Sue's Reviews > A Suitable Boy

A Suitable Boy takes place over the course of a year in an India which is adjusting not only to independence but to partition. Through the stories of some of the major families of Brahmpur, we observe and participate in not only the day to day activities of individuals but the workings of government, developing industry--some quite primitive, the existence of caste--though outlawed, religious hatred, and the search for love and marriage. There are beauty and violence, squalor and humor, festivals and riots. It is a very full year.

At the center is Lata, searching for that "suitable" boy, the man she will marry.That quest is not finalized until the end of the novel and is worth reading about but so much more is happening. I came to this book with a smattering of knowledge about India and Indian beliefs and customs and come away with a feeling that I have learned enough to want to know more. This is a country both rich and poor: rich in tradition, rich in religious beliefs, rich in an amazing ability to pick itself up from disaster but poor in ability to distribute its wealth and to eliminate its history of castes (I do recognize that this novel is set in the 1950s), poor in eliminating government graft, and poor in eliminating inter-religious strife. All are on display here and have not been eliminated today. (I will not hesitate to say that the country I live in, and most others have many of the same problems to one degree or another.)

But family is at the center of this novel and Lata at the center of one family.


[Lata] wondered what one could do to be born happy, to
achieve happiness, or to have it thrust on one. The baby,
she thought, had arranged to be born happy; she was placid,
and had as good a chance as anyone of happiness in this
world...Pran and Savita, different though their backgrounds
were, were a happy couple. They recognized limits and
possibilities; their yearnings did not stretch beyond their
reach. They loved each other---or, rather, had come to do
so. They both assumed, without ever needing to state it---
or perhaps without even thinking explicitly about
it---that marriage and children were a great good.
( pp 951-952)


This is one of the examples for Lata to observe. Of course there are other, some decidedly less functional.

This book does require a major investment of time and attention but for those who give it, there is a great return. Personally I find well written historical fiction a wonderful road to explore another culture.

Highly recommended!