Publication
Hamish Hamilton (2013), 1376 pages
Original publication date
1993
Collections
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 1996)
Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Winner — 1994)
WH Smith Literary Award (Winner — 1994)
Irish Times International Fiction Prize (Shortlist — 1994)
Waterstones Books of the Century (50 — 1997)
Waterstones top 25 books of the last 25 years (No 23 — 2007)
Description
Fiction. Romance. HTML: A Suitable Boy is now a major 2020 BBC TV series, and one of the BBC's 100 novels that shaped our world. The award-winning BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Vikram Seth's masterpiece 'The drama highlight of the year...this sumptuous production, wonderfully atmospheric, written with pace and performed, by an all-Indian cast, quite superbly. The novel may be vast but I was convinced by this version right from the start. Magnificent drama' - Radio Times A Suitable Boy is Vikram Seth's epic love story set in India. Funny and tragic, with engaging, brilliantly-observed characters, it is as close as you can get to Dickens for the twentieth century. The story unfolds through four middle-class families - the Mehras, Kapoors, Khans and Chatterjis. Lata Mehra, a university student, is under pressure from her mother to get married. But not to just anyone she happens to fall in love with. There are standards to be met and finding a husband for Lata becomes a family affair in which all the members are to play a part. The characters struggle, they try to buck the system, to break free of restraint, of interference - but ultimately their strength and sense of being comes from their family and friends. It is a celebration of ordinariness; a beautifully composed story that is an affirmation of family and friendship. In his sweeping epic, Vikram Seth has created an entire world filled with warmth, humour, pathos, tragedy - in short, life. Recorded on location in India, A Suitable Boy is made by the production team behind the award-winning Bleak House and The Handmaid's Tale. Shortlisted for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, 1993.Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 1994. Winner of the WH Smith Literary Award, 1994. Dramatised and directed by John Dryden. A Goldhawk Production..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member awriteword
This book is not for the light reader; it is nearly 2,000 pages and involves a lot of detailed politics of the newly democratic India. However, for those who enjoy learning new things from their novels, or love novels that take the time to fully develop a whole cast of characters, this book will
"A Suitable Boy" is a generational story that takes place in India shortly after the death of Gandhi. It closely tracks the lives of several extended families who are joined together through love, honor, friendship, politics, history, and marriage. Vikram Seth delves into the minds of his heroines with an accurate intimacy and poignancy that is rare. His heroes have flaws and strengths, and before long, all of the characters in the novel begin to feel like members of your own family.
The main thread of the novel belongs to Lata Mehra. She is a college student whose mother has decided that it is time for her to marry. Her life touches the lives of nearly all of the other characters in the book. But the quest for a suitable boy for Lata is only one of the stories that unfolds. Another is the story of friendship between two families of diametrically opposing views, or the story of a young man's maturation, or the tales of love lost, of religious freedoms and tolerance, of the political evolution of one of the largest democratic countries in the world, and of every day life in India in the late 1950s.
I highly recommend reading this book. I felt lost and saddened when I came to the end of it, because I had gotten so used to spending time with the Mehras, Chattergis, and Kapoors every day, and suddenly, this relationship is at an end. So pick it up at your local book shop--you'll be glad you did. You can tell Lata and Mahn than I miss them.
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enchant."A Suitable Boy" is a generational story that takes place in India shortly after the death of Gandhi. It closely tracks the lives of several extended families who are joined together through love, honor, friendship, politics, history, and marriage. Vikram Seth delves into the minds of his heroines with an accurate intimacy and poignancy that is rare. His heroes have flaws and strengths, and before long, all of the characters in the novel begin to feel like members of your own family.
The main thread of the novel belongs to Lata Mehra. She is a college student whose mother has decided that it is time for her to marry. Her life touches the lives of nearly all of the other characters in the book. But the quest for a suitable boy for Lata is only one of the stories that unfolds. Another is the story of friendship between two families of diametrically opposing views, or the story of a young man's maturation, or the tales of love lost, of religious freedoms and tolerance, of the political evolution of one of the largest democratic countries in the world, and of every day life in India in the late 1950s.
