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A Suitable Boy

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 17,421 ratings · 994 reviews

Vikram Seth's novel is, at its core, a love story: Lata and her mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, are both trying to find -- through love or through exacting maternal appraisal -- a suitable boy for Lata to marry. Set in the early 1950s, in an India newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis, A Suitable Boy takes us into the richly imagined world of four large exten

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Paperback, 1488 pages

Published October 4th 2005 by Harper Perennial Modern Classics (first published 1993)

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Nov 23, 2012 Paul rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone with an insatiable interest in every possible detail about every possible person

Shelves: really-big-timeconsumers, novels, india

After about page 200 I realised this was like eating Turkish Delight morning noon and night and my spiritual teeth were beginning to dissolve under a tide of sickliness which didn't ever let up. All these characters are so unbearably cute, even the less-nice ones. If post-independent India was crossed with Bambi, it would be Vikram Seth's endless gurgling prose.
So I stopped reading and drove several three inch nails into my head, and I've been all right since then.

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Jul 08, 2012 Hayes rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bc-bookring, tbr-challenge-2012, read-in-2012

3.5* Nope... 3 stars

Vikki, baby... Listen to me what I say: Put down that manuscript... you know, the sequel, that "Girl" story... and run, do not walk, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, go directly to Bollywood and write the effing screenplay to this book. This would make such a good mini series, and I mean you've had almost 20 years and everything. What are you waiting for!?!

Think of the possibilities!

The beautiful women.
The handsome men.
The fabulous stories.
The lush costumes.
The incredible...more

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Oct 24, 2011 Sim rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone!

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. *Spoiler alert*

I finally finished reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. For some reason, I used to avoid picking it up and kept putting it off. I suppose it was mainly the size (it’s one thick book - approximately 1500 pages!) but I also think it had to do with this misconception I had that it would be a tough read, that Seth’s writing would be pompous and saturated with flowery descriptions of rivers winding through the green and yellow village of GraamNagar. Imagine my surprise when I find th...more *Spoiler alert*

I finally finished reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. For some reason, I used to avoid picking it up and kept putting it off. I suppose it was mainly the size (it’s one thick book - approximately 1500 pages!) but I also think it had to do with this misconception I had that it would be a tough read, that Seth’s writing would be pompous and saturated with flowery descriptions of rivers winding through the green and yellow village of GraamNagar. Imagine my surprise when I find that the language is smooth, his tone light and his narrative interesting. The fact that Seth managed to keep the threads of the numerous plots and subplots clear in his head is an accomplishment in itself, but even more impressive is how each characters of his story is real; they are people we recognize, with mannerisms we’ve noticed in ourselves and others, and dialogues we’ve heard, thought or spoken.

The title might suggest that it’s the story of finding the perfect marriage candidate for the central character but that would be belittling the grand work that is A Suitable Boy. It is the story of the Mehras, the Kapoors, the Khans, the Chatterjis and a myriad of other characters, such as Saeeda Bai and Kakoli, many of whom are fleshed out substantially, even when their appearance is minimal. The beauty of the story arises from their interactions with each other, their thoughts and their ups and downs. Little details that create vivid images of a decaying courtesan’s world, a cosmopolitan Calcutta, the shoemakers’ rank (as in rancid) neighbourhoods and so on. The story covers about a year of the characters’ lives, detailing the day to day mundanity. Little decisions — a smile here, a letter there, a glass of nimbu pani (lemon-water) every now and then - are what makes the story. Yet these little decisions, these microsteps that are taken, culminate in huge changes that are noticed only in hindsight.

I’m probably not giving away any surprises when I say that I was thoroughly pissed off at Lata Mehra’s decision to marry Haresh Khanna. I shouldn’t have been surprised because Lata does say in the first few pages, ” I always obey my mother” and so the ending wasn’t so much a surprise as it was a disappointment. I did understand why she did it, but I couldn’t help my acute disappointment in her all the same. I was genuinely frustrated at her pigheadedness, her thought process that led her to this decision. I was angry because I am afraid that her reasoning resonated with the coward in everyone, especially south asian girls who have had to, or will have to, at least discuss the concept of arranged marriage at some point in their lives.

