Nani's Book of Suicides: Review

Modern Indian English writing is a thriving branch in the present day world literature. There are many upcoming writers who make their own contributions and get acknowledged for their creative aspirations. There can be seen a sense of pang and longing for the lost land in the writings of majority of the expatriate Indian writers. However that feeling is missing from the gifted writer Sunny Singh's debut novel Nani's Book Of Suicides. As you read the novel, you may feel that the writer is describing a scene that has witnessed in life.

The novel can be referred as an analysis of the Indian women through the ages. The novel opens through the words of Mini, a young girl in a small town of India. Brought up by her powerful grandmother, her every move in life centering on what her "Nani's" reaction to that decision would be. The novel concentrates on how the Indian symbols of female strength, force Indian women to make a decision that will force her hand regarding a vital aspect of her existence.

The novel moves on through triple narrative and also focuses on the lives of the mythological women powers Kunti, Draupadi, Meera and Sita. In Mini's life they play a major role mirroring vital suggestions from their own lives. Singh explicitly shows how the fate of these mythological women is glorified to bring out the same fate in the lives of many simple Indian women.

The novel cannot be treated as a feminist expertise. However it has craftily employed the literary themes of magic realism and mythology in it. Sunny Singh delve deep into the mind and soul of each woman, and brings to light an aspect we might not have thought about. These glimpses are eye openers and at the same time painful as we reflect on the helpless lives of so called powerful women.

The surreal, borderline bizarre, even phantasmagoric images that are left behind in your memory as you turn the last page will haunt your thoughts for a long time. If you are seeking an insightful work of literary piece, this is one of the best books to be suggested.