Verdict: Eh, if you're a pervert
This is the first book I've read by Upamanyu Chatterjee. There was a lot of hype on Pinterest about it. And the cover is cool. Perhaps there's a lot I'm missing - like Rushdie - but I don't think so.
The book follows the protagonist, Bhola, through his lifelong views and experiences with sex. Bhola is bisexual (or anything sexual to be honest), which is refreshing for an Indian novel. It just so happens the next book I'm reviewing has a bisexual protagonist too. Weird coincidence, I guess.
Anyhow, we follow Bhola's life and experiences. I found it extremely unsettling to see life through this lens, as everything else is portrayed as trivial and not worth depth. His childhood family, college experiences, marriage, future, and even his child come way, way back behind his focus on sex. I kept waiting for there to be a point or plot line, but outside of sex, there wasn't one. It struck me as very, very sad. Either the character has a weird obsession with sex or hasn't engaged much with life in general. Perhaps this is my 80's conservative, US, white upbringing, but sex is a part of life, not all of it.
The writing was well done. If the author intended to skewer an Indian obsession with sex here, it succeeded for me - I felt disgust for the main character. Again, I can't decide if this is genius or accidental. I also wasn't sure what to make of Chatterjee's subtle commentary on classism. It was either brilliantly done or horrifyingly normalized. I feel disgust from the fact that it's not at all clear.
I feel there are better portrayals of lower and middle-class lives, sex, and obsessions. I will try another of Chatterjee's books just to satisfy my curiosity about genius or oblivious.
~Becky~
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