A Soft Eclipse

by Jayabrato Chatterjee

A Soft Eclipse is the story of Mohini, a Bengali woman caught between the her middle-class upbringing and the sheer shallowness and artificiality of upper-class Bengali society. It is the story of the majority of Indian women, one of sacrifices, compromises and love. Superbly written and laced with a fantastic sense of humor, the novel gives a scathing portrayal of Kolkata's corporate world of the 70s and also takes the reader behind the scenes of Kolkata's superficial high society to show the sexually disturbing and shockingly sad lives that they lived. Even though written by a man, it voices the interesting and mostly disturbing stories of many women in an authentic and brilliant manner. From love stories, family relationships and issues of religion, to the sex lives and illicit affairs of the characters, the novel has every element required to keep the reader interested till the last page.

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli]

The narrative is interesting. Male author speaking of woman is the one narrative that I didn't read so far. Mohini in her roles as a girl, woman, wife and mother pours her feelings from heart.

[Saurabh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sad story of a woman. The narrative is filled with sadness, disappointments, with silver lining at the end. Still, the author who happens to be a male, narrating in a female voice keeps the interest on from start to end. The writer has mentioned that he has got actual stories from high-class women of Kolkata, which was fictionalized in the book. To many, these stories will be unbelievable. I hope none of such stories should exist, although I am sure some of the things do happen.