I highly recommend reading this book. I felt lost and saddened when I came to the end of it, because I had gotten so used to spending time with the Mehras, Chattergis, and Kapoors every day, and suddenly, this relationship is at an end. So pick it up at your local book shop--you'll be glad you did. You can tell Lata and Mahn than I miss them.
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LibraryThing member Joycepa
A massive (1474 pages), quiet novel that superficially is something of an Indian novel of manners much in the style of the 19th century English novelists, but which also is a history of India at a critical time—the early 1950s—as experienced by the members of four middle class families and a
The central thread of the novel is the search for a husband—“a suitable boy” for Lata Mehra, the younger daughter of Mrs. Rupra Mehra, a widow who lives in the fictional state of Purva Pradesh. Mrs. Mehra’s older daughter, Savita, has just been married to Pran Kapoor, a lecturer at Brahmpur University; Pran is the son of the Minister of Revenue for Purva Pradesh, Mahesh Kapoor, who was one of the original freedom fighters for India’s independence, and who is now an influential member of the ruling Congress Party. The Meharas and the Kapoors, along with the Chatterjis, an upper-class Hindu family of much more modern habits and the Kahns, a Muslim landowning family, provide the bulk of the characters through whose lives the reader sees India.
It is 1951, 5 years after independence, and 4 years after the agonizing partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. The politicians have taken over from the British, and Seth’s account makes it clear that as everywhere else in the world, mediocrity for the most part rules and those who have risen from powerlessness to power are no different in their ambitions than in any other country. India is still fragile, still troubled with tensions between Muslims and Hindus, floundering in many respects—held together mainly through the people’s devotion to their Prime Minister, Nehru. While the novel concerns itself with the lives of those in the four families, who are either related by marriage or by ties of friendship, the political life of the country, as seen through the affairs of Purva Pradesh, is a prominent subthread. Hindu-Muslim riots and the elections of 1952 are an integral part of the story and affect the lives of all the families. Since one of the families is that of a powerful Muslim landowner who is affected by the land redistribution act promulgated and fought for by his best friend, Kapoor, Seth’s narration shows the consequences—both intended and unintended—of a well-meaning legislation aimed at giving poor tenant farmers their own land. Some of which actually wind up harming terribly the very people the legislation is meant to help. Seth does this seamlessly within the framework of the lives of his characters.
Another fascinating aspect of the book is the description of the Hindu religious celebrations. Since the story takes place over a time period of slightly more than one year, all the major religious celebrations are presented as seen through the participation of the characters—both the devout older women of the story, the somewhat skeptical younger generation who participate more out of a sense of tradition than piety, and of the men in the families, who are almost universally scornful and impatient with what they view as superstition. A panic during one of the major festivals that causes the deaths of hundreds. The inadvertent intermingling of a Hindu and a Muslim religious procession which results in a horrendous riot. These and more are skillfully interwoven into the main story.
But what leaps out more than anything else in this vast book is the way that the Indian middle classes have become Anglicized. It is a remarkable description of how an oppressed people long dominated by a ruling class of another race has taken on the prejudices and practices of their oppressors. “A suitable boy” must be able to speak English without accent. “A suitable boy” must not be too dark—as one of the characters says she does not want her grandchildren to be black. Lawyers in the courts address judges as “my Lords”. Cricket is a passion.
One minor flaw that is from time to time irritating: Seth uses a large number of Hindi words for all sorts of things, from the names of trees to fruits to common household items. Most of the time, this is not a problem because either (sooner or later) the meaning becomes clear from the context or the singularity of whatever it is, such as a tree, doesn’t get in the way. But from time to time, it’s a puzzle to understand exactly what Seth is talking about. Is it a chair? A stool? A bed? Some other piece of furniture? The book would benefit from a glossary.
There is more to this book, but these are the main threads. It’s a quiet book, that at first keeps to its innocent appearance as a book of manners, but slowly draws the reader in to the lives of the characters and the times in which they live. It becomes a page-turner simply because these lives, while quite ordinary in one sense, are caught up in extraordinary times and in a quest to live and be fulfilled when the world around them is changing from the traditional to the inescapably modern. The struggle to adjust, to keep what is valuable and also expected of the traditional—to keep purdah in the face of women’s voting rights, to accept arranged marriages in a world where young men and women can mingle far more freely than is traditional—while adjusting to the freedoms and dangers of the modern world—Seth has done a brilliant job of showing us ordinary, believable people caught up in this transition and making their lives absorbing to a reader 50 years later.
