Two Lives - Vikram Seth

 Non Fiction

Verdict: Read it

I picked up this book because I had fought my way all through A Suitable Boy (happily I might add, but it's a huge book) and An Equal Music and wanted to read more from him. I wasn't quite prepared for a non-fiction biography type of (also long!) adventure, but that is what I ended up with.

Seth takes people into the lives of his Uncle and Aunt, whom he spent time with as a young man. Both people had extraordinary lives and Seth does an excellent job examining them, both from an independent perspective as well as a family one. After reading A Suitable Boy, Two Lives was illuminating about Seth as an author, and the family that spawned the ideas for A Suitable Boy. 

I enjoy family sagas in general, and there were old photos - also + points for me. Seth wanders into so many topics that it's quite the mindful to consider. It's quite something how people's lives twist and turn and wander in the most random of directions. Seth's uncle went to dental school in Germany. He happened to be living with his future wife's family as a boarder right before WW2. He leaves and goes to England to begin his career. He has his own stint in the military which results in him losing a part of one arm. His wife, a Jewish German is given the opportunity to leave Germany when things start to get difficult for Jewish people. She takes it and survives, unlike most of her family. The two wander into mid life, and eventually settle into a companionable marriage that doesn't produce any children. 

Seth does a brilliant job of exploring many different themes through the book. Not the least of which is how WW2, views of Jewish people in Germany at the time, and how it affected his aunt's entire life. He also gets into how we may not know people we love when they are alive, and only get a small window is we happen to run into letters or memories from others into other sides of people after they pass. He explores cultural ideas of families, an interracial marriage at a time when it was not common.

Vikram Seth's life paralleled his Uncle's in many strange and wonderful ways. It's quite interesting to watch this as it unfolds. One cannot avoid the thoughts that patterns within families determine many things.  

The most interesting thing for me, was the author's dismay at the end of the book over how his uncle had changed into someone he didn't know due to age and mental decline. How someone walked into their lives and took the property from under their noses. The property itself was less hurful than comments that were made about life long loving relationships - both due to age related confusion and unmet expectations. I found this fascinating because it's not a subject often discussed in such brutal honesty. We don't like to think that others may change because they are old and uncomfortable, or slightly confused. We don't like to talk about that people respond bitterly when they feel their expectations aren't met. 

As I mentioned, Seth is a prolific writer and his books are not short. But they are well worth the investement. Read it.

~Becky~