Can I just say, I'm glad I'm finished with this mammoth book? I have a lot of complaints about this book, but there is no point in going into those.

Yet, here I go, anyway:

1) A book this long is so much more enjoyable to read in e-book form. None available. (I can't believe a sequel is being written. It's been 13 years since this was published and no sign of A Suitable Girl yet. I wonder how many pages it will be?)

2) A book that revolves so much around religions that are unfamiliar is so much more enjoyable if things are explained a little more. Goodness knows the book took the time with everything else.

3) The politics sections, hefty chunks of this book, left me both lost and bored. That is a personal issue, I suppose. I loathe politics. In hindsight, given that I read this during the height of the 2016 US Presidential election, I could have chosen a better escape from the real world.

4) Somehow, even 1400 pages in, I still had to look at the family trees at the front of the book to keep straight who was whose sister, brother-in-law, mother. Again, that is on me, I guess. (Reminded me of my relationship with the family trees in One Hundred Years of Solitude, except here at least the names were more distinct.)

That said, I learned a lot about post-partition India. (Heck, I'll admit it: I learned about partition, which I was wholly unaware of. Blame my Western education.) I did get a few chuckles here and there which is just absolutely critical to my awarding this three, instead of two, stars.

Oh, and I checked this book off of my BBC Great Reads list. It only took me most of the year and an extended break from the book to do it.

This book. THIS BOOK. I don't reread books terribly often, particularly not 1500-page books, but this one deserved it. It was the perfect way to get out of my head in a quarantine, and I love it as much as the first time. Possibly more, since I wasn't quite as caught up with wondering what happens next, and could just sink in and revel.
"Sinking in" is really the best way I can describe the reading experience. The story takes place in India shortly after Independence, and is populated with people who, like their country, are trying to find identity and meaning, and struggling to figure out where on the "old ways vs new" spectrum they want to be. It is a family saga, and I'd caution readers to make themselves notes of all the interrelationships between the characters. (Family trees of the four main families are provided, but they do not show how the families are all connected. Also, the book features dozens of other characters unrelated to those four groups, who pop in and out of the narrative.)
What is it about? Weeelllll... A lot, and yet not all that much. Basically it is about a mother searching for the appropriate husband for her daughter, and the daughter not entirely certain she wants Mom's help. But there are myriad subplots, both domestic and larger in scale, that weave in and out of the central story. And the characters feel so real, and are so clearly beloved by the author, that reading this book feels like inviting an old friend over for coffee - it doesn't matter what you do, and you might not do much at all, the important thing is the pleasure of the company.
India itself is almost a character in its own right. The descriptions are so vivid that you can almost smell the spices and gardens, hear the noise of the traffic and animals and dozens of languages, see the bright colors of the flowers and clothing and temples.
Yes, this book is a doorstop. But the "sub-books" within are all nicely contained and mostly under 100 pages each, so it is more manageable than it appears. And the writing is light and accessible, never too dense or self-important. Vikram Seth is a musician of the English language.
My wrists are glad that I finished the book, but my soul wishes it were longer.

What if the real suitable boy was the friends we made along the way?

Love this epic tale of a woman coming of age in post-partition India. Lots of fascinating history and culture embedded in a lovely, colorful narrative.

i plead the fifth.

Reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth was one of the best decisions I ever took. A Suitable Boy, a humungous novel of approximately 1500 pages can confidently be claimed as one of the longest novels in English, if not the longest. As the blurb of the book says, at its core it is a love story, it portrays the young protagonist’s journey of finding love and its meaning. But, it will be a gross understatement to label it as merely a love story because the scope of this immense novel extends beyond all such conventional labelling. It explores every spectrum of life, or to be precise Indian life, encompassing within its ambit politics, law, religion, academia, Nawabi culture, geography, etc. I doubt whether there is any aspect of everyday life that doesn’t find mention in this book. The novel leisurely unfolds before the readers a panoramic view of India, including the marvellous and praiseworthy as well as the abdominal and ugly.
The novel is set in the 1950s; it covers the years 1950- 1952 with a particular emphasis on the year 1951. Though set almost 70 years ago and written almost 30 years ago, the characters, plots and themes of the novel feel extremely relevant and contemporary as if 70 long years have not elapsed between the characters’ lives and ours. Though, A Suitable Boy chiefly focuses on the 19 years old Lata Mehra, yet it also allows the reader to plunge into the depths of other characters’ lives. Indeed, each and every character, even the seemingly minor ones are so well drawn that they threaten to come out of the pages and take a life of their own.
The novel is narrated by an unknown omniscient narrator who takes the reader across different segments of Indian society throughout the book. Each and every sentence in the novel, no matter however inane or edifying, enhances the richness of the novel. Though the novel can at times strongly resemble soap operas yet it presents a realistic portrayal of every character as well as state, religious and academic institutions with all their flaws and imperfections. Indeed, realism and staying true to the social mores of the 1950s are the strongest merits of A Suitable Boy. Though, I was disappointed by the ending yet I knew that any alternative ending would not have been as grounded in reality as the one Seth has presented, thereby disrupting the consistency of the novel. For me the ending also serves as a reminder that life is not a wish granting factory; life has its own way and it is better to know when one should bend to its ways. Too much rigidity will doom one to snap, just like Rasheed.
Throughout the course of my reading A Suitable Boy, I experienced a whirlwind of emotions. I empathised so strongly with the characters that long after I had completed reading it I couldn’t bring myself out of their worlds. Though it is an immense book with around 591,552 words yet it doesn’t tell its story in a bland and explicit manner. Even with such a humungous bulk of words Seth adroitly manages to tell the story in a subtle, insinuating just like the ghazals of Mir, Ghalib and Dagh Sahib.
It is worth all the time it takes to be read. Reading it is such a pleasant and moving experience that no one should be deprived of experiencing. I would go as far as to say reading A Suitable Boy is a once in a lifetime experience (of course you can repeat it) and everyone should experience it.
A few of my favourite quotes from A Suitable Boy are:
“One never knows anyone in this world, one cannot read anyone’s heart, no one ever knows whom to believe and whom to trust.”
My Rating - 5 ⭐

Longest book I've ever read; meandering and intricate, sometimes slow; funny and sweet and self-conscious in the best way; the perfect end to the [b:The Reading List|55276648|The Reading List|Sara Nisha Adams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1611366574l/55276648._SY75_.jpg|83698237]; a delight.