Highly recommended.
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host of characters from others.The central thread of the novel is the search for a husband—“a suitable boy” for Lata Mehra, the younger daughter of Mrs. Rupra Mehra, a widow who lives in the fictional state of Purva Pradesh. Mrs. Mehra’s older daughter, Savita, has just been married to Pran Kapoor, a lecturer at Brahmpur University; Pran is the son of the Minister of Revenue for Purva Pradesh, Mahesh Kapoor, who was one of the original freedom fighters for India’s independence, and who is now an influential member of the ruling Congress Party. The Meharas and the Kapoors, along with the Chatterjis, an upper-class Hindu family of much more modern habits and the Kahns, a Muslim landowning family, provide the bulk of the characters through whose lives the reader sees India.
It is 1951, 5 years after independence, and 4 years after the agonizing partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. The politicians have taken over from the British, and Seth’s account makes it clear that as everywhere else in the world, mediocrity for the most part rules and those who have risen from powerlessness to power are no different in their ambitions than in any other country. India is still fragile, still troubled with tensions between Muslims and Hindus, floundering in many respects—held together mainly through the people’s devotion to their Prime Minister, Nehru. While the novel concerns itself with the lives of those in the four families, who are either related by marriage or by ties of friendship, the political life of the country, as seen through the affairs of Purva Pradesh, is a prominent subthread. Hindu-Muslim riots and the elections of 1952 are an integral part of the story and affect the lives of all the families. Since one of the families is that of a powerful Muslim landowner who is affected by the land redistribution act promulgated and fought for by his best friend, Kapoor, Seth’s narration shows the consequences—both intended and unintended—of a well-meaning legislation aimed at giving poor tenant farmers their own land. Some of which actually wind up harming terribly the very people the legislation is meant to help. Seth does this seamlessly within the framework of the lives of his characters.
Another fascinating aspect of the book is the description of the Hindu religious celebrations. Since the story takes place over a time period of slightly more than one year, all the major religious celebrations are presented as seen through the participation of the characters—both the devout older women of the story, the somewhat skeptical younger generation who participate more out of a sense of tradition than piety, and of the men in the families, who are almost universally scornful and impatient with what they view as superstition. A panic during one of the major festivals that causes the deaths of hundreds. The inadvertent intermingling of a Hindu and a Muslim religious procession which results in a horrendous riot. These and more are skillfully interwoven into the main story.
But what leaps out more than anything else in this vast book is the way that the Indian middle classes have become Anglicized. It is a remarkable description of how an oppressed people long dominated by a ruling class of another race has taken on the prejudices and practices of their oppressors. “A suitable boy” must be able to speak English without accent. “A suitable boy” must not be too dark—as one of the characters says she does not want her grandchildren to be black. Lawyers in the courts address judges as “my Lords”. Cricket is a passion.
One minor flaw that is from time to time irritating: Seth uses a large number of Hindi words for all sorts of things, from the names of trees to fruits to common household items. Most of the time, this is not a problem because either (sooner or later) the meaning becomes clear from the context or the singularity of whatever it is, such as a tree, doesn’t get in the way. But from time to time, it’s a puzzle to understand exactly what Seth is talking about. Is it a chair? A stool? A bed? Some other piece of furniture? The book would benefit from a glossary.
