Review of 'A Suitable Boy'
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Ostensibly, this book is about a young Indian woman who seeks a “suitable boy” to marry, however, this is more the story of a young India freshly independent from the English in the 1950s.
Lata Mehra has three potential suitors: Kabir - the successful cricketer and son of a university math professor, Haresh - an ambitious shoe maker who has come to the attention of Lata's mother, and Amit - poet and eldest son of a prominent judge. We learn about their lives, their family's lives and the lives of those around them in the face of a nation struggling to come to terms with it's own identity: Conflict between Muslim and and Hindu groups, the ever-present tensions between the lower and upper castes, tradition vs a need for reform (including, most applicably to Lata, arranged marriages), and much more besides.
This is a monstrous tome at more than 1,400 pages in paperback covering the minutiae of a cast of fifty or more characters over the course of several years. Overwhelming to say the least notwithstanding my coming into the novel with very little understanding of Indian culture or the terms used throughout the book (I can't say I have much more familiarity having come out the other side).
The language is often poetic and lyrical with the characters coming alive as you read though I have to say it was quite an effort to complete, taking more than a month to do so, with my often putting it down for days on end before picking it up to dive back in. I often found myself lost in trying to understand exactly what was going on so I would recommend any potential readers not give up and spend a bit of time learning the character names and not pause too long in reading parts of the novel.
The characters are believable with their unique personalities and flaws that bring the story to life - It is here that the descriptive prose comes into its own. The prose once again draws a vivid picture of the country and it's people. Amazing. If you have read Salmon Rushdie - Think that but easier to read…though I still did slow down my reading pace quite a lot to take a lot of “A Suitable Boy” in (like I do Rushdie).
Truly it is a masterpiece of the English language novel but I did find it quite tough going.
Rating: “A bit better than average”
Review Date: 2014-11-28
Genre: General Fiction
Publisher: Phoenix
Publication Date: 1993