Rheea Mukherjee
One word: Weird, And not necessarily a good kind of weird,
This short novel strikes me as being confused: it doesn't know what it wants to be,
Somehow it seemed that this novel was less than the sum of its parts,
I was intrigued by the opening chapter, which throws us immediately in this midst of this notquitelove triangle, Our narrator Mira is a recently widowed English teacher, After a brief stint in a hospital, Mira is quite content to live by herself, unwilling to form meaningful connections, let alone seek a new husband,
Enter Sara and Rahil, Mira comes across the couple after she sees Sara having a seizure in a park, After they invite her to their house Mira becomes entranced by the couple, Beautiful Sara suffers from a long list of mysterious ailments, and Rahil dotes after her,
Yet, Mira immediately suspects that Sara might not be as ill as she claims to be, or that perhaps Rahil is behind Sara's illness,
I enjoyed Mira's cynic narrative, At times, I did find that her actions were at odds with her inner monologue, She seemed two different people, Around Sara and Rahil she acts in such a wimpish way, I found her commentary on love, marriage, and teaching, deeply entertaining and in comparison her socalled 'complex feelings' for Sara and Rahil were, . . not that complex I never quite understood her fascination with Sara or her relationship with Rahil, Sara seemed more 'object' than person, and yet the narrative implies that she is a deeply profound and thoughtful woman,
There are a lot of quotable scenes or monologues but the writing did seem to try too hard to come across as sardonic, so much so that, other than the occasional 'haha' or 'that sounds clever', I experienced very little while reading this.
What could have been an intriguing tale of passion and jealousy delivers a lukewarm and predictable depiction of the typical 'love' triangle and in this case the love seems.
. . underbaked Not quite believable Not at all there! Mira talked a lot but felt things in a monotone sort of way, Her jealousy and lust, even her relationship toward her father and her job, were all just underwhelming and flat, In her narration she presents herself as
this intelligent and deep individual but 'telling' isn't enough, I saw little of this inner depth and of these complicated feelings she harbours for this married couple, She is just so passive, in spite of those occasional sharp observations,
The story seemed to promise more than what it actually is, Sara and Rahil are so lifeless, Sara's love for Sufi music didn't make her interesting or layered, Rahil spoke few words, and acted in such a vague manner that I had a hard time believing in his character,
The whole ending seemed at odds with the beginning, What was all that for A few well written paragraphs do not distract from a hazy and poorly constructed story,
DISCLAIMER: I got an ARC of the book,
The art of the review, if it possessed any to begin with, has like many other things gone the Zomato way, Mr. Shah liked the ambience, but the waiter's lack of an antebellum sense of servitude left a lot to be desired, What we are left with is a hackneyed, threadbare grocery list, colored with splashes of rococo prejudice serving as the only reminder that there is indeed a person typing all this out.
This review endeavors to be no more than that, The brief review is that I implore you to buy this book, the economy of it is an attractive proposition in this respect, atodd pages, Mukherjee packs in an engaging narrative that you MUST see to its end trust me, you'll feel the same way at pagewhile not sparing us with sterner themes to ruminate about once you've kept the book away.
Despite its economy, one is reeled in, to the milieu, the mood, the malaise, eventually finding oneself fully complicit in this universe, Anything that does that and looks so good deserves to be on your shelf, The book intrigued and perplexed me An unusual story of love, life and living congealed within the premise of the intellectual and spiritual mind, Rheea's writing has always touched a chord and this offering is no different, Her writing flows seamlessly almost as if one is having a conversation with chamomile tea and oatmeal cookies, You never for a second imagine that you are reading the story of a threesome relationship because it all integrates flawlessly,
The philosophyquoting, polyamoryok Mira the narrator dazzles us with her dalliances, deliberations, segues, insights, Mira's irreverent idiom reminds us of narrators created by Carmen Maria Machado and Otessa Moshfegh, It feels strange, then, that the resolution that the novel provides Mira prioritizes happiness at the cost of philosophical inquiry and locates that happiness in societyok monogamy,
A brief note on rasagura, the imaginary fruit that only grows in and around the imaginary city of the novel
As a symbol not a prop atop an explicitly imaginary plane Suryam in a work that is otherwise realist, the rasagura is bound to confuse readers.
