A Suitable Boy: A Novel (Perennial Classics)

A Suitable Boy

Posted by Kannan69 on 30 Mar 2008
I began reading 'A Suitable Boy (by Vikram Seth)' on 13-June-02 in Qatar Offshore. Close to six years down the line, I am still 200 pages adrift from completion. Page 1273 of this 1473 page epic is my current location. 

If you inferred that my  reading speed leaves a lot to be desired, you would probably not be too far off the mark. What also does not help is the plethora of characters in this book. There were occassions when I had to trudge back several pages to pick up the plot...this obviously did not help.

All said and done, a very tight, well researched book written by a fellow Indian. 

This book very accurately depicts newly independent India in the ealry fifties and the moral constitution of its populace then. 

Our earlier generations have so often told us how seizable moral degradation has occured  from their generation to ours. 

However, while reading this book, I find the characters to be as morally corrupt or conscientious as the present generation is. Alcohol abuse, sexual promiscuity, back stabbing, infidelity and dirty politics were as rampant as they are now. 

The human race today is as combative, oppurtunistic and righteous as it was then. This is the case since time immemorial.   

Of course, the flavours change from generation to generation. The previous generations were less materialistic and more family centric but did not think much about human rights and life. The present generation has taken materialism to a new level but is more aware of its social and environmental obligations. 

Bottom line...now, then and ever - a man's moral sum always remains the same.