The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny - Kiran Desai
My Rating: 3/5
After reading and liking her “The Inheritance of Loss”, I had to get this one at the earliest because the opinions of readers on this one were totally poles apart, some liked it, some loved it, and for a few it made no sense too. Now, I am somewhere in between, of course I finished the mammoth 670+ paged book; it took me close to one full month, though and yet I can’t claim that I liked it. Somehow, I wasn’t able to connect with Sonia or with Sunny in their journey and life in the US of A, and even when they come back and live a little in India too. The story is set between the mid-90s and flows into the early 2000s, too. My first problem (why I couldn’t like or love it) with the story was that upto the half way mark, they don’t even meet, post the point they actually meet for the first time, so many sidey unnecessary stories kept me boring to no end, their uncles, aunts, parents separation as both were from broken families, grand parents story and so much more. I just couldn’t make out which direction Kiran wanted it to take, and whether she was successful in doing that. I‘ve got to do a little more research on the book and find out if she herself is satisfied with the outcome, because I totally am not, hence the low rating. As was the case in her previous book, her stories are more of a perspective of immigrants or say non-immigrants (temporary visa holders in search of green cards) and their struggles in making ends meet. I could understand and sympathise with the characters on that front as I myself was working with an American firm in the same period of time and was taking care of the visa stuff for a lot of our employees and trust me, I still am in touch with a few of them who haven’t got the citizenship but very hopefull that in very near future they might get the final stamp.
What turned me off at times, or rather made me sad, was the state of India that she has captured through her story. No denying, it still goes the same way even now, nothing much has changed that we have crossed a quarter of the 21st century. But she balances the whole act out by showing the true picture of American life too, that too in great detail. Guess what, she lived only 16 years in India and then moved to the USA permanently. I am sure she must have kept coming back to India, as her character’s experiences are too personal when it comes to sharing them as a story with her readers. No one can write that perfectly without having first-hand experience, for sure. Sunny and his friend visiting India to get married and find a perfect girl was such a heart touching affair, Sunny’s animosity with his own parents, their further internal indifferences, and on top of that terms with their neighbours, whose daughter he was supposed to marry in the first place (Sonia), you’ve got to read the book to know the reason why that propsal comes through in the first place (hilarious) and the outcome. Both Sunny and Sonia live in relationships with their partners, and the back stories were totally believable, too. The one thing that worked big time in favour of the whole book for me was the life and times shown in Allahabad (Galawati and Kakori Kebab stories), times and life in Panchsheel park (New Delhi) and Lodhi garden :) (I still remember how was that rated back then), and the goings on, which were a fantastic pulling me back to the book stuff that I loved. Typical Indian relatives with their stories, family disputes related to property and jewels, how it all ends for Sunny’s family was totally believable, and I must say an apt ending to the saga. Also, the detailing of the life of Sonia’s boyfriend, the artist, was fantastic. I didn’t like the way it ended, and I am surprised by not finding many details on Sunny’s girlfriend in the book. I wonder why she was partial to her :). She has also captured the volatile episodes not only from the Indian political situation but also from the USA. If you see the period, you can guess what I am talking about. I don't want to give out any spoilers. But again, what didn’t work for me was that she barely touched those episodes and takes a sidey shortcut, gives no personal opinion or verdict, it's like those things just happened while her characters were going through so much in their own lives. Otherwise, it had the potential to actually become and read like an epic. I would rather give the book a few years and wait and watch to see what mark it makes in the near future. It for sure won’t read or make me feel like the way her earlier “Inheritance of Loss” did.
But I must say that she does capture and showcase the essence of a non-immigrant’s life abroad, saying it from my personal experience with so many family and friends who are still going through the same in today’s time. It is all so genuinely written that it doesn’t read at all like fiction. Also, it takes guts for an American to write a story like that and comment or accept on something like the 9/11 attack as “it was time someone did that to us to make us understand how it feels”. Do let me know if you have read it yet and liked it or hated it?