Ironically, her mother later suffered a number of qualms herself about whether Haresh would be the right boy for her daughter. Had Lata decided against the marriage, Mrs. Mehra would have been perfectly amenable, especially since Lata’s yuppie brother Arun did not condone the marriage either. So why did Lata decide to snub both Kabir, the Muslim she fell in love with, or Amit, the Bengali poet she could fall in love with easily? Her reasoning in the last few pages was scary because it reminded me of how we would rather our lives be a smooth ride of mediocrity than a roller coaster of brilliance that plummets from time to time. We choose to be mediocre-ly happy - the utilitarian idea that the “aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or the greatest happiness of the greatest number” (http://www.m-w.com).

She says, “I’m not myself when I’m with him [Kabir]. I ask myself, who is this - this jealous, obsessed woman….I don’t want to [passionately love him], I don’t know want to. If that’s what passion means, I dont’ want it.”

Once Lata makes her decision, we know that she will lead her life contently enough. It upset me because I saw Lata in a number of people I know in real life, including myself. Mind you, I am not advocating against arranged marriage as a whole because I know they can work. Lata’s sister Savita, who marries Pran after meeting him only once in front of her elders, does genuinely fall in love with him and go on to lead a happy life. So it’s not that arranged marriages are wrong. I just felt that Lata was wrong in her decision to marry Haresh. Even if he was considered fair and good looking, confident and ambitious. Ironically, from Haresh’s side, it’s not exactly a traditional arranged marriage. He arranges his nuptials himself because he doesn’t like the parents getting involved in this matter; his parents already know that he will run away (metaphorically speaking) if they try to set him up. So to Haresh, this is a decision he’s making by himself for his own benefit. Haresh had already been in love with someone else before, had neatly folded away his Devdas romanticism for that girl and was ready now to live a contented life with someone else (it just happened to be Lata). He is oh so bloody honest about his feelings for this girl, and that he knows it won’t ever happen and so must move on… Lata wanted his practicality, his forceful ability to get things done, his willingness to help out her family members. What angered me was the underlying assumption that Kabir/Amit couldn’t be all those things, that they would be selfish beings simply because they would also love her, and she would have to him (either him) back.

My favourite characters in the book are Amit Chatterji and Pran Kapoor. I know Vikram Seth denies fashioning Amit after him, but to be honest, for some reason while I was reading about Amit’s tendencies for the necessary inactivity that comes with being a writer, I thought of Seth. What I liked about Amit was that he was the uber intellectual: his tone was oft-sardonic, his amusement frequent, his observations of people accepting and piercing. He talked a lot and said very little. He was cryptic in his cynicism. I loved him. Lata rejects him on the basis of his being "high-maintenance" type - someone who needs his meals laid out for him, who wouldn’t have time for her if he was working on a novel, and whose moodswings are as frequent as her own. I don’t buy that completely. He did make the time for her, he knew how to be charming and behave in society (he wasn’t an absent-minded intellectual), he knew what he wanted and he knew how to get what he wants. Lata was right in that he wouldn’t fall apart at her rejection, but I think it’s not his insensitivity that would allow him to be friends with her after her marriage, but his excessive civility, his sophistication and his writer’s acceptance of life.

My other favourite character, Pran Kapoor - a thin, dark quiet professor - is a sweetheart. The kind of nice guy who doesn’t begrudge his mother-in-law’s long vacations with them, who plays April Fools Day jokes on people because “those who aren’t conscious of the date must take the consequences”. He is the ultimate good son, who quietly accepts his arranged marriage and falls in love with his wife. His was the real arranged marriage, in the true sense of the word, and yet you cannot dislike him or his wife Savita because they are both so lovable people, that you just know that they were destined to be together, no matter how they got together.