There is more to this book, but these are the main threads. It’s a quiet book, that at first keeps to its innocent appearance as a book of manners, but slowly draws the reader in to the lives of the characters and the times in which they live. It becomes a page-turner simply because these lives, while quite ordinary in one sense, are caught up in extraordinary times and in a quest to live and be fulfilled when the world around them is changing from the traditional to the inescapably modern. The struggle to adjust, to keep what is valuable and also expected of the traditional—to keep purdah in the face of women’s voting rights, to accept arranged marriages in a world where young men and women can mingle far more freely than is traditional—while adjusting to the freedoms and dangers of the modern world—Seth has done a brilliant job of showing us ordinary, believable people caught up in this transition and making their lives absorbing to a reader 50 years later.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member solla
It seems to me an amazing feat, as a writer, simply to be able to keep all the threads of a story clear through 1500 pages, but, of course, Vikram Seth does a lot more. The book never lost my interest from the first chapter when I quickly became involved with Lata,(the just slightly younger sister
One level of the novel is, of course, the personal stories, and Seth does a good job of presenting people in their complexity. Besides Lata, I was also very caught up in the drama(s) of Maan, the son of a politician who seems a sort of lazy, charming wastral at the beginning, but gains in character as the novel progresses, despite his troubles; of Haresh who is making his way in the world through his own resources and hard work in the shoe business, despite it's association with the lower class; of Bhaskar, the 9 year old math prodigy; and Rasheed who does his best to bring justice to his village and suffers for it, among others.
Another level is the presence of family, and their influence. It might be difficult in the U.S. for someone with a good relationship to their family to go against their wishes to marry whom you like, but nonetheless we see it as an individual decision. And probably, most of us, hold a romantic relationship/marriage relationship as being individual and of more important than any other aside from parent/child. It is not only the influence of family on relationship choices that Seth makes clear, but also, a different attitude towards "passion" in a relationship. Nonetheless, Lata does not feel very different from any other young woman, and so it is easier to enter into her values.
The time period of the novel is just after Indian independence and the partition of Pakistan and India. There are many cultural and political events that we experience from the point of view of characters in the novel, such as the violence of partition (although this is retrospective in the novel) and the resulting tension between Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, etc., the efforts to distribute land from big landowners to the peasants who actually work the land, the divisions that occurred between factions in the Congress party and the election of 1952. It is interesting to get the sort of home grown view of Nehru.
Once I finished the novel, I started reading India after Gandhi and although I haven't gotten very far, already it has been enriching to have the novel in my head as I read about the same historical events and personalities in a history.
This is a very rich book, and, even at the very end, I felt I would have enjoyed reading even more about these characters.
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of the woman being married in chapter one, who is being told by her mother that she too will marry a boy of her mother's choice) and her whole web of relationships.One level of the novel is, of course, the personal stories, and Seth does a good job of presenting people in their complexity. Besides Lata, I was also very caught up in the drama(s) of Maan, the son of a politician who seems a sort of lazy, charming wastral at the beginning, but gains in character as the novel progresses, despite his troubles; of Haresh who is making his way in the world through his own resources and hard work in the shoe business, despite it's association with the lower class; of Bhaskar, the 9 year old math prodigy; and Rasheed who does his best to bring justice to his village and suffers for it, among others.
Another level is the presence of family, and their influence. It might be difficult in the U.S. for someone with a good relationship to their family to go against their wishes to marry whom you like, but nonetheless we see it as an individual decision. And probably, most of us, hold a romantic relationship/marriage relationship as being individual and of more important than any other aside from parent/child. It is not only the influence of family on relationship choices that Seth makes clear, but also, a different attitude towards "passion" in a relationship. Nonetheless, Lata does not feel very different from any other young woman, and so it is easier to enter into her values.
The time period of the novel is just after Indian independence and the partition of Pakistan and India. There are many cultural and political events that we experience from the point of view of characters in the novel, such as the violence of partition (although this is retrospective in the novel) and the resulting tension between Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, etc., the efforts to distribute land from big landowners to the peasants who actually work the land, the divisions that occurred between factions in the Congress party and the election of 1952. It is interesting to get the sort of home grown view of Nehru.
Once I finished the novel, I started reading India after Gandhi and although I haven't gotten very far, already it has been enriching to have the novel in my head as I read about the same historical events and personalities in a history.
This is a very rich book, and, even at the very end, I felt I would have enjoyed reading even more about these characters.
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LibraryThing member Idoru101
A truly beautiful book, it transports the reader to a country so different and yet somehow familiar, to a land where tea is taken with milk and sugar and yet women are expected to cover their hair.
The huge, meandering story follows the lives of four main families, all tied together by marriage. It
The story ends when Lata has chosen her 'suitable boy'. The wrong one in my opinion, but I wish her happiness.
