Frustration

Last Year, one of the bookclubs I go to decided to start a Big Book choice, by which we decided a "big" book to read, and had a few meetings, placed at certain checkpoints in the book, to gather and discuss.  And last year's choice was War and Peace, which I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but I was impressed, and I had a couple of things to say about it. Those Russian writers, they're so good. Russia must be a magical wonderland to develop brilliant creative types like that.  Anyways, I did really enjoy War and Peace, so much so that, in an effort to show thanks and prove just how smart I really am, I rated it Number One in my favorite books of last year. This year, the "Big" book  chosen was "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth.  It was to touch on many of the same themes as War and Peace, except that it was focused on 1951 India and was about 300 pages longer.  I started reading, and got to the "page 900" meeting, and then stopped reading. And then meetings got moved, and I kept not reading it, missed the last meeting, and, while professing that I would finish the book by the end of the year so it will count and I really want to finish it but it wasn't a good time but I'm totally gonna don't you worry about that.......I forgot about it for a few months. And that's when Joe stepped in.

Joe's plan was to have me finish the book now, in an effort to try to "slow me down" so he could gain ground in the overall race for books read while he was reading every Game Of Thrones book ever. (For those who think I'm paranoid, Joe basically told me this was his plan. Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean I'm wrong) So Joe ladled on the guilt like a good Indian mother...or an American mother....all mothers, really.  And I capitulated, and started reading the book again, and finished the last 580 pages in 2 weeks, because fuck that guy. (Look, I love Joe like a brother, but also like a brother I do not handle sibling-led power struggles well. He knows that now.)  So I have finished "A Suitable Boy", and am ready to talk about how I felt about it.

Don't expect find ASB on the top of this year's list.


It won't be on the worst book list either, to be sure.  Honestly, this book might be right in the middle, which is really fitting for a book that I switched numerous times between "Wow, Seth is a really talented writer, and he did that section well" and "oh god how much longer, I don't want to read anymore!"  One major reason for this can be found in one of the quotes at the beginning at the book....

The secret to being a bore is to say everything.- VOLTAIRE

And yeah, I know Seth put that in there with a sense of irony, "Look, I know I put everything in this book, and went off on tangents, but I had my reasons, and this is my art, so I did it the way I wanted to." And that's fine, but we are talking about a book that follows about 15-20 different characters, and goes over a year of time, and had an irritating habit of, in the middle of dealing with one of those characters, shifting gears and going to what's clearly a mood-setter, a blurb about a person or group of people that you will never see again, just to try to give you a feel of life in 50's India.  And I applaud that, but I also point out that if you can't properly set a mood following numerous people over a thousand pages, then you are not doing it right.  And, make no mistake, Seth largely does it right, which just makes the tangents more frustrating and superfluous. The best, or maybe the worst, thing I can say is that there is a fantastic eight or nine hundred page book in Seth's 1400 page novel.

As I talked to Joe about this, and my frustrations, we thought about W&P, and the philosophical asides that Tolstoy takes repeatedly. And I will admit that complaining about Seth's lack of self-editing while professing my love for Tolstoy's philosophy smacks of hypocriticalness.  I can only say that the philosophy brought out discussions that were not adequately talked about in the book, and that was not true of ASB, for the most part.  There were a few scenes not involving major players that were enjoyable, but I will talk about those later. Spoiler Alert: they have to do with actual political and cultural struggles in India at that time.  I am who I am, and if you've been reading this blog for a while, you are not surprised.

The other reason ASB rubbed me wrong was more personal, and more threatening.  The main character is Lata Mehra, and the main plot line, above the many others, was her family's (read: her Mother Rupa) search for "A Suitable Boy".  And I struggled with this, because I didn't, at any point, like Rupa Mehra, and the more I learned about Lata, the more I disliked her too, because all the time I spent with her, I saw more and more of Rupa.  And I could give you criticism about how they were written, or try to point out flaws in the portrayal, say that bad writing was the cause, but it would all be bull---t, and in a way, I'm giving the author some credit by saying that these two women were fleshed out so well, that I couldn't like them at all. Okay, probably not giving as much credit as I'm trying to portray, but my annoyance could not contained, and by the end of the book, anytime that Lata and/or Rupa appeared, they were largely met with an irritated eyeroll. They really liked crying. First Rupa would cry. (Rupa did that a lot) Then Lata would cry, because Rupa said something mean to make her feel guilty. (Did that a lot too.) Then they would both cry, but not in a happy way, like "Look how silly we two are!". No, it was all sad crying. So much afflicted weeping between those two women, I don't see how they weren't dehydrated all the time.  The constant tears and guilt trips wore me down a bit, by the end of the book.

Which doesn't mean that I was apathetic towards the search for Lata's future husband.  There were 3 candidates for the young girl's affection, and all 3 of them had their strengths, and in the end, the choice made was a bit interesting, a bit unconventional, and might have been a quiet comment on certain cultural customs at the time in India. Let's meet our 3 candidates.