For those of you who haven’t read it, do. Trust me, I can’t begin to describe the many shades there are to each character and how nothing I say will completely do justice to them. I got mad at one character’s one decision, not at the book. Seth is amazing. His voice is uninstrusive and style very graceful. That’s the word: graceful. Despite its size, you get a soft feeling reading it. True it is a tad tedious at times. Some of the political parts and some of the characters could have been done without. But in the end, you can’t get angry at someone who gives you the whole cake when all you asked for was a slice.

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Oct 30, 2011 Whitaker rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-read, contemporary-fiction, india, recommended-unreservedly, would-kill-if-thrown

I know some GR’ers didn’t really cotton on to the style of this book. And maybe it was because I read this while on vacation in India itself, but wow! Just W.O.W! It’s a fucking long book—1,500 pages. And every single page was worth the time I spent on it and more.

If Midnight’s Children is India’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, then A Suitable Boy must be its War and Peace. It’s got the same melding of personal lives seen in amidst great national events. Instead of the romance of Natasha and Pi...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Neha rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009, kwench

A Suitable boy is a very sutiable book for both boys & girls..

When I borrowed this book from the library I found it surprisingly huge and scary, everyone who saw me carrying it was equally astounded. I started having my doubts that what if the book becomes a lousy read and I end up wasting my time or leave it half read.. but the book from Page 1 had a smooth pace & never for once lost my interest. SO when Vikram Seth says in his opening lines..

'Buy me before good sense insists,
You’ll s...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Megan Baxter rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was never entirely sure who belonged to what family in this book, but it never really bothered me. I mean, after we switched back to a different group of characters, I was able to reconstruct who they were related to fairly easily, but I never could hold the genealogies in my mind.

Which is a way of saying that this is another large sprawling family book, and that's a genre I tend to love, if they're done well. And this one was.

And more than just a sprawling family tale set in India, it's about...more

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Dec 02, 2007 Danielle Franco-Malone rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dani-s-very-faves, dani-s-top-10

This is one of my five all time favorite books (along with the Handmaid's Tale, On Beauty, the Red Tent, & Corelli's Mandolin). It is a patch work story of many characters' lives; by the end of the story, you see how they all intersect.

This was one of those books where when I finished the book I was completely invested in each of the character's life. The story is set in post-independence India and explores a number of social/political issues of the time (i.e. land reform, muslim-hindu rela...more

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Jun 18, 2007 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who reads

Shelves: foreverbooks

Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy is one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life. It's a long book. But it is very engaging; I managed to read it in one stretch, with a break to sleep, while I awaited the movers to take me and my belongings across the counry. To my chagrin I had completed it before my flight, and when it finished I didn't want the book to be over, I wanted to go back and re-read it from the beginning. It is one of the best books about life in India I've ever read, it is th...more

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Apr 03, 2010 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-reads, best-of-2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. ATTENTION: SMALL SPOILERS AT THE END!

This book literally had it all: love, intrigue, death, birth, lust, suspense, comedy, sibling rivalry, politics, religion, history, all with an overly dramatic mom. While I didn't give this five stars because I loved the book, I gave it five stars because of its complexity. This wasn't just a story, I was transferred to India circa 1951. It totally envelopes you in the story. While the backbone is Lata's quest for "a suitable boy" you become a member of the f...more ATTENTION: SMALL SPOILERS AT THE END!

This book literally had it all: love, intrigue, death, birth, lust, suspense, comedy, sibling rivalry, politics, religion, history, all with an overly dramatic mom. While I didn't give this five stars because I loved the book, I gave it five stars because of its complexity. This wasn't just a story, I was transferred to India circa 1951. It totally envelopes you in the story. While the backbone is Lata's quest for "a suitable boy" you become a member of the four families. It took me quite some time to finally get the families' names straight, who was with which family and married to whom, as there were some marriages that crossed between them. Even on the morning I finished this, I still paged back to the family trees.

There were so many different stories going on at the same time, but Seth smartly sprinkled them throughout the book. If you get bored, have no fear, you'll move on to something else soon enough. Each "chapter" or couplet as he had, usually had two stories that he seamlessly wove together, so much so it was a few pages in before I realized we had moved on to another part of the story.

