Posted by Sterling on 3/6/2009, 8:24:16, in reply to "Re: A Suitable Boy"
98.71.104.142
I thought I'd move to this thread, as I finished A Suitable Boy, and I would like to open the discussion.
A 1700+ page novel is certain to be about several things, but my first impression after finishing the novel is that it could have been named "A Treatise Against Passion." The lines that Lata quotes from Clough near the end of the book are from "Amours de Voyage," Canto II, Stanza XI. I found it easily on the Web; I would embed a link here if I knew how. Anyway, Lata does have the gist of the verse.
Passion gets a very bad rap in this novel. This is most prominent in the relationship between Maan and Saeeda Bai, due to which he almost kills his best friend (and boyhood lover). However, we also see the shallow, unfaithful marriage of Arun and Meenakshi, and the unsatisfactory union of Dr. Kishen Chand Seth and Parvati. By contrast, we have the happy, supportive marriage of Pran and Savita. Lata reflects that Savita would have been just as happy and fulfilled if she had married someone else.
Somehow, perhaps because I'm an American with American cultural values, I thought "a suitable boy" was an ironic title. Far from it! Lata does indeed pick the most "suitable" suitor. (My apologies for what sounds like a lame joke.) She turns against the apparent love of her life, Kabir. She also turns against wealth, wit, and poetry by rejecting Amit (probably wisely). I find it hard to feel any enthusiasm at the end of the novel for her selection of Haresh. Haresh had a passion, too, in Simran. I suppose he has made the right choice by setting aside an "impossible" marriage, although my heart rebels against the idea that religiously mixed marriages should be avoided at all costs. Anyway, Haresh seems anbitious, energetic, and well-meaning. He is also moody, quick to anger, and wears those "co-respondent" shoes. He is indeed the most "suitable," but I would have liked Lata to enter into marriage with more love and passion.
Message Thread:
« Back to thread