The huge, meandering story follows the lives of four main families, all tied together by marriage. It
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is, ostensibly, about finding a 'suitable boy' for Lata, but as well it is about India coping with Independence and Partition, about the country's identity in the wake of the departing British and conflicting religions, and about the clash between young and old, modern and traditional. The story ends when Lata has chosen her 'suitable boy'. The wrong one in my opinion, but I wish her happiness.
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LibraryThing member Smiler69
I'll start with the end (no spoilers, promise!): I enjoyed the book once I finished it. The reading of it was another matter altogether. First, the obvious problem of size and weight, which made for physical discomfort. As happens all too often when I decide to dig into hefty books, I felt like so
On the whole I felt that Seth was writing for his own pleasure. Not a bad thing in itself, but it seemed like he became so enamoured with his research that he felt compelled to put every little bit of it VERBATIM into the manuscript with no regard for the reader. Did we really need to read about cricket in so much tedious detail? Or have the finer points of Indian constitution circa 1951 spelled out in quite so many words? Or be privy to the inner workings of the sister of the cousin of the wife of the rickshaw driver (I exaggerate, but only slightly)? The answer according to this reader is a resounding NO.
Other than that, it was a good story which gave me a good sense of life in mid-century India, with all it could possibly encompass and then some. The main characters and story were a joy to discover and spend some time with, which is why I gave it three stars (generous, considering how annoyed at Seth I was for refusing to cut down on word count).
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much of it could have been edited out without losing much of the flavour, plot and indeed, probably adding much enjoyment for the reader. On the whole I felt that Seth was writing for his own pleasure. Not a bad thing in itself, but it seemed like he became so enamoured with his research that he felt compelled to put every little bit of it VERBATIM into the manuscript with no regard for the reader. Did we really need to read about cricket in so much tedious detail? Or have the finer points of Indian constitution circa 1951 spelled out in quite so many words? Or be privy to the inner workings of the sister of the cousin of the wife of the rickshaw driver (I exaggerate, but only slightly)? The answer according to this reader is a resounding NO.
Other than that, it was a good story which gave me a good sense of life in mid-century India, with all it could possibly encompass and then some. The main characters and story were a joy to discover and spend some time with, which is why I gave it three stars (generous, considering how annoyed at Seth I was for refusing to cut down on word count).
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LibraryThing member scribblerjee
How can a 1,400-page book fail to develop characters adequately? Somehow Seth manages it. This is a Victorian-era yarn of the worst sort, too full of cookie-cutter characters (seemingly hundreds of them) and turgid plot development.
The high point is the exploration of communalist (Hindu-Muslim)
The high point is the exploration of communalist (Hindu-Muslim)
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strife, but even this isn't particularly acute. The passages on Untouchable shoemakers are told with a tinge of middle-class disgust and then forgotten about, whilst nobody would dream of committing sati over any of the dull prospective suitors. All the clumsy Dickensian caricatures are there: the weepy, unreflective mother; the sweet, thoughtful heroine; the clumsily portrayed oh-so-unviable suitor; the self-made man - but Seth's vaguely whimsical take fails to keep the momentum moving. Grotesquely overlong. Show Less
LibraryThing member Ruby_Barnes
I really got into Vikram Seth's family saga and had to get it finished before my holiday as this tome is just toooo big at 1478 pages to carry around.
The start was a bit challenging with so many characters rushing on-stage. I had differentiating them all from each other as they seemed to be a big
The year or so covered by this gargantuan novel isn't exactly a day-by-day account, as there are several concurrent threads, but after three hundred pages or so (the size of a regular novel) I had a firm handle on who was doing what and how the threads were likely to intersect. I think this book just wouldn't have worked as anything less than a thousand pages.
The author manages to avoid dramatic temptation, working very much on the personalities and their interaction. There are some events of major consequence in the final quarter but no spoilers from this reviewer. I was thrown out of the flow just once or twice, particularly when two chapters ended with a similar homo-suggestive hook that I deemed to be a red herring.
A Suitable Boy has been my breakfast companion for six months. I recommend this book to anyone who has major reading stamina.
