This is not a pocket-sized book and neither is its content, at just over 1,350 pages (yes that is pages), and in a font size that’s just short of you having to get the magnifier – it therefore has to be a treat of a book to tempt you to even pick it up in today’s hectic world, good thing it is then! Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy is an unforgettable tale of historical, dramatic and romantic proportions, and in only a few short paragraphs you’ll forget how much your arms ache from its weight as your heart begins to hurt instead.
Opening in 1950s India, (just a few short years after WW2, independence and Partition), it looks at the lives of four families – which the author has kindly provided the family trees of, and you might just need it to remind yourself of the connections – because Seth has provided an infinite number of details about the characters, their stories and their settings. There’s the political turbulence, money and personal issues, prejudice in caste systems and a division of religion, all of which are used to separate and deem someone as ‘suitable’ and ‘unsuitable’ on whether to join the family, and which the story largely centres on as it follows the romancing of the book’s heroine; Lata Mehra. Even in the book’s first line, Lata is told that she will marry whoever her widowed mother chooses; a threat made all the more real by the fact they’re at the arranged marriage of her sister – the wedding festivities still in play as she speaks. But Lata is against this formal checking of a mate, viewing independence and love to be more important than the ticked-box criteria her family and society live by.
You instantly like Lata, she’s strong-willed, intelligent, and ambitious for her future – living in a time when independence for women was stronger than what had existed before-hand. But Lata’s not immune to the pressures of those around her, and which over time begin to affect how she views her relationships to her three suitors. There are points in the book that you’ll want to speak out and cheer for one over the other, but as we follow Lata on her journey we come to see how she’s swayed through her experiences, leaving you to wonder as to who she should, and will choose. Her choice however is only made at the end of the book – but don’t take this as a chance to skip the pages in-between, for they provide real insight into a time that’s not long past, and which still has some lasting effect in today’s world.
The novel’s length might not be for everyone, but it’s far from being filled with waffle. Instead its lavished with a depth of characters who will charm you, or at least keep you enthralled with their detailed and lively (but not always happy) experiences, and as such Seth tells the story of their time, culture and country. You don’t need to know much about India’s history when going into the book, for the novel will keep you apace with its steps, but you may enjoy it more if you have some basic information, especially around the time of Partition. That said, the main thread of the story is love, and a tale that’s repeated many times; of conflict with family and society, to the expectations in who you choose.
A Suitable Boy is a classic made to last long into the future, but it won’t be for everyone – you’ll either love it, or at least leave admiring it.
Other Notable Works by Vikram Seth:
- Beastly Tales from Here and There 1992
- The Golden Gate 1986
- From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet 1983
Book Edition Information:
Publisher: W&N (Weidenfield & Nicolson) (part of Orion House)
ISBN: 9781780227894
Presented Edition: 2013 Paperback
Cover: Trevillion Images
Background image courtesy of Lenstravelier on Unsplash
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (1993)
This is not a pocket-sized book and neither is its content, at just over 1,350 pages (yes that is pages), and in a font size that’s just short of you having to get the magnifier – it therefore has to be a treat of a book to tempt you to even pick it up in today’s hectic world, good thing it is then! Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy is an unforgettable tale of historical, dramatic and romantic proportions, and in only a few short paragraphs you’ll forget how much your arms ache from its weight as your heart begins to hurt instead.
Opening in 1950s India, (just a few short years after WW2, independence and Partition), it looks at the lives of four families – which the author has kindly provided the family trees of, and you might just need it to remind yourself of the connections – because Seth has provided an infinite number of details about the characters, their stories and their settings. There’s the political turbulence, money and personal issues, prejudice in caste systems and a division of religion, all of which are used to separate and deem someone as ‘suitable’ and ‘unsuitable’ on whether to join the family, and which the story largely centres on as it follows the romancing of the book’s heroine; Lata Mehra. Even in the book’s first line, Lata is told that she will marry whoever her widowed mother chooses; a threat made all the more real by the fact they’re at the arranged marriage of her sister – the wedding festivities still in play as she speaks. But Lata is against this formal checking of a mate, viewing independence and love to be more important than the ticked-box criteria her family and society live by.
You instantly like Lata, she’s strong-willed, intelligent, and ambitious for her future – living in a time when independence for women was stronger than what had existed before-hand. But Lata’s not immune to the pressures of those around her, and which over time begin to affect how she views her relationships to her three suitors. There are points in the book that you’ll want to speak out and cheer for one over the other, but as we follow Lata on her journey we come to see how she’s swayed through her experiences, leaving you to wonder as to who she should, and will choose. Her choice however is only made at the end of the book – but don’t take this as a chance to skip the pages in-between, for they provide real insight into a time that’s not long past, and which still has some lasting effect in today’s world.
The novel’s length might not be for everyone, but it’s far from being filled with waffle. Instead its lavished with a depth of characters who will charm you, or at least keep you enthralled with their detailed and lively (but not always happy) experiences, and as such Seth tells the story of their time, culture and country. You don’t need to know much about India’s history when going into the book, for the novel will keep you apace with its steps, but you may enjoy it more if you have some basic information, especially around the time of Partition. That said, the main thread of the story is love, and a tale that’s repeated many times; of conflict with family and society, to the expectations in who you choose.
A Suitable Boy is a classic made to last long into the future, but it won’t be for everyone – you’ll either love it, or at least leave admiring it.
Other Notable Works by Vikram Seth:
Book Edition Information:
Publisher: W&N (Weidenfield & Nicolson) (part of Orion House)
ISBN: 9781780227894
Presented Edition: 2013 Paperback
Cover: Trevillion Images
Background image courtesy of Lenstravelier on Unsplash
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