AMIT- The witty, moody writer from a family of intelligent, witty people, Amit was the guy I was rooting for from the beginning.  In fact, pretty much every scene involving his family, The Chatterjis, was undeniably awesome, and they singlehandedly brought me back from a couple of moments questioning why I was reading the book.
Does Rupa approve of Amit?- Look, if your main arsenal is guilt trips, that doesn't usually work as well against flippant, witty writers.  Also, his sister is Meeknashi, who is married to Lata's older brother Arun, and took a gift from Rupa, melted it down, and made herself earrings. -NO

HARESH- A hard working shoe-maker who is not as socially polished as the other two vying for Lata, Haresh has some moments, and though he begins as a shoe-maker, by the end of the book he is the foreman at a foreign-based shoe factory, and his career path is looking up.
Does Rupa approve of Haresh?- He's hard-working, not talkative, very respectful to elders. In other words, he's just like the boys that were around when Rupa was Lata's age.  Also, he doesn't think much of Bengalis.  Did I mention that the Chatterjis were Bengali? -YES

KABIR- Oooooo. This is where much of Lata's personal struggle in the book comes from. Kabir is the first of the three she meets, and he is the one that she develops the strongest feelings for. And Kabir is an outstanding student with a bright future as a doctor. The "problem" with Kabir is that he is Muslim, and Lata is Hindu, and we're in 1952 India. Which would be similar to a black boy and white girl falling in love in 1952 Georgia.
Does Rupa approbe of Kabir?- I could make a joke here, but...-HELL NO

The search for Lata's husband was introduced in the very beginning of the book, and the decision was not made until the final pages. But a lot of the actual conflict comes from the relationship of Lata and Kabir, who meet very early, and fall in love with each other. Lata realizes that Kabir is muslim, and what her family would think, and is devastated. But her first move at that point, is to go to Kabir and plead that they run away and live together.  Kabir refuses, not because he doesn't want to be with Lata, but because he is close to finishing school, and doesn't think that they need to run away to be happy. Lata's response is to tell Kabir that she is done with him, and though they interact further in the book, they never are as close to each other. (If you want to know when I started to dislike Lata, her confusing rejection of Kabir would probably be the moment)

Though she refuses to get close with Kabir again, it is made very clear throughout the book that Lata is in love with Kabir, and only Kabir.  Amit interests her, but more as a friend and is never really viewed as a serious candidate.  Haresh, Rupa's clear favorite, also interests Lata, but never really captures her imagination like the young Muslim.  Which is why I was rattled a bit at the end when Lata chooses Haresh, clearly because he is the easiest choice, and because he will be the easiest to live with, and will be a good husband, without all the emotions that Kabir brings along. At first I was confused by the decision, and then I thought that Seth might have been making a argument for the culture of arranged marriages.  Not that arranged marriages are the way to go, mind you, but that they have a purpose, and in the end, are just as successful as marrying for love. And he also might have been shining a light on our culture's defiant expectation that Love will conquer all, and that if two people are in love in a story, they will, against all odds, end up together by the end.  And that viewpoint is a worthy one, if uncomfortable.

I've had another book sitting on my "Now Reading" list, and still sitting up there right now, called "India After Gandhi". It is a history book, going over India's journey to becoming the world's most populous democracy, and I started reading it largely because of "A Suitable Boy", because there were a lot of actual history being referenced in the book that I was supposed to know, but was clueless about. So, one day in the local bookstore, I saw "India After Gandhi", and picked it up, and was actually grateful to read and understand about why the Muslims and Hindus were so upset at each other, and just what Partition was, and why the struggle between a couple of ASB characters who were members of Congress was so important.  I understand that makes me different than most people, including members of The Big Book Club, who were looking at me dazed when I brought the history book to a meeting, and went over how learning about India's politics of the 50's made ASB make more sense to me.  In my defense, there are large parts of the book dealing with those problems, and I don't understand how you could read those sections without having some understanding of what was going on in India at the time, especially since Seth writes largely as if you already know all the background.  And I'm sure that other readers would just look at me, and tell of picking up what they had to understand, from the context of the book.  I could probably of done that, but really, I didn't want to.  I wanted to understand what was actually happening in the country at the time. This is a personal issue, and one I'm very aware is not common, and I'm not joking when I say that without actually learning some of the issues, I would have given up on ASB long ago. 

By the way, I have not finished "India After Gandhi", but I plan on doing so before the year is over, and am currently waiting for Joe's next push towards tripping me up, when he will ask me to finish the book, and I can throw it back in his face again.  This is male friendship, and it is confusing and weird, and it's what I know.

Working in an Art Foundry, I've gained some insight into the joys and pitfalls of creation.  And I can say that I've seen what happens when an artist attempts to do to much with a piece, to make sure that every emotion and every statement that the artist wants to pull from the public is laid out, for everybody to consume, and in my meager experience, that is an admirable goal that will, more often than not, leave people unsatisfied.  The best sculptures, the ones I remember over the last couple of decades, are almost all the simple, refined sculptures.  That doesn't mean they don't take on big ideas, or try to make people think.  People want to feel something when they look at art, but they don't want to feel everything.  And that's what "A Suitable Boy" tries to do, make you see everything from every angle, and when you make art, you can't worry about about making every inch, every emotion, or every word, perfect, because that's when you start to lose the big view.  And that begins to hurt a book that, at times, I really enjoyed reading. I remember last year, at one of the W&P discussions, we talked about how Tolstoy's book largely ignores the peasant class, and whether that took away from our feelings from the book. But W&P is a book about big ideas, about big people, and focusing on the lower classes would have muddled the wonderful concepts. Saying everything will bore people because if you focus on everything, you will take nothing away.