His writing? Eh, was a bit disappointed. I adored "An Equal Music," and part of that was his lyrical writing. Heck, I even picked up the violin for about a year because I was so intrigued about the music quartet! This almost felt like it was translated to me, although I know it wasn't. Was stilted in parts, and not one of a finessed writer, although this may have been one of his first books.

The problem of having a book this long is it's like time, you start to forget what happened in the beginning. I felt that way halfway through, I had to keep reminding myself of certain things that happened to some of the characters.

To end, I'll put in two small spoilers. I was SO disappointed with the boy Lata marries. How I wanted her to end up with Kabir. Ah, unrequited love, and I'm always looking for that happy ending. Also, I felt that Vikram Seth was the poet, Amit=. There were a couple of things that lead me to think that.

A couple of friends asked me the other day should they read it. I wouldn't recommend a 1,000-plus page book, as something this long is truly an investment, even for someone who reads a lot. Do I think it was worth it? Whenever I am involved in a book, I always wonder what is happening with the characters when I close the cover, and I know I will wonder about these four families. Is Lata happy in her marriage? How is Maan doing? Is Parvati's baby born? I spent the past two months with these people, and for the most part, I liked them all. I'm not jumping up and down for joy (well, maybe because I can read something else!) that this book was so incredible, it was too complex and detailed for me to do that. But yes, it was worth it.
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Nov 11, 2012 Sheila rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, historical-fiction, big-book

How do I review this book? It is long...1,350 pages long...which for this book is TOO long.
It is heavy...as in 4 1/2 pounds heavy...and not available in an e-book version.
I built up my forearm muscles and strained my wrists reading all 1,350 pages of this 4 1/2 pound monstrosity.

As to the contents of the book...did I mention it is TOO long. It was interesting, yes, but too detailed for its own good. The novel covers a year in the life of four familes in India in the 1950's. The story of Lata an...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Sadaf rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love this book. If I had to choose my favourite book of all times, perhaps this one would win it.
I don't know what exactly is the reason for loving it so. Maybe its because my life situations are similar to the protagonist Lata in the book. Or because of the tender yet moving way in which the book is written. Or the proper timing of humour in the book, or the interesting plot. Maybe its all of that together.
The book begins with Lata at her sister Savita's wedding, where we come to know of La...more

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May 22, 2011 James rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: u-of-chicago, historical-fiction, indian-lit

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" 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 contin...more

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Jan 11, 2008 Lulu rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I finally finished it. Overall, it was a good read but I can't say that it was one of my favorites.

1. It was too long. The stories could have been told in a more succinct way. This includes the politics. I found myself constantly re-reading those sections.
2. The author should have included a glossary to define some of the terms he used or used the words in a way that I could figure out what he was talking about. In some places he did this but not nearly enough and so I found myself trying to fig...more

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Lulu I finally finished it. Overall, it was a good read but I can't say that it was one of my favorites.

1. It was too long. The stories could have been tol...more
Mar 24, 2008 11:10pm

Virginia Wow. I never comment on random people's posts but I agree 100% with everything you said about this book!
Jun 08, 2008 02:49pm

Samir I agree. I really wish the author had written more about Maan's future. Did he avenge his father's loss in the elction by running against Waris? What...more
Oct 21, 2008 05:11pm

Jun 14, 2007 Ellie Ray rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those interested in Indian literature and society, people with strong wrists and long plane flights

This book combines Jane Austen's sensitivity to the nuances of social interaction and compelling characters with a Tolstoyesque interest in every social, political, economic and religious detail pertaining to the greater world of the plot. Lata, the main character, is a college student in Brahmpur in the 1950s whose mother is determined to marry her off to some nice middle-class boy (hence the title), but the 1400+ novel (one of the longest ever published in English) often ignores her for chapte...more

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Jul 01, 2008 Quirine rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have an in-built horror of books that stray on longer than 300 pages. Anything longer and I always find the story sagging somewhere towards the middle and losing me by the end. Except with A Suitable Boy. It's over 1000 (tightly written) pages and I only wish it could have gone on and on. This sprawling saga takes you all over India in the 50s, into the lives of a dozen or so interconnected characters. And yet Seth masterfully manages to keep each story bubbling on the stove with delicious res...more

