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A Suitable Boy is now a major 2020 BBC TV series, and one of the BBC's 100 novels that shaped our world. The award-winning BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Vikram Seth's masterpiece 'The drama highlight of the year...this sumptuous production, wonderfully atmospheric, written with pace and performed, by an all-Indian cast, quite superbly. The novel may be vast but I was convinced by this version right from the start. Magnificent drama' - Radio Times A Suitable Boy is Vikram Seth's epic love story set in India. Funny and tragic, with engaging, brilliantly-observed characters, it is as close as you can get to Dickens for the twentieth century. The story unfolds through four middle-class families - the Mehras, Kapoors, Khans and Chatterjis. Lata Mehra, a university student, is under pressure from her mother to get married. But not to just anyone she happens to fall in love with. There are standards to be met and finding a husband for Lata becomes a family affair in which all the members are to play a part. The characters struggle, they try to buck the system, to break free of restraint, of interference - but ultimately their strength and sense of being comes from their family and friends. It is a celebration of ordinariness; a beautifully composed story that is an affirmation of family and friendship. In his sweeping epic, Vikram Seth has created an entire world filled with warmth, humour, pathos, tragedy - in short, life. Recorded on location in India, A Suitable Boy is made by the production team behind the award-winning Bleak House and The Handmaid's Tale. Shortlisted for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, 1993. Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 1994. Winner of the WH Smith Literary Award, 1994. Dramatised and directed by John Dryden. A Goldhawk Production.
rebeccanyc: Both these books, which are among my favorites, explore the lives of families, over time and at length. Different countries, different times, but wonderful characterization and development and wonderful depictions of the worlds the families live in.
The BBC audio performance of A Suitable Boy was a treat for the ears and was easily able to evoke the cinema of the mind for me. The portrayal of the various characters was top notch as was the voice acting and sound effects. The musical soundtrack was inspired. All in all this was a treat for the lovers of this art form. Will be looking for more BBC productions to relive the experience in a different manner. ( )
A Suitable Boy is, if nothing else, an epic accomplishment. Seth has created and populated a world in such detail, astutely developed numerous characters and maintained a written style of rich eloquence throughout. The vastness of his purview results in the plot having a disjointed flow (no more evident than in the slightly brusque ending). But in the attempt to encompass so many factors of life and society - quite rightly demonstrating how in reality they pervade the daily life of a family - it would be incredibly harsh to criticise the book for a lack of an adequate crescendo. The quote by Voltaire, Seth includes at the beginning of the book ('the superfluous, that very necessary thing') adroitly highlights his belief that it was indeed imperative to include so much - I would in fact argue that he didn't include enough as there was a palpable sense of abruptness in the ending almost like he couldn't take it anymore or that he was increasingly worried about the word count. This by no means takes anything away from the enjoyment had by reading this book. Take your mind through the romanticism of India proffered by Seth in his gargantuan novel/substitute pillow! ( )
Coming in at almost 1500 pages, I kept wishing this book had been available as an e-book or published in 3 volumes! Other than the size and weight, it was a wonderful story of post partition India. I felt like I was learning so much about Indian culture and history while enmeshed in a great soap opera of terrific characters! And I just read online that the sequel "A Suitable Girl" is in the works for 2016! ( )
This title was the last title in The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams and one I have not read.
FROM AMAZON: Vikram Seth's novel is, at its core, a love story: the tale of Lata's - and her mother’s - attempts to find a suitable boy for Lata, through love or through exacting maternal appraisal. Set in the early 1950s in an India newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis, A Suitable Boy takes us into the world of four large extended families and spins a compulsively readable tale of their lives and loves. A sweeping panoramic portrait of a complex, multi-ethnic society in flux, A Suitable Boy remains the story of ordinary people caught up in a web of love and ambition, humor and sadness, prejudice and reconciliation, the most delicate social etiquette and the most appalling violence.
The first modern, written-by-an-Indian book I read. Was recommended by friend Kevin Coleman and introduced me to the a whole new line of Indian authors. Opened the doors to learning so much more about this powerhouse country, modernedly built on ancient culture. They were looking for that suitable boy for the daughter. ( )
Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Wie saai wil zijn moet alles zeggen. VOLTAIRE
Het overbodige is onontbeerlijk. VOLTAIRE
Dedication
To Papa and Mama and the memory of Amma
First words
'You too will marry a boy I choose' said Mrs Rupa Mehra firmly to her younger daughter.
Quotations
Last words
He moved towards it, but the others, seeing it roll along, began running towards it too; and before she could see what had become of it, the train had steamed out of the station.
A Suitable Boy is now a major 2020 BBC TV series, and one of the BBC's 100 novels that shaped our world. The award-winning BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Vikram Seth's masterpiece 'The drama highlight of the year...this sumptuous production, wonderfully atmospheric, written with pace and performed, by an all-Indian cast, quite superbly. The novel may be vast but I was convinced by this version right from the start. Magnificent drama' - Radio Times A Suitable Boy is Vikram Seth's epic love story set in India. Funny and tragic, with engaging, brilliantly-observed characters, it is as close as you can get to Dickens for the twentieth century. The story unfolds through four middle-class families - the Mehras, Kapoors, Khans and Chatterjis. Lata Mehra, a university student, is under pressure from her mother to get married. But not to just anyone she happens to fall in love with. There are standards to be met and finding a husband for Lata becomes a family affair in which all the members are to play a part. The characters struggle, they try to buck the system, to break free of restraint, of interference - but ultimately their strength and sense of being comes from their family and friends. It is a celebration of ordinariness; a beautifully composed story that is an affirmation of family and friendship. In his sweeping epic, Vikram Seth has created an entire world filled with warmth, humour, pathos, tragedy - in short, life. Recorded on location in India, A Suitable Boy is made by the production team behind the award-winning Bleak House and The Handmaid's Tale. Shortlisted for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, 1993. Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 1994. Winner of the WH Smith Literary Award, 1994. Dramatised and directed by John Dryden. A Goldhawk Production.
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2nd Quarter Group Read of A Suitable Boy
Wikipedia in English (2)
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