Book review: The Other Side of the Table by Madhumita Mukherjee

Circa 1990.
A world drawn and woven with words.
A bond punctuated by absence and distance…
Two continents. Two cities. Two people.
And letters. Hundreds of them.
Over years. Across oceans. Between hearts.

I was delighted, and a little apprehensive, when I read the back cover. Delighted because three of my favorite books are epistolary works – May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude; Helene Hanff’s 84, Charring Cross Road; and Mary Ann Shaffer’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Apprehensive because I am generally wary of Indian authors, even though there are some excellent novels out there – Indu Suderasan’s brilliant Taj trilogy comes immediately to mind. But then, there are also disasters, like I, Rama or How About A Sin Tonight. And telling a story through letters isn’t the easiest thing to do.

The Other Side of the Table tells the story of Abhi, who is training to become a neurosurgeon in London, and Uma, who has just entered medical college in Calcutta. They write to one another about medicine and life, love and friends, about travels and family, and things that are close to their hearts and about nothing at all. Each letter reveals a tantalizing glimpse into their lives.

We learn that Abhi lost his parents in a car accident when he was very young; that he’s known Uma since he was a child living in Calcutta; that since he’s gone to London, he feels that there’s nothing to tie him to India, except his friendship with Uma.

…I have not gone back to India ever since I came here. What do I go back to? Whom do I come home to? Dadu and Didu are gone. Come to think of it, there is no one there for me but you. You are my only link to India, a continuum from my youth.

We learn that Uma has dreams and ambitions, which she isn’t willing to sacrifice just because they aren’t conventional; that she’s spirited and fiery and unafraid of speaking her mind no matter what the consequences.

“Don’t be ridiculous Uma,” Dr. Bose said without preamble. “Girls don’t do surgery. What is this all about?”
…I heard myself say, “With or without interruptions, I hope to become a very good kind of surgeon, sir.”
“You think it is easy.” His lips curled with sarcasm.
“No, sir. I think it can be done, and I think I can do it.”

Mukherjee scoffed at my apprehensions with the first letter itself. She uses beautiful language without falling into the trap that most Indian authors find themselves in – that of convoluted sentences and big words. Just read this wonderful description of Abhi’s impression of the human gut:

…the glistening, frilly, vulgar and voluptuous beauty of the gut.

This is a beautiful story of dreams and love and loss. Each letter peels back the layers of Abhi’s and Uma’s lives, laying bare their innermost thoughts and desires. Each letter gives us a glimpse of their personalities, their little quirks, finely breathing life into the two protagonists, until you feel like you’ve known them all your life. She crafts a story that will make you laugh with them and cry with them. One in which your heart contracts with sorrow and then, a few letters on, surges with joy.

Part of me wanted to devour the book in one sitting, the other part wanted to stretch out the experience. I took the middle ground – I read the book in two days, and then, once it was over, I started it all over again, so I could savor it one letter at a time.

Highly recommended if you enjoy epistolary novels. If, like me, you are generally wary of Indian authors, pick this book up – I promise you won’t regret it!

Year-end Wrap-Up: Top 5 books of 2012

2012 was a stellar year for me in terms of reading and all things book-related. I read over 60 books this year, across a variety of genres. I came across some brilliant writers, and some not so brilliant ones. I was approached by Random House India to participate in their book bloggers program, under which they send me books to read and review. And I joined a cool Twitter book-chat – TSBC.

So, what better way to kick-off this year-end wrap-up than by sharing with you my 10 favorite reads from the year? Without further ado, here they are!

Nobody Can Love You More by Mayank Austin Soofi
If you want to read just one book this year, make it this one. It’s a poignant look at the lives of Delhi’s sex workers. Set in GB Road (Delhi’s red light district), written after Soofi spent over three years visiting the area and the kothas to get an insight into their life, the book is almost like reading his personal diary with his thoughts, dialogue, and his drive to know more about the women who live here. From the first word, this book will hook you, draw you into the world of GB Road, and make you care about the lives and troubles that the women of these kothas face.