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Apr 20, 2010 Joyce Lagow rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 host of characters from others.[return][return]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...more 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 host of characters from others.[return][return]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. [return][return] 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.[return][return]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.[return][return]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.[return][return]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.[return][return]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.[return][return]Highly recommended.[return][return](less)

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Feb 26, 2009 Prashant R rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book, almost two decades ago, when it first released in 1991. I had just appeared for my 12th grade exams and was hungrily soaking up books, through my vacations. I borrowed it from my neighborhood "circulating" library in Bombay, for a princely sum of Rs 50/- (a single US $). This was also the first book by an Indian author i had read.The scope, the breadth and the range of characters, in this book, are breathtaking. I could associate with some of the characters and certainly the mi...more

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Jan 18, 2009 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars

With more than 1900 pages this was the greatest tome I have ever read.
Because of my studies I was not able to read it within a short time (this is really possible, I am sure). This wonderful novel, the many interesting and authentic characters accompanied me through months. When I finally finished the book, I really started missing the persons.
Seth's novel is unique written. I became curious about it, and finally bought it, because wonderful author Sharon Maas (Of Marriageable Age) told at her h...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Scherzadee rated it 2 of 5 stars

Well, I feel bad for ever rating a book a two stars, but hey, that is the feeling in my heart. I was working as a cashier in a grocery store and I had A Fine Balance on my cash register to peak and read during dead times. A customer asked me if I was enjoying it (although ,,enjoying'' that book is not exactly the word, because it is incredibly painful and gorgeous) in any events, I am getting side tracked. The lady told me she had also loved the work of Rohinton Mistry and the only book she coul...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Bramha Raju rated it 5 of 5 stars

I admit without a semblance of ignominy that my convent bred education never allowed me to enjoy my own clan- Indian authors. But recently, as my brother would say, I have developed a taste for it. When this book was released and made such a mayhem in the readers world, the size of the book and the language put me off. It has been sitting on my shelf and quietly staring at me until I couldn’t ignore it any longer. I finally read it and now at 37 years old and 13 years plus married life, I thorou...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Fergus Ray murray rated it 5 of 5 stars

Seth's epic portrait of mid-twentieth-century India is a tremendously easy read, despite the richness of detail he packs in, and I found that its 1300-odd pages passed by amazingly quickly, leaving me wanting more. The whole story takes place over the course of one eventful year - a striking contrast with Gabriel Garcia Marquez's much shorter 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', which I read immediately before it. Both books include a family tree near the beginning, emphasising how central the idea...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Candace rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read "A Suitable Boy" when it came out and loved it. I just re-read it, and actually loved it even more. The story is so engrossing, each character so completely developed, that is it hard to move on once you turn the last page. What else will give a reader such a sense of sitting in on a huge story with people you miss when the book is through? And then there are these questions: was Lata's choice the right one? What's going on between Maan and Firoz? Is the future going to be as tough on Sae...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Irene rated it 5 of 5 stars

At just shy of 1,500 pages, this could easily have become tedious or unwieldy. But, Seth writes with amazing skill, never taking an easily available cliché or allowing a plot thread to simply dangle. The book takes place from the spring of 1950 to the spring of 1951 in a fictional college town in India. The lives of four interwoven families are depicted during this year; Hindi and Muslim, devout and secular, elected official and unremarkable civil servant, academics and self-made business men, t...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Babette rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I am not sure how this book got added to my reading list, but it was a good thing. The novel (over 1300 pages!) is set in India in the early 1950s. The center of the story Lata, and her experiences and decisions as her mother searches for a suitable boy for her to marry. Around her the author weaves the story of a newly independent country, one that has already dealt with the partition of Pakistan, and the social and political challenges its citizens face. These are reflected through the persona...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Maggie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It took me three months, but I did it. I finished reading A Suitable Boy.