The start was a bit challenging with so many characters rushing on-stage. I had differentiating them all from each other as they seemed to be a big
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bag of sons (successful or ne'er-do-well), daughters (married or unmarriagable, matriarchs and patriarchs. But something dragged me in and held me there. Perhaops it was the atmosphere of post-colonial India just coming to terms with its own societal complexities and the very effective tickling of my senses by Seth's settings.The year or so covered by this gargantuan novel isn't exactly a day-by-day account, as there are several concurrent threads, but after three hundred pages or so (the size of a regular novel) I had a firm handle on who was doing what and how the threads were likely to intersect. I think this book just wouldn't have worked as anything less than a thousand pages.
The author manages to avoid dramatic temptation, working very much on the personalities and their interaction. There are some events of major consequence in the final quarter but no spoilers from this reviewer. I was thrown out of the flow just once or twice, particularly when two chapters ended with a similar homo-suggestive hook that I deemed to be a red herring.
A Suitable Boy has been my breakfast companion for six months. I recommend this book to anyone who has major reading stamina.
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LibraryThing member bibliobibuli
If I was ever told that I was going to be marooned on a desert island and could only take then books with me, for sure this would be one. Even if it weighed more than everything else in my luggage combined.
I read the book in a week when I had shingles and I was so totally engrossed that I couldn't
Of course, the question that keeps the pages turning is who will Lata marry in the end? Will her head or her heart govern her choice? I'm a romantic and wanted the former, my colleagues all argued that it should be the latter because Lata is Asian, and therefore pragmatic, after all. Of course Seth (the rascal!), keeps us guessing right to the end.
And I was open-mouthed in awe at the way that Seth juggles a cast of characters larger than I'd ever have thought possible (there's someone new on almost every page!) embracing a huge sweep of society. I felt as if I had been in India for that week.
The book is way too short. Perhaps that sequel is called for!
Why didn't this win the Booker??!!!
I read the book in a week when I had shingles and I was so totally engrossed that I couldn't
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bear to come back to the "real world".Of course, the question that keeps the pages turning is who will Lata marry in the end? Will her head or her heart govern her choice? I'm a romantic and wanted the former, my colleagues all argued that it should be the latter because Lata is Asian, and therefore pragmatic, after all. Of course Seth (the rascal!), keeps us guessing right to the end.
And I was open-mouthed in awe at the way that Seth juggles a cast of characters larger than I'd ever have thought possible (there's someone new on almost every page!) embracing a huge sweep of society. I felt as if I had been in India for that week.
The book is way too short. Perhaps that sequel is called for!
Why didn't this win the Booker??!!!
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LibraryThing member jmoncton
This book has sat on my shelf for months, but I was always hesitant to start it because of its length. Almost 1500 pages long, this book seemed like a long committment and with so many other good books, I could never bring myself to pick it up. I finally started this book in early June, and I could
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not stop reading it. I even brought it on vacation, lugging all 1500 pages on multiple plane flights - all the while wishing I had an ebook reader... Although the book is long, it covers just over a year in time and tells the story of multiple families in India, shortly after the split with Pakistan. The main story is about Lata, a young woman, whose mother is determined to find her a 'suitable boy' to marry. Although the plot is not riveting, I became captivated by the large cast of characters and the intricacies of relationships between family, lovers, and friends. Although I know my bookclub would kill me if I ever selected a book this long, it is a beautiful story to discuss and share. Show Less
LibraryThing member technodiabla
What a joy this book was to read. It's a miniseries whereas most novels are just movies-- over and done with before you can really get into them. The huge cast of characters, all strangers to me in the beginning, were like close friends by the end. I will miss them. That said the plot is not
It's long. Very long. But not hard to read if you can read often enough to not forget who is who. It's a worthwhile endeavor.
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sweeping in scope and scale as the novel covers only 1 year in the lives of the families who weave together due to love, marriages, politics, and industry. Interestingly, the story seemed very contemporary to me though it takes place in the 1950s. A wonderful lesson in the history and culture of India (both the good and the bad.)It's long. Very long. But not hard to read if you can read often enough to not forget who is who. It's a worthwhile endeavor.
