Sethji. Review on Sethji - Shobhaa De

Sethji is a politician trying to maintain his position in the politics of New Delhi, but right before a crucial party meeting, Sethji is informed that his younger son has raped a girl. So, Sethji quickly arranges for his son to disappear from the country to avoid arrest.

He turns to his daughter in law to help co-ordinate the escape, which is easily managed eventually. The daughter in law, Amrita, is depicted to be the man-of-the-house, second only to Sethji. Sethji's two sons are worthless. Not only does Amrita coordinate the escape of the younger son, but she also tactfully manages the media, and does so in such a manner that her single TV interview ensures that Sethji wins his political battle during the party meeting held later in the evening(of the same morning his son rapes and escapes). But soon afterwords, things turn for the worse, because there are enemies who did not want Sethji to continue maintaining his political clout. In the event, both Sethji and Amrita are kidnapped and taken to Mumbai. The rest of the story then narrates the fight to freedom of these two characters.

I had read a work of non-fiction by Shobha De many years ago, and for some reason that I am not sure why, I purchased this book thinking it will be a high quality, literary fictional work on politics. Perhaps because one reads about and hears of De in popular media all the time, mostly representing(or trying to represent) the intellectual side of a debate or a talk-show, I presumed her to be a writer of high calibre. Instead, it turned out to be a very ordinary novel.

Firstly, the writing is lost in translation. Literally. In trying to narrate the setting of a Hindi speaking political family based in Delhi, the author has combined English sentences with Hindi words. The result is that the narration reads very contrived. It reminded me narratives of British imperialists of 19th century India, where a Britisher would often sprinkle English sentences with a word of Hindi here or there. A fine example of how such narrative needs to be handled is Amitav Ghosh's writing(the Ibis series, for instance), but then perhaps this is wishful thinking on my part to think of such a comparison.

Secondly, it is unclear whether the story is about Sethji, an elderly and a wily politician, or about his daughter in law, Amrita? I would say it very much about the latter, so not sure why this novel was titled'Sethji', and all the blurbs about the book portrayed Sethji as the central character. The result is that one feels a bit lost in deducing this anomaly.

Thirdly, the plot itself has nothing new to offer. There are many existing Bollywood scripts that are similar in their theme- corrupt politicians, evil mafia dons, rich spoilt brats committing rapes, or non-fictional accounts that one gets to read in newspapers almost everyday. The canvass and sweep of this theme could be huge, but this novel narrates the events of just a few weeks(though there are narratives about the past of most characters, but they are almost like flash-backs) more in an adventure-thriller like way rather than serious fiction.

Fourthly, EVERY character in this novel is narrated as being a major deviant in one form or the other. Killers, rapists, nymphomaniacs, promiscuous, adulterous, corrupt, deceitful, wily, immoral, and many things more. The result is that there is a constant heavy and dark tenor to the narrative, where nothing "normal" happens.

Fifthly, there is an overdose of sexual rendezvous. At times it is consensual, at times forced, and most other times as a matter of barter or a quid pro quo.

So, overall, if sex, lies, deceit and corruption narrated in ordinary story-telling is what you are looking for in a'thriller', go ahead and read this. If you are a little more discerning, give this a go