Not that it was a difficult or boring book to read; on the contrary, I was surprised that such a long book managed to hold my attention. I read every word, never finding the need to skim through any of it. Seth's writing is engaging and easy to read, even when he writes about politics or history. The plot, with all its ups and downs, is at times dramatic but never unrealistic, and very seldom mundane.

Although the premise of...more It took me three months, but I did it. I finished reading A Suitable Boy.

Not that it was a difficult or boring book to read; on the contrary, I was surprised that such a long book managed to hold my attention. I read every word, never finding the need to skim through any of it. Seth's writing is engaging and easy to read, even when he writes about politics or history. The plot, with all its ups and downs, is at times dramatic but never unrealistic, and very seldom mundane.

Although the premise of the book is about a girl and her mother looking for a suitable husband, this is really a book that has everything that can happen in India. There is history and politics, with India gearing up for its first General Election. There is religion, with constant tension and occasionally violence between the Hindus and the Muslims, and India and Pakistan. There is love, lots of it – passionate romance, steady love, budding romance, unrequited love, infatuation, fading feelings, doting love, wild uncontrollable love and sex, familial affection, forbidden love, homosexual love, adultery, overprotective love, arranged marriages, wistful love for the dead, and several other types. There are social norms and discrimination and class differences, between the rich and the poor, the Europeans (particularly the English) and the Indians, the educated and uneducated, the urban and rural dwellers, people from different castes, and people of different skin colours. There is birth and death and illness. There is nature and architecture. English literature, traditional Indian music, and Czech shoes all play a part. There is something for everyone in this book, and Seth's ability to weave it all together shows a great amount of research and an impressive understanding of all things related to India, and clarity of thought and writing as well.

But it was the characters that really drew me in. There are two main plotlines, one of Lata, stubborn yet shy, looking for a husband amongst her three suitors, with her dramatically emotional and controlling mother Mrs Rupa Mehra insisting on her choosing a suitable one, and one of Maan, son of the minister Mahesh Kapoor, and his torrid affair with the courtesan Saeeda Bai. Each of them has their own families with their own plotlines, and everyone in their families have their friends, acquaintances and enemies, many of whom interact with an even wider web of people. Yet Seth manages to give everyone in the novel a distinct personality, and when minor characters reappeared I seldom had any difficulty remembering who they were and what they had done. The characters were realistic, with all the major characters and some of the minor ones having both good and bad traits, and even the unlikeable characters had moments where the reader sympathised with them.

There are too many characters to mention in detail, but my favourites were Amit and Maan. Amit Chatterji, son of the judge Justice Chatterji, eldest of five eccentric children, brother of Lata's vain sister-in-law and one of Lata's suitors, attracted me with his sardonic wit, self-deprecation, humility, and genuine feelings for Lata. A famous Cambridge-educated lawyer-turned-poet, he had few friends, preferring to remain at home making fun of his siblings and writing under influence of his Muse. He was humorous and easygoing, but there was something darker in his poetry that never quite emerged in character. Lata eventually rejected him, and despite his disappointment he took it magnanimously, in keeping with his personality. Maan was a totally different character. Wild and unmanageable, he spent the greater part of the book courting Saeeda Bai to the distress of his family, drinking, gambling, and irresponsibly avoiding his business and fiancee in Banaras. Despite this, I liked his natural generosity and impulsive carefreeness, and even came to hope that good things would come out of his impossible relatioship with Saeeda Bai. I was touched when he reconnected with his father during the election campaigns, distraught when he was tormented at stabbing his friend Firoz in a drunken rage, and relieved when he was eventually acquitted and made up with Firoz. I admit that I initially disapproved of him, but he grew on me and in the end I was heartened by his maturation.

