Well written erotic book. Review on Starry Nights - Shobha De

Agreed it's an erotic book. But I hope all of you will agree that not every writer can write an erotic book, that too without hurting the sentiments of the Indian Moral Police. Have you noticed how the writer has portrayed the character of Asha Rani. She is the daughter of the mistress of a Tamil director. So indirectly she has license to be characterless. Then too she has her own inhibitions like any other next door girl in having sex. But  as they say once you cross this thin line of character, you go ahead non-stopped. You get hanged only once for any number of murders. So once she starts reaping the benefits of sleeping with people, she starts using it as we commoners use money for bribing the Government Officers and getting our work done.

As you go through the book, you will find that the racy descriptions of sex that Asha rani had with so many vary from each other in many aspects thus it does not feel monotonous. If I ask you to write a similar description of so many sexual encounters, you will fall short of words after a while.

When Asha Rani's Father In Law made advances towards her, she dampended her intentions(pun intended). The writer was about to venture in to a territory going where would have raised many eyebrows, but she has managed to get back in time.

Friends, you will find that people tend to loose balance while writing this type of a book, they start abusing the common social beliefs and customs, but Shobha Dey has maintained that. Except from the aeroplane encounter of Asha Rani, everything else seems real.

Though its title makes one beleive that its about many stars and their nights, its about one star and her many nights. This book has been written keeping in mind the vast number of readers of film magazines and their gossip stories. It has been written keeping in mind that these days almost every newspaper has one colour supplement dedicated to Films and gossips.

If you are going to read this novel as a literary masterpiece, this will dissapoint you. But if you are in search of a well written erotic book from the viewpoint of a woman, go for it. However, if you want to read an erotic book, written from the viewpoint of a man, you should go for in the Company of Women by Khushwant Singh.