It is 21.48 on Friday 20th June 2014 and at last I have turned the final page of A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth....isn't it the best feeling when we do that with these long shared reads. We started on September 14th 2013 and here we are on the Longest Day, the Summer Equinox which all feels nicely auspicious... and I took a picture of the book in the ten o'clock dimpsy Devon light with Munstead Wood hovering above to remind me of the moment...
I hope you have all experienced that real sense of achievement too.
I just wanted to record that, not only for posterity but also to let you know that I am writing this post just an hour or so before it must go online for our final weekend of discussions, so my apologies for the rather disjointed thoughts to start us off. It's been to the reading wire this month, but who was to know the weather would be so wonderful, that the garden needed planting up, that there has been watering to do and standing and staring to indulge in, and flowers to pick...
Cue picture of flowers ( sweet william, ammi majus and phacelia) a congratulatory and thank you nosegay to all of you for getting this far..
But neither could I have guessed that Vikram Seth was going to compress so much action and excitement into these last three parts, so much so that I had to keep stopping and thinking because I was in danger of rushing.
And how could I possibly rush the death of Mrs Mahesh Kapoor..
Or the hubris of her grieving husband...
Or Maan's terrible deed...
Or the dirty tricks of the election campaign...
Or Pran's interview...
Or Kabir's jealousy...
Or Amit's poetic proposal...
Or Arun's letter to Lata...
Or Firoz's about-turn in the courtroom...
And finally Lata's decision and the wedding...
A Suitable Boy is definitely the longest book I think I have ever read... and reading the titles of those apparently ahead of it in the word count stakes, it may well stay that way, yet I look back at my convoluted character page, with genograms and arrows hither and yon, and remember what a muddle it all felt last September, yet how well and clearly I feel I know them all now...
But setting all that aside I am wondering how I feel about Lata's decision...
I haven't had much time to think about it, and who knows, you may all make me change my mind by Sunday, but I am currently feeling that she has made a safe decision, a mature, sensible and informed one, and that Haresh will be a perfect husband.
But will he be too perfect...
Will he be interesting enough...
Do we already know that he might privilege his work above his marriage...
Has Lata settled for the predictable and rejected all else...
Did I expect more or differently of her...I'm not sure...
And the ending...what is the ending saying..
Needless to say I am now on the edge of my seat waiting for A Suitable Girl.
So that's a wrap everyone, I hope you have enjoyed the book as much as I have, and thank you so much for reading along with me. I would never have managed it on my own that's for sure, and now I can't wait to hear what you all think...
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