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LibraryThing member booksofcolor
What I love about it:
1) Beautifully detailed, defined characters who are smart and funny and touching and broken and deeply human.
2) Epic scope, from youthful romance to political intrigue to religious conflict to family dynamics to the political to the personal, this book seems to touch on every
3) The prose is gorgeous but it also gets out of your way.
4) It's so deliciously long! ♥ I love a book that draws me in and then keeps going and going and keeps revealing itself and takes forever for me to finish. :D
1) Beautifully detailed, defined characters who are smart and funny and touching and broken and deeply human.
2) Epic scope, from youthful romance to political intrigue to religious conflict to family dynamics to the political to the personal, this book seems to touch on every
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major aspect of human experience.3) The prose is gorgeous but it also gets out of your way.
4) It's so deliciously long! ♥ I love a book that draws me in and then keeps going and going and keeps revealing itself and takes forever for me to finish. :D
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LibraryThing member jayne_charles
Don't be put off by the size of this book, it's very readable. Starting out with an inter-faith love affair, it opens out into a massive panorama covering a wide variety of issues in post-war India. Educational as well as entertaining.
LibraryThing member austenheroin
a massive and enthralling Indian classic.
LibraryThing member amartineau
could not finish it. found no interest in these people.
LibraryThing member FabulousandFeminist
Ok. I plowed through this. I admit, it took me several months and I scan read a lot of the end but come on! How many pages did it have?
Aside from the length, the weight and the fact everyone kept calling it my encyclopedia, I really did enjoy it. the characters were interesting and not confusable.
If you're retiring and want to work on the classics or have a lot of spare time then i definitely recommend it. It can be a bit hard to motivate yourself to pick it up but keep going!
Aside from the length, the weight and the fact everyone kept calling it my encyclopedia, I really did enjoy it. the characters were interesting and not confusable.
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If you're retiring and want to work on the classics or have a lot of spare time then i definitely recommend it. It can be a bit hard to motivate yourself to pick it up but keep going!
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LibraryThing member davidroche
Nearly 1,500 pages is a big ask but any traveller or lover of India will be charmed by Vikram Seth's masterpiece. Jewish mothers too will love the best attempts of the featured families to ensure the best partners are found for their offspring.
2 out of 2 five* for Seth from me.
2 out of 2 five* for Seth from me.
LibraryThing member suchisundar
A 1500 page tome, which keeps you gripped throughout the voyage of reading it. That which starts of as the story of a girl in search of her suitable boy spans an entire nation. Set in a background of Post indepedent India, the reader travels through the dusty roads of rural provinces and is visibly
I would urge every serious reader of English fiction to undertake this pleasantly rewarding journey.
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pleased by a glittering, shimmering urbane populace. The myriad characters are etched out in the reader's mind so clearly that they seem so living and alive. As the characters go gallivanting through the streets of Calcutta, one is pleasantly rewarded by much mirth, laughter and rhyming coupletsI would urge every serious reader of English fiction to undertake this pleasantly rewarding journey.
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LibraryThing member MaryEB
One of my favorite books of all time. I can't wait until I have the time to read all 1500+ pages again. All of the many, many characters are fully fleshed out. I have rarely cared about the fate of fictional characters as much as I did these.
LibraryThing member mariamreza
Given that this book appears on so many lists of recommended novels, I was initially a little disappointed with the writing. The similes seemed a bit forced, like that of a high school student's homework essay. Seth also seemed a bit too keen to show off his knowledge, be it a whole chapter on shoe
However, once you manage to forgive the author for stretching this out into a 1900 page book, it is an enjoyable and even thought-provoking read. The diverse themes of Partition, communal tension, politics, democratic reform, contrast between small town and metropolitan life, generation gaps and romance are balanced skillfully, so that justice is done to all. And Seth's wit, in the form of Kuku's couplets, for example, adds liveliness and hilarity to the novel.
Overall, a very satisfying read, though I wish I'd been able to get the version that is divided into two volumes!
