Reading 1001 discussion

A young woman from an upper-middle class family is still unmarried, and happily so, in college, and her mother is very concerned about finding her a suitable boy to marry before she goes off and marries someone unsuitable. Poor Lata is not really eager to be married, and her mother cannot imagine what life is like for modern, more culturally liberated women, so visiting home is always a trial. But, good girls in India don't get to handle their own love lives, and certainly Lata's mother is not going to stand for insubordination from any of her children. Once Lata meets a handsome Muslim boy and develops a serious crush on him, the stakes are even higher, and her mother 'must' find someone suitable before disaster strikes.
Meanwhile a young man, Maan, along with his friend Firoz, begins courting a beautiful Muslim courtesan/singer Saeeda Bai, though Firoz has eyes more for the lady's younger sister Tazneem. His infatuation for her leads him to study Urdu and live in a village with his Urdu teacher for a month or so, as the only Hindu in the teacher's household. Eventually disaster looms in Maan's romantic drama as well, as the misdeeds of their parents' generation pop up to spoil this new generation of young people.
All this romantic and social drama is taking place alongside the turmoil of post-Partition India, and all the central families in this novel are in some way connected to the economic and political framework that is trying to develop and stabilize, as many sides and individuals struggle for power, taking advantage of the upheaval.
This was a good book, very long, but definitely a smooth read. I am not sure how much of it would be confusing to readers unfamiliar with basic India/Pakistan history, but most of the situations seem well explained, and there was a handy chart in the front cover to help the reader keep track of the many siblings and spouses involved in the story. There are a lot of siblings to keep track of, plus lots of secondary characters outside the central families, and the characters shift locations a lot, going off to different cities whenever they get bored, or dislike the local weather, or when unsuitable boys turn up. So, readers who have trouble with complex stories like this might want to keep a notepad handy. The book is well written though, and covers an interesting era in recent Indian history.
I gave this book 5 stars on goodreads.

This book is a great modern successor to interpersonal epics like War and Peace and Story of the Stone (one of Seth's main influences for the novel). While, yes, it was hard to keep track of everyone at first, I did find myself immersed in it after not too long and thoroughly enjoying it all the way through.

I found Lata made a compelling protagonist, and all her suitors and relatives and friends made an interesting tableau as well. Some of the subplots- like the one with the singer - were icing on the cake. And the background (and oftentimes foreground) of the political landscape of the first Indian election and post partition society was a fascinating and educational thread that weaves seamlessly throughout the narrative.

I gave it 4 stars.

Pre-2016 review:

****

This huge novel provides a panoramic view of the (mostly) middle class of Indian society a few years after Independence from the UK and Partition from Pakistan, through the peregrinations of four families with different backgrounds. While the main focus is on the quest of a suitable husband for Lata Mehra, the novel also explores the various aspects of relationships between Hindus and Muslims (Maan Kapoor vs Saeeda Bai; Maan vs Firoz Khan; Maan vs Rasheed; Mahesh Kapoor vs Nawab Sahib of Baitar; Lata vs Kabir Durrani; the Raja of Marh) and among Hindus (Arun Mehra and his cheating wife, Meenakshi Chatterji; the colorful Chatterji family; Haresh Khanna vs Kedarnath Tandon and Jagat Ram). It also offers a very good overview of the politics of the time, with the shaky Indian Congress, the Zamindari Acts and the policies which seemed to be detrimental to the Muslim minority still in India after the Partition. It is a definite page-turner, despite its length; nevertheless, there are two things that I did not thoroughly enjoyed throughout the book. First, I felt that chapters focusing on Maan's exile in Rudhia with Rasheed were probably not as enthralling. Second, at times, it really had the feeling of one of those Asian soaps produced in Taiwan or Korea, with some dramatic elements, but with a somewhat predictable good ending.

Read in 2016
An epic family novel that takes place in India circa 1950. The story follows four families over a year; Mehras, Kapoors, Khans and Chatterjis. We start our journey with the Mehras where we are introduced to Lata in which her mother is determined to find “a suitable boy” for her to marry. But this book is much more than a story of marriage. It covers love, loss, life, death, religion, tradition, politics, the caste system and how to be a family amongst it all. I was invested in each and every story but especially liked Firoz and Mann's. I also particularly liked the journey of Rasheed and Maan and learning their back stories. In addition I liked the way the author dealt with woman’s rights and tradition. A story rich with culture and depth and one I will soon not forget. I am looking forward to the sequel “A Suitable Girl” set to be published 2016.