Posted by Guillermo Maynez
on 9/6/2009, 14:46:54, in reply to "Re: A Suitable Boy"
201.103.197.84
A sequel would be great. Just like Steven, I never warmed up to Maan either. He was just a spoiled kid, lazy, vain, and in the end not very much experienced with women, as we can see from his foolish infatuation with Saeeda Bai. One should always (if ever) approach a professional courtesan (to put it mildly) with the awareness that these women have a hard emotional life, are usually volatile and capricious, but nevertheless, especially after many years of practice, find it hard to throw away their lifestyle and become permanently attached to a single man. After Maan's trip to the Rudhia district and his close encounter with the misery and poverty of the Indian countryside, he would grow up and mature, but he didn't. I have the feeling that, years after the tragic incident with Firoz, he will simply look back at it as a youth adventure, and not a lesson.
I dislike Haresh for exactly the same reasons as Steven: good man, but extremely proud of himself, full of manias and, below the surface, with great anxiety over what other people think of him.
I hope one day he gets out of Prahapore and more into the world, so the dear Lata will shine a little more.
--Previous Message--
: I would certainly like to read a sequel as well. Maybe
: he is working on one. Seth is still just a kid (i.e.
: younger than I am) and hasn't published any fiction in
: ten years.
:
: The novel against passion idea is very apt. What an
: unexpected theme from a poet!
:
: I think Lata's choice of Haresh has a feminist
: element. She wants to be her own person. Kabir
: wouldn't love her as much as she loved him, and Amit's
: celebrity would put her in the background. Instead,
: she marries a man who will be in her shadow socially
: and, she hopes, professionally. Lata makes a safe
: choice just as a man might choose a "good
: homemaker" over a flashy or independent mate. I
: don't particularly like her choice, however. His
: mannerisms and affectations would get on my nerves in
: no time.
:
: Maan's bisexuality surprised me as well. Apparently it
: was an attachment to Firoz only, as there are no clues
: that he has any sexual attraction to other men. I
: could never warm up to Maan. He could never master his
: emotions and desires, no matter how much damage he was
: doing to his family. (The opposite of Lata, of
: course.)
:
: Another theme is that of religious conflict. Seth
: appears to want to demonstrate that there is no
: natural hostility between Hindu and Muslim. The
: greatest friendships and loves in the novel are those
: that cross religious lines.
:
: I would love to be a member of the Chatterji
: household.
:
: --Previous Message--
: I found, to my amazement, that I wanted the book to be
: longer! (Or for there to be a sequel.) I wanted to
: know if Pran's illness returns and whether Savita
: becomes a lawyer. Kabir is simply abandoned. What
: becomes of him? Thank heavens the charges against
: Maan were dropped, but what now? What of poor
: Tasneem? Suicide, incest, attempted murder all swirl
: around her. Does she reach a safe harbor? And so on.
:
: In his little rhyming couplets for each chapter in the
: table of contents, Seth coyly implies that the book is
: ended "--at least for now." I hope there
: is more to come.
:
: I agree with most of your assessments, Guillermo,
: although I wanted Lata to marry Kabir, because he is
: her passion. Obviously the religiously mixed marriage
: is a problem, but they may have the strength to be
: able to cope.
:
: Mrs. Rupa Mehra is pretty scary. However, I
: thought Seth opened a touching window into her heart
: in the passages following her receipt from Meenakshi
: of the hated lacquer box.
:
: I, too, was shocked by the revelation of the affair
: between Maan and Firoz. Maan seemed to have healthy
: (or, as may be, unhealthy) heterosexual drives.
: However, it certainly paid off in the stabbing scene.
: It is as if Maan is betrayed by two lovers at once.
:
: And yes, I would like to hang out with the Chatterjis.
: Obnoxious, true, but definitely fun.
:
: -
:
:
:
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