A Suitable Boy - Book Review
Some of the greatest novels that I have read and still recall fondly have one thing in common – memorable characters whose joys, sorrows, successes and disappointments seem very real and personal. A Suitable Boy sketches not one, but a multitude of characters, from a genius child of ten to an irascible doctor of seventy, whose contours start appearing as we are introduced to them, and who, by the time we finish the last page with a sigh, have taken an indelible shape on the canvas of our minds, and a select few of them find a way into our hearts. A Suitable Boy begins with the wedding of Pran Kapoor and Savita Mehra, the elder sister of Lata Mehra, whose mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, vows to find “a suitable boy” for her younger daughter as well. The incidents span over a period of a year and the story culminates with the wedding of Lata almost a year later. During this period, Lata falls in love with Kabir Durrani, who, among other things, is a Muslim. The setting is a little after