2 November 2016

Review #547: The Private Life of Mrs Sharma by Ratika Kapur



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“I have too many fantasies to be a housewife.... I guess I am a fantasy.”

----Marilyn Monroe



Ratika Kapur, an India writer, pens a heart felt and very intimate tale of a middle aged married woman's life and thoughts in her upcoming book, The Private Life of Mrs Sharma in which the author weaves a compelling story about a mid-aged North Indian married woman with a teenage son and a husband working offshore in Dubai, who when meets a handsome stranger on her way to work, begins a forbidden companionship with him all the while aspiring for a fulfilling life not only for herself but also for her son and for her husband. Her longings and desires make her vulnerable as well as resolute for her husband's homecoming but when tragedy strikes, everything seems to be falling apart.


Synopsis:

Renuka Sharma is a dutiful wife, mother, and daughter-in-law holding the fort in a modest rental in Delhi while her husband tries to rack up savings in Dubai. Working as a receptionist and committed to finding a place for her family in the New Indian Dream of air-conditioned malls and high paid jobs at multi-nationals, life is going as planned until the day she strikes up a conversation with an uncommonly self-possessed stranger at a Metro station. Because while Mrs Sharma may espouse traditional values, India is changing all around her, and it wouldn't be the end of the world if she came out of her shell a little, would it?

With equal doses of humor and pathos, The Private Life of Mrs Sharma is a sharp-eyed examination of the clashing of tradition and modernity, from a dramatic new voice in Indian fiction.



Renuka Sharma met Vineet Shegal, a handsome 30 year old hotel manager, on her way to work in the metro. Soon their simple acquaintance blossoms into the prospect of simple friendship, away from the prying eyes of the society. Why? Because Renuka is a mid aged married woman whose son is 15 years old and whose husband works offshore in Dubai to provide a fulfilling and satisfying lifestyle and means to his family in Delhi. Renuka too works as a receptionist for a hot shot male gynecologist. Eventually the simple friendship turns into something sexual and Renuka being a loyal and respectable Indian wife cannot have an affair with any other men, so she keeps the affair a secret as well as running until her husband gets back from Dubai for his holiday. But on the day of her husband's homecoming, an unfortunate tragedy comes knocking at Renuka's home that threatens to snatch away the happiness of her life.

Renuka is a modern woman yet she knows her boundaries, even though mid way through this novel, she is seen exploiting her so-called boundaries of being a respectable married mother. Renuka loves to aspire for a better quality of life with the gradual rise in the global economical standard of life. Her dreams revolve around her son's MBA, a better apartment in some posh locality, shopping in malls and other such frivolities of life. Renuka is not the epitome of modern Indian married woman, yet she is the role model for the common Indians who aspires for a life that will match with the fast growing economical quality of life.

The author's writing style is extremely polished and easy to comprehend with the author's evocative prose. The simplicity in her writing style reflects as well as syncs well with the character's down-to-earth demeanor. The narrative is articulate as well as laced with light humor even though the story is just a series of daily thoughts and some events occurring in the protagonist's daily middle class life. The readers will get to contemplate with the character's mindset through their own perspectives. The story has quite a few twists even though they are predictable still they make the story even more intriguing.

The characters of the book are strikingly portrayed through their flaws, hope, promises and broken dreams. Each and every character from the book has that typical Indian flair in their demeanor. The main character, Renuka, is charming, calm, loving and responsible all the while keeping her bold side under wraps and as she unravels her wild side of vulnerability through her sexual desires, masturbating herself and her constant mention of switching on the washing machine to remind herself about those wild nights with her husband, the readers, especially the married women who lack sex in their marriage can easily relate to her emptiness and lust for sex. The other characters are also interestingly crafted out to leave an impression in the minds of the readers.

The city of Delhi comes alive through the author's exquisite words as she vividly captures this magnificent capital city into the backdrop of the story line. The author arrests the striking details of this city through its rusty landscapes to its sky-rising buildings and apartments to the urban global dream of the typical Delhiites to its metro to its basic human lifestyle that will unfold right before the eyes of its readers. The story is like a portal through which readers can easily be transported to the capital of India and roam through its streets freely alongside with the protagonist and her male companion.

In a nutshell, this is quite an unique modern tale about the life of a middle class Indian citizen.

Verdict: A promising tale that holds many untold wishes and that will keep the readers intrigued to their very core.

Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Bloomsbury India for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Ratika Kapur’s second novel, The Private Life of Mrs Sharma (Bloomsbury), is out now in some territories and will be available in others by December 2016. Her first, Overwinter (Hachette India), was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize. She lives in New Delhi with her husband and son.
Visit her here



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