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production or quoting extensively from ghazals in Roman Urdu and then giving English translations of the couplets (which becomes quite repetitive for readers who understood the Urdu in the first place, and disrupts the flow for those who can't and will need to skip to the translation).However, once you manage to forgive the author for stretching this out into a 1900 page book, it is an enjoyable and even thought-provoking read. The diverse themes of Partition, communal tension, politics, democratic reform, contrast between small town and metropolitan life, generation gaps and romance are balanced skillfully, so that justice is done to all. And Seth's wit, in the form of Kuku's couplets, for example, adds liveliness and hilarity to the novel.
Overall, a very satisfying read, though I wish I'd been able to get the version that is divided into two volumes!
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LibraryThing member Secret7
An incredibly dense and detailed history of families connecting in India. Every time I have read this book my understanding and ideas about the story change. A true masterpiece.
LibraryThing member Smits
Such a big book .1474 pages. I liked most of it but way toodetailed. What I did enjoy was the culture and the mindset of the characters. I loved Mrs Rupa Mehra.
LibraryThing member hugh_ashton
I just wish I could keep writing like this at this level for so long. It's an incredible tour de force, and the characters stay in your mind for long after you've closed the cover.
LibraryThing member lesleynicol
Wonderful !
It may be a very long book but it was well worth the time.
It may be a very long book but it was well worth the time.
LibraryThing member DrJohnny
Early in 2010 I read a comment by Alexander McCall Smith (of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books) that one of his goals for the year was to finish A Suitable Boy. It had been in his brief case and around the world with him for about 8 years; he just needed to finish it. I was inspired by his
I accomplished my adopted goal for 2010, and rather liked the book. I can't tell you many of the specifics about the book because it is about 1500 pages long, and I read it over, maybe, 8 years. The generalities, however are:
*** wonderful descriptions of life in India, several urban and rural areas ... both big cities and little towns in the country, and in rich areas as well as extreme poverty,
*** explorations of the political system, and politicians,
*** repeated examples of the incredibly complex social customs of the country (at one point one of the daughters of the main family in the book asks if it is really necessary to send birthday cards to "third cousins, thrice removed"), and
*** many many other interesting stories and facts that make it quite worthwhile to invest 8 years in reading this book, unless you are a faster reader that McCall Smith and I are.
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goal; my copy of A Suitable Boy had been in a pile of books to be read or partially read in the bedroom, probably for about 8 years. I accomplished my adopted goal for 2010, and rather liked the book. I can't tell you many of the specifics about the book because it is about 1500 pages long, and I read it over, maybe, 8 years. The generalities, however are:
*** wonderful descriptions of life in India, several urban and rural areas ... both big cities and little towns in the country, and in rich areas as well as extreme poverty,
*** explorations of the political system, and politicians,
*** repeated examples of the incredibly complex social customs of the country (at one point one of the daughters of the main family in the book asks if it is really necessary to send birthday cards to "third cousins, thrice removed"), and
*** many many other interesting stories and facts that make it quite worthwhile to invest 8 years in reading this book, unless you are a faster reader that McCall Smith and I are.
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
This is a novel of India set in the early 1950s just after the partition, Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy provides a window into the culture and history of India at that juncture in its history through a romance about a young girl, Lata, whose mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, is searching for a "suitable boy"
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for her to marry. The novel's opening section succeeded in immediately arresting my attention. Some of the most notable aspects of the novel include the subtle ways that the author suggests the continuing cultural influence of England, from the impact of literary awards to the reading habits of several of the characters. Moreover the novel successfully includes all aspects of Indian life and nationality from the caste system to religious differences between Hindus and Muslims to the impact of changes in business and government life on the four families at the center of the novel. Seth's novel is a tour de force that demonstrates his skill in writing, knowledge of India, and his ability to marry the charms of a classical romance novel within the broad reach of a realistic family and nationalistic saga. Without disclosing the plot details I can only assure the reader that it is worth all 1400 plus pages. The thematic development of the clash between Hindu and Muslim cultures is particularly well portrayed with the impact of historical events on the national level mirrored by dramatic events among the main families whose lives fill the plot and subplots of the novel. It is rare that such a long book is both an entertaining read and an intellectually satisfying challenge. Vikram Seth has succeeded in both areas. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0141047631 / 9780141047638
Physical description
1552 p.
Pages
1552