I am cross-posting an essay I wrote about my favorite novel: A Suitable Boy.  This essay was originally published in 2012Â
There are some works of literature that are like comfort foodâready for one to dip into whenever one is in need of a pick-me-up. For me, Vikram Sethâs 1993 magnum opus, A Suitable Boy, is one such work. The charactersâranging from the anxious and melodramatic Mrs. Rupa Mehra to the crazy Chatterjee family to the beautiful Muslim courtesan Saaeda Bai Firozabadiâ are like old friends whom one has missed after a long absence. Every time I read the novel (and I have read it several times) I find new things to delight and ponder.
The novel begins with what in my opinion is one of the best openings in modern literature, one that immediately alludes to Jane Austen. Just as Pride and Prejudice begins with the narrator stating âIt is a truth universally acknowledged ,that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wifeâ, A Suitable Boy opens with the sentence: ” âYou too will marry a boy I choose,â said Mrs. Rupa Mehra firmly to her younger daughter.â With this sentence, Seth immediately lets the reader know what the book will be about: Mrs. Rupa Mehraâs search to find a suitable match for her daughter Lata. The novel opens at the wedding of Lataâs elder sister Savita. It will conclude with another wedding, that of Lata herself. Continue reading Reflections: Vikram Seth’s ‘A Suitable Boy’- An Epic Portrait of 1950s India