Musings: A Suitable Boy

It is impossible to attempt a review of Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy without commenting on its length.  This book is immense.  Almost 1500 pages of very small font.  I started it around Memorial Day and finished it on August 1st.  I don't know the last time I ever felt so accomplished for finishing a book.

I read George Eliot's Middlemarch earlier this year, and it's also impossible not to compare the two books.  Both are very long books that follow many characters but focus on a few key ones.  Both are set during a volatile time in history and are steeped in their settings.  Both discuss the impact of a new piece of legislature that would take power away from landowners and give it to the peasants.  Both are about the relationships that exist within families and between people.

They're very similar, but I enjoyed A Suitable Boy more.  Perhaps because it's set in a more modern world but written in a sprawling, unhurried manner.  Perhaps because it's set in India and I enjoyed the references to customs and clothing and food.  Perhaps because I vastly preferred Lata to Dorothea (sorry, Middlemarch fans, but Lata is great and not nearly as martyr-esque).

Yes, I really enjoyed A Suitable Boy, though I was exhausted by its length.  There is so much here, not only about Lata and her family's search to find her a suitable husband, but also about post-Colonial India, about the complex relationships between Hindus and Muslims, about the ancient culture of India juxtaposed against increasing modernity. It's a truly beautiful novel.  The writing is amazing, the vignettes are just as enjoyable to read as the main plot lines, the characters are vivid, and there are unexpected bits of humor that can really delight.  Also, there are a lot of rhymes.  In fact, the Table of Contents is written in rhyme, with a two line summary of each chapter!  (Really, Vikram Seth, if you can be that brief in writing the Table of Contents, why not take that to the book itself?!)

I honestly don't know how to review this book because there is so much in it. No matter what I say, I'd give away some sort of spoiler.  And what I want to talk about is hard to address with someone who hasn't read the book.  I understand now why my friend wanted me to read the book and discuss it with her because it's a novel ripe for discussion.  So many Indian authors write books that are melancholy and cynical.  That is not what Seth has done here, though certainly, melancholy and cynicism are present.  But this book is much more a love letter to a country in flux and coming into its own while holding onto its past, trying so hard to shape ideals without losing its colorful traditions.

I enjoyed reading this book because it highlighted so many of my own conflicting feelings towards India.  I love the festivals, I love the deep-rooted sense of hospitality, I love the weddings, I love the  support that friends and family provide to each other in a way I've not seen in any other culture.  But I hate the religious problems, the caste system, the treatment of women, the inefficiencies and corruption.  When reading A Suitable Boy, I had the sense that Vikram Seth understood my complex feelings for the country and the novel is his (very successful) attempt to showcase his flawed but beloved India to the rest of the world.  Seth brought to life so many holidays and celebrations and traditions - I loved reading about Holi in particular.  He also highlighted just how complicated friendships across religious and political lines could be in the post-Colonial era.  And, in the midst of so much change and drama and trauma, there are characters just going about their lives, trying to make the most of what they have.

This isn't an easy book to read, but that is due so much more to its length than to anything else.  It's eminently readable, if you are willing to give it the patience and attention that it deserves.  It took me over two months to read it, and I admit that there were times when I was frustrated with the length and felt like I would never be done.  But once I was done, I was sad to leave behind the friends I had gotten to know so well and disappointed not to learn what would happen next in their lives.