Cover via Amazon

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
In a year marked by 60 books, this one stands out for its novel format. After all, not too many books are written in the form of letters – of course, there is the excellent 84 Charring Cross Road. But this book, I think, has a slight edge. Why? Because it’s difficult to write an entire novel in the form of fictional letters and still explore some of the darker aspects of war and the horrors of concentration camps, and to create characters that you come to love and understand. (You can read the full review here)

Cover of The Feast of Roses: A Novel

Feast of Roses by Indu Suderasan
Set in Mughal India, this is the story of Emperor Jahangir’s love for his twentieth wife, Mehrunnisa (better known as Empress Nur Jahan). From the time she enters his harem, she fits none of the established norms of womanhood in seventeenth-century India. She is the first woman the emperor marries for love, eventually transferring his powers of sovereignty to her. She goes on to gain much more power than any Empress before or after her, and all of it despite remaining behind the veil. It is a compelling read as it brings to life an unexplored period in fiction, with a lot of attention paid to period details and descriptions of various cultural ceremonies that distinguished court life in royal India.

Cover of The Shadow of the Wind

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
I think it’s fitting that in a list of top 10 books features one where a bookstore and library play a central role in the narrative. Specifically, it’s the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, from where young Daniel Sempere picks up a book called The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. He stays up all night reading the book, completely engrossed, and then tries to find other books by the same author. But there are none. All he uncovers are stories of a strange man calling himself Laín Coubert, after a character in the book who happens to be the Devil, who has been buying Carax’s books for decades only to burn them. As he works to uncover the puzzle, he unravels a beautiful, doomed love story that has been buried in the depths of oblivion. What makes this book a must-read is Zafon’s masterful plotting, the slow unwinding of the mystery and his extraordinary control over language.

The Wildings by Nilanjana Roy
I think I can safely say that this is the best book I’ve read that is told not from the perspective of humans, but from that of cats! In this stunning, richly imagined debut, Roy weaves a yarn about the trials and travails of Nizzamuddin’s street cats. The entire novel is written from their perspective, in their voice and language, is done so well done that you’d be forgiven for thinking that a cat learnt how to write and spun this yarn for us humans! (You can read the full review here)

Now, it’s your turn. Which were your favorite books this year?

Book review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Cover via Amazon

I had been drawn to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows a number of times on my frequent visits to the bookstore, but never did buy it. I recently borrowed it on the recommendation of a colleague, and I have to say that I was quite impressed!

The novel is based in London in 1946, after the end of World War II. The protagonist – Juliet Ashton – is a writer who has spent the war writing humorous columns for The Spectator. She receives a letter from Dawsey Adams, who lives in the island of Guernsey and who has, by chance, got her old copy of Charles Lamb’s essays. One letter leads to another and Juliet learns of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was established by chance during the war. Now, most book clubs are set up by people who love reading and discussing books – but not this one. It was set as a spur-of-the-moment invention by the resourceful Elizabeth McKenna, who offered it as an explanation to the Germans when she and a group of her friends were found to have broken the curfew.

Through her correspondence with Dawsey, Juliet learns about the troubles the islanders faced during the war. Encouraged by Dawsey, the rest of the book club members begin writing to Juliet to share their thoughts on books, the war, the deprivation and the daily struggle to survive. The second half of the book, when Juliet eventually makes her way to the island/s to gather material for a new, more serious, book brings out more of the plot and the eccentricities of the characters.

The most amazing part about the novel is that it is told entirely through the (fictional) correspondence between Juliet and various other people – the islanders; Sophie, her best friend and Sophie’s brother and Juliet’s publisher Sideny; and Mark V Reynolds, an American tycoon who falls in love with Juliet. Through those letters, Mary Ann Shaffer explores some of the darker aspects of the war, such as the cruelty and even humanity of some German soldiers, the moral dilemma that arose between people forced to try and survive alongside the enemy, and the horrors of the concentration camps. Those letters help to create characters that you come to love and understand – their shortcomings and motivations, their lives and loves, their passions and convictions.

Overall, this is a delightful novel – funny, moving and told in a very different manner.

Have you read this book? I’d love to hear what you thought of it!