Much has been made of Lata eventually choosing the pompous yet down-to-earth Haresh. Certainly, he was the most boring of the three suitors, and many would have preferred her to choose Kabir, the Muslim (and thus forbidden) boy with whom she had a passionate relationship, or Amit, who was reserved about his unrequited feelings for her. But when I read her explanations to Malati at the end, I could understand why she chose Haresh. Amit was always out of the question, with Lata never returning his feelings. But Kabir? He may seem the perfect choice for those who believe in love above everything else, but in Lata's words, she was "out of control" with him, "utterly useless for anything". Her passion for him was too strong and too dangerous, and didn't gel with her usual restrained personality. She became someone else when she was with Kabir. Haresh, on the other hand, didn't impress Lata initially, but his steadiness, honesty, kind-heartedness and faithfulness to Lata eventually won her over, and she saw him as someone that she liked and might even love. He was someone that Lata could live peacefully and build a stable relationship with.

I enjoyed the poetry as well. My favourites were the Kakoli couplets, humourous and frivolous rhyming couplets that the Chatterji siblings, and especially Kakoli, spouted at inappropriate events. Amit's haunting poetry was nice, the bad poetry recited at the Brahmpur Literary Society was funny, and the lyrics of Indian songs were used to great effect. Even the acknowledgements and content pages were rhymed poems.

I cannot do this book justice. There is too much to say about it. I will probably never read it again as it is too long, but I urge you to read it if you haven't done so yet.(less)

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Aug 28, 2012 Jodyhatter honeybunny rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book in the September of the year that I finished college. I had no TV, was working 6 day weeks for chuff-all money and was suffering a distinct dose of post-college blues. I missed my friends and I missed the fecklessness of university. So I started reading this book. And I fell in love with it. I would come home from work, pick it up and be transported into another world. The tale is a beautiful, beguiling one. I can scarcely remember it now. so long has it been since I read it (am...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Nia Forrester rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-time-favorites

My father brought this book home one day when I was visiting from college. It is quite the tome. I can't remember how many pages, but I would wager it's well past 800. And despite that, I was hooked from beginning to end, and absolutely heartbroken when it did in fact end. It is the epic story of a mother's quest in India to find "a suitable boy" for her headstrong and independent minded daughter to marry. The daughter is torn between passion and duty, embodied in two very different suitors. The...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Mary Drew rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, best-book, historical-fiction, true-to-life

I first read this when I was in the "Quality Paperback Book Club" which sent you their paperbacks on a monthly or tri-weekly basis or something. Usually they just sent you the book and you were supposed to send them back if you didn't want it. They hoped you would be too lazy to send it back, or you'd spill coffee on it and not be able to. They used to have the same type of thing for records too (The Columbia Record Club!).

Somehow I got in on a deal where they didn't send the book unless I want...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Harsh rated it 3 of 5 stars

A Suitable Boy is a literary marathon or perhaps a literary Tour de France. You go thru different terrains (emotions), some mundane, some thrilling, some exciting, some ordinary. In the end, you have to love the masterpiece even though it bleeds superfluousness. I'd say that the first 600-odd pages of 1350-page book are the most wonderful when the character development happens. The next 500-odd are regular, the last 200 build and abruptly burn the climax.

I'd say A Suitable Boy could have been s...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Susy rated it 4 of 5 stars

At 1474 pages, this novel about a newly independent India is both massive in scope and microscopically specific in detail. The title refers to the goal of all good Indian parents - to find a suitable boy (or girl) for their child to marry; in 1951 these very virtually all arranged marriages. And while that plot threats continuously throughout the story, it is only one of many. Seth creates four families whose lives intersect by marriage, politics and community; he blends the Muslim and Hindu cul...more

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About Vikram Seth

Vikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist.

During the course of his doctorate studies at Stanford, he did his field work in China and translated Hindi and Chinese poetry into English. He returned to Delhi via Xinjiang and Tibet which led to a travel narrative From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983) which won...more

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“But I too hate long books: the better, the worse. If they're bad they merely make me pant with the effort of holding them up for a few minutes. But if they're good, I turn into a social moron for days, refusing to go out of my room, scowling and growling at interruptions, ignoring weddings and funerals, and making enemies out of friends. I still bear the scars of Middlemarch.” — 70 people liked it

“God save us from people who mean well.” — 56 people liked it

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