rhyming couplet form on the ‘contents’ page.
A six-part series has been adapted from the novel and titled ‘A Suitable Boy’. It is directed by Mira Nair, written by Andrew Davies, starring Tabu, Ishaan Khatter, Tanya Maniktala and Rasika Dugal, was broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 26 July 2020.
This production is the first BBC historical drama with a cast which completely features people of colour, except for Austrian opera singer Thomas Weinhappel as 'Hans'. The series is also streaming on Acorn TV in the US and Canada and Netflix in other territories.
Critical Reception
On 5 November 2019 BBC News included the series on its list of the 100 most inspiring novels. The Independent wrote that ‘the movement and music of the writing in A Suitable Boy, takes time to absorb, but it's unobtrusive, powerfully rational sweetness eventually compels the reader to its way of seeing.’
Daniel Johnson wrote in The Times: ‘A Suitable Boy is not merely one of the longest novels in English, it may also 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. I have little doubt that... Vikram Seth is already the best writer of his generation’, while Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post compared Seth favorably to the history’s one of the amazing writers, Tolstoy.
The book was among the contenders in a 2014 list by The Telegraph of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels, and Emma Lee-Potter of The Independent listed the novel as one of the 12 best Indian novels.
Famous Quotes
‘I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world merely accumulating material for future nostalgia.’
‘What is the difference between my life and my love? One gets me low, the other lets me go.’
‘Man without a life companion is either god or beast.’
‘Every object strives for its proper place. A book seeks to be near its truest admirer. Just as this helpless moth seeks to be near the candle that infatuates him.’
‘The ifs and buts of history...form an insubstantial if intoxicating diet.’
The Bottom Line
The book isn’t only about the custom ritual of marriage, but actually how it takes twists and turns among families. And especially when it was set in post-independent India, it had its essence of culture and faith. The political issues that were raised in the book, were as common as they really would have been in that period.
The book is a mixture of emotions, cultural beliefs, love, family relationships, respect and what not. The book had also given a new voice to the females out there struggling with related problems when it comes to the question of marrying.
Do watch the series on Netflix, if you would like to have a visual treat!
Picture Credits: India Times
My Ratings for the book - 5 on 5
Get you own copy from Amazon - A Suitable Boy
Written By - Pavas Shrigyan
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