A Suitable Boy
A Suitable Boy is a novel by Vikram Seth, published in 1993. At 1,349 pages (1,488 pages softcover) and 591,552 words, the book is one of the longest novels ever published in a single volume in the English language. A sequel, to be called A Suitable Girl, was due for publication in 2017. As of 2020 the novel was still unpublished.
A Suitable Boy is set in a newly post-independence, post-partition India. The novel follows the story of four families over a period of 18 months, and centres on Mrs. Rupa Mehra's efforts to arrange the marriage of her younger daughter, Lata, to a "suitable boy". Lata is a 19-year-old university student who refuses to be influenced by her domineering mother or opinionated brother, Arun. Her story revolves around the choice she is forced to make between her suitors Kabir, Haresh, and Amit.
It begins in the fictional town of Brahmpur, located along the Ganges between Banares and Patna. Brahmpur, along with Calcutta, Delhi, Lucknow and other Indian cities, forms a colourful backdrop for the emerging stories.
Seth has stated that the biggest influence on writing A Suitable Boy was the five-volume 18th century Chinese novel The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin.
The 1349-page novel alternately offers satirical and earnest examinations of national political issues in the period leading up to the first post-Independence national election of 1952, including Hindu–Muslim strife, the status of lower caste peoples such as the jatav, land reforms and the eclipse of the feudal princes and landlords, academic affairs, abolition of the Zamindari system, family relations and a range of further issues of importance to the characters.
The novel is divided into 19 parts with, generally, each part focusing on a different subplot. Each part is described in rhyming couplet form on the contents page.
In 1951 nineteen year old Lata Mehra attends the wedding of her older sister, Savita, to Pran Kapoor, a university lecturer. Lata’s mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, informs Lata that it is time she marries, a notion which Lata dismisses as she intends to concentrate on her studies in English literature. Nevertheless Mrs. Rupa Mehra begins to put out feelers for a suitable boy for Lata to her friends and family.
In the meantime Lata is approached several times by a boy her own age and after a few meetings feels she has already fallen in love with him. She learns his name is Kabir Durrani and is distressed when she realizes he is Muslim as her Hindu family would never allow her to marry a Muslim man. When her early morning meetings with Kabir are discovered she tries to run away with Kabir, who refuses. Ultimately Lata agrees to go with her mother to Calcutta to live with her arrogant older brother Arun, who is already married.
As Lata is leaving she is spotted by Haresh Khanna, an ambitious shoe manufacturer who is involved in business with Kedarnath Tandon, the husband of Pran’s older sister, Veena. He is intrigued by her beauty and sadness.
In Calcutta Lata is surprised to find herself enjoying her time with her brother and sister-in-law. She meets her sister-in-law Meenakshi’s eccentric family, the Chatterjis, and bonds with her older brother, Amit, an England educated poet who is receiving pressure from his family to grow up and marry. Though Amit initially only intends on being friendly to Lata as a member of his family he begins to wonder whether she might make a suitable wife. Mrs. Rupa Mehra is horrified when she realizes that Amit and Lata might possibly be considering each other as spouses as she dislikes Meenakshi and disapproves of the Chatterjis as a result. She decides to go to Delhi to renew her efforts to find a spouse for Lata. By accident she is introduced to Haresh Khanna and decides he is suitable for Lata. Despite the fact that he is in love with another woman, who he is also unable to marry due to objections from her family, Haresh agrees to meet with Lata. Lata finds the idea of marrying Haresh ridiculous but nevertheless has an agreeable time with him and gives him permission to write to her.
Returning home she hears that Kabir was involved in reuniting her sister-in-law Veena with her son after a mass stampede separated them. She nevertheless vows to forget about Kabir only to be surprised when they are both cast in the university’s production of Twelfth Night. During rehearsals Pran is hospitalized and Savita gives birth. Lata takes on a more prominent role in taking care of her sister and niece which results in her realizing her mother is only trying to ensure her happiness and safety. She begins corresponding more warmly with Haresh and despite still being attracted to Kabir tells him that she is no longer interested in marrying him.
Haresh loses his managerial job at a shoe factory but finesses his way into a lesser position as the foreman at the Praha shoe factory with promise of upward mobility. His new circumstances fail to impress Arun and Meenakshi who are also biased against him as they are aware of Amit's burgeoning attraction to Lata and want to encourage that match.
In the new year the Mehra family once again travel to Calcutta to spend time with Arun and Meenakshi and to reconnect with Haresh. At a cricket match Haresh, Kabir and Amit all meet and recognize that they are all loosely acquainted, but fail to realize that they are all, in one way or another, courting Lata. Kabir is in Calcutta trying to work up the courage to speak to Lata, however he fails to do so and Lata receives a letter from her best friend informing her that Kabir was spotted in an intimate conversation with another woman. Haresh is more persistent in his courtship of Lata, but after she off-handedly calls him mean, he takes offence and their relationship comes to a standstill.
In the new year, based on Kabir's invitation, Amit comes to speak at Lata's school. She reconnects with Kabir where she learns that the information he was courting another woman was false. However she tells him she is seriously writing to Haresh and is strongly considering marrying him. Amit also takes this opportunity to more seriously propose to Lata. Lata meets with Kabir one last time where she realizes that the passion she feels for him is not the basis for a good marriage. After receiving an apologetic letter from Haresh renewing his offer of marriage and a second letter from Arun, strongly encouraging her to reject Haresh, Lata decides once and for all to marry Haresh.
Concurrent to the main plot is the story of Maan Kapoor, Lata's brother in-law Pran's brother. Maan is the feckless youngest child of respected politician Mahesh Kapoor, the state Minister of Revenue. At a Holi celebration Maan hears courtesan and musician Saeeda Bai performing and flirts with her. He later visits her house and begins to court her aggressively. The two become lovers. However Saeeda Bai eventually comes to feel that her feelings for him is interfering with her work and reputation. She sends him away with her younger sister Tasneem's Urdu teacher Rasheed, to his remote village under the pretence of wanting Maan to learn flawless Urdu. Maan spends the time becoming acquainted with Rasheed's family who are politically influential.
When Maan returns to Brahmpur he resumes his love affair with Saeeda Bai and gains favour with his father who decides to run for office again in the seat where Rasheed's family lives. After campaigning with his father, Maan returns to Saeeda Bai's house where he sees his friend Firoz and believes from veiled comments that Saeeda Bai makes that the two have been having a love affair behind his back. In actuality Firoz had come to propose to Tasneem who Saeeda Bai revealed to be her secret daughter and Firoz's half-sister. In the ensuing confusion Maan stabs Firoz in a fit of jealousy. The ensuing scandal causes his father to lose his seat and his mother to die after a series of strokes.
However once Firoz recovers he insists that the stabbing was caused by his own clumsiness and Maan is made a free man.
The wedding between Lata and Haresh goes forward with joy to all except Kabir who is invited but does not come. A few days later Lata and Haresh take a train to his home to begin their new lives together.
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