Talk of a Suitable Boy. Review on Suitable Boy, A - Vikram Seth

"What is that book you are reading?", a friend asked me. "Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy. I haven't started yet." "It's going to take you a long time to finish that one." I flipped through the pages of the book I was holding in my hand. "1349 pages? Oh! That sure is going to take me some time" And it sure did. I met my friend again, just a couple of days back. She chuckled. "I see that book in your hand again. How far have you reached?" "As a matter of fact I finished it yesterday. It took me one and a half months to read. Some book this is." " I told you. I think it's the longest novel ever written. So did you like it?" I was speechless.

This question always makes me speechless. I hate giving any off-hand comments on books. I prefer to explore the emotions I went through while reading a book and it comes best when I put pen to paper. "Well, it's good. Quite tedious though. There are so many characters and so much description. In many ways Seth's style of getting into the details reminds me of Hemingway's." "So who is your favourite character? " "It's difficult to figure that one out. There are four families - the Mehras, the Kapoors, the Tandons and the Nawab's. Each character is different. The author's done well to put enough life in them. I can picturise the plight of Mrs. Rupa Mehra who is worried sick about her unmarried daughter, Lata and is driven to paranoia when she finds out that Lata has been going around with the Muslim guy, Kabir.

She goes groom-hunting for Lata, just like any good Indian mother and is given to melodrama. Very Bollywoodish I must say, but the character is nevertheless very interesting." My friend laughed. I followed up on the comparison with Bollywood. "Then there is that fellow named Maan Kapoor falling in love with that prostitute-singer and pining for her. There's a lot of talk about the festivals in there, much like our Yash Chopra flicks - Holi, Dassera, Diwali, Karva Chauth, Pul Mela, wich is a take on the Kumbh Mela, you name it and it's there. Even homosexuality has been discussed.

I wonder why they haven't made a film of it." She giggled again. "I like the way Seth's elaborated on the situation barely four years after India's Independence. The whole lot of stuff on law and the Zamindari Abolition Bill, the concept of Nehruvian Socialism, the split in the Congress and rampant corruption. It's a different world, but it seems so real. I am sure some of it may be true." My friend added, "I understand where the law part may have come from. Vikram Seth's mother is a lawyer." "And the fictional city of Brahmpur, reminds me of Patna." "Of Patna. You must be joking." "No, just check out the locations described in the book, and visit the place and you'll know what I'm talking about." "So tell me more about the 'suitable boy' she discovers for Lata..." My friend trailed off wondering.

"Haven't you read the book? I thought you would have since you told me that it would take a long time." She laughed. "Well, I was hoping to get the whole of it out of you in half an hour instead of spending one and a half months reading it." I grimaced.