The Deliberate Sinner - Book Review

Signing up for Blogadda’s book review programme  is a good thing to do for two reasons, the wide variety of genres they cover while they put up books for review keeping Indian authors in mind well that is something commendable. Secondly the letter from Nirav Sanghvi I see right under the cover page with every book that comes home makes me smile.  Adding to it this time a signed copy with one of your favorite quotes “Hate the Sin, not the Sinner” written by the author on the first page of the book ‘The Deliberate Sinner’ by BhaavnaArora was at my doorstep yesterday. It had been long since I had read a contemporary Indian author’s work. Done and dusted in an hour and half, it was fairly a practical read. My evening made!

I did not immediately fall in love with the book nor did I hate the writing, simply because I just couldn't understand its pace. There is no denying that it explores an area of raw realism. The range of thoughts and emotions of a woman of today that too an Indian, in an institution of marriage is a tough topic. It is not easy to sum up in around hundred and fifty pages. Maybe that’s why the little derailing. The narration especially in the end did seem like a fast forward, like someone is trying to wrap up the life events of the protagonist and give her story some ending. That’s the only thing that made me a little hypercritical. 

Her life is near perfect at some moments and she does not take drastic decisions, but then again you see her at crossroads in a failing relationship, not due to her, there are people and circumstances based on which her life is shaped. The chemistry dies, a lot of biology happens, normalcy resurfaces and somehow life continues. But she needs more and makes sure she gets it. The story puts this message across, a failed marriage is not the one which ends with divorce but is the one which is just managed for years and years, just lived happily ever after.

There are certain lines in the story for which I had an involuntary nod:

“You have to take the problem head on. You die or you kill the enemy; there is no other way”

“Pain and pleasure are inseparable”

“Confusion is not a good place to dwell”

“It is always the unseen which is more consequential than the seen”

Profound thinking! No matter who you are and what situation you are in right? What struck me was this; it requires a lot more than feministic conviction to openly write about a woman’s physical and emotional needs so precisely. It may sound over the board or unconventional at places, but that is the way it should be. Everyone can write about fairies and vamps, but to write about the many who battle between these two extremes it is something.If an author dares to write about such issues, especially in the kind of societal setting like the ones we live in right now it means only this, it’s high time we read and know about it too.

PS: This post is a part of the Book Reviews programme at Blogadda- The Deliberate Sinner.

       Thank you Blogadda for a wonderful read! :-)

-R.