In the beginning, its role is to complete Suryam quickly for, otherwise, the construction of an imaginary place would have required more effort, In a way, we are told that the rasagura exists because there is Suryam, This gives Suryam some purpose, however arbitrary, What, however, is nested behind this accessible logic is something that our minds don't easily agree to have accommodated: that Suryam exists because there is the rasagura, It is this circularity that completes either imaginary construction, in a way that nothing more is needed, By describing a fruit, Mukherjee bypasses the onerous task of building a city, Rasagura is a symbol for the imaginariness of Suryam, but before that, it is its counterweight, This whole book feels like one big vibe check, so basically it was wild, Full review available sitelinkhere! I am a bit confused after reading this book, On one hand, I want to applaud the author for not mentioning even once the dirty gutters and stinking poverty that Indian authors revel in, This is a bold book on modern Indian relationships polyamory in particular hidden, covert, but as I know, very much there in our society,
On the other hand, I felt a bit shortchanged everything happened too fast, too much on the surface, and I felt disconnected with certain events that didnt seem to add to the story.
Perhaps, there neednt have been this whole mental health angle to it, The relationships would have sufficed, given the wildly swinging depths that Mukherjee takes us through,
Interesting. Provocative. Intense. And a bit undone.
A disclaimer: I've known Rheea since we were spotty bratty teenagers, and so I have no objectivity, I went into this book knowing that it would be good, and I came out of the book confirmed in that view,
Is this a love story How do you know someone, how do you KNOW them, where do you find their core authentic self and what if there is no such thing as an authentic self
Mira is a widow, falling in love with Sara and Rahul.
Who is Sara, really Why is she I'll, what is wrong, can it be fixed What is Rahil doing there, do his devotion and support hide something deeper
Mira has spent years with her grief as a widow, with the consolations of philosophy.
With Sara she cannot hide behind those abstractions, Together we see these three people navigate the difficult path of trust and honesty,
With beautiful, shocking prose, Rheea Mukherjee asks us how we see ourselves, our bodies, how we navigate sickness and health in a concrete world, This concrete is literal developing urban cities in India are hard edges and shiny surfaces and metaphorical what are you What are you allowed to be when you live here
Pitting western philosophical thought against Sufi spiritual consciousness perhaps pitting is the wrong word, this is a conversation, an argument, a forgiving.
When you love someone, whom will you set free, and whom will you cage
The Body Myth is a nuanced, gentle narration of healing, finding and losing your self and another's.
Mira, Sara and Rahil work through their journey, privately and publicly negotiating their relationship with themselves and each other, Each event is inevitable each moment is a complete shock, Rheea Mukherjee's control over her narrative is flawless, I highly recommend this book get hold of a copy as soon as it launches and thank me later, The protagonist, Mira, is a lot like that one friend in your circle with the tragic past, Everyone likes to speculate about her romantic liaisons behind her back, but very few people truly know anything about her life,
One can imagine that since her husband's untimely death, she has withdrawn from her past groups of friends in favor of intermittent communication with one intimate confidant,
You, the reader, are that confidant, You get to hear her side of the story outside of rumour, unkind remarks, and salacious whispers,
This story takes place in India, in a modern city called Suryam, only home of the endemic prized Rasagura fruit, Nevertheless, anyone who has experienced living in a close knit culture a culture that valorizes family and the sanctity of marriage, that is uncomfortable with talking about loss and grieving, and that views widowhood and singledom with equal parts pity and suspicion will relate to Mira's life here.
As a readerconfidant, I found the story happened in such real time and demanded so much of me that I had to pace the book, and come back to it like a phone call to a friend at the end of each day.
By the middle of the book, I was enthralled by and exasperated with Mira, I found I genuinely cared about her happy ending, whatever she defined that to be,
If you're the kind to devour a book in one sitting, this experience might feel like an allnight sleepover session listening to the riveting and often disturbing confessions of a long lost bestie.
I started the book curious about the taste of the unknown exotic Rasagura, but stayed for its addictive growing familiarity, Once you taste this book, you will have to see it through to the end, Be warned that it may not be a feeling that you are comfortable with, expect to encounter, or leave the book with,
I count myself lucky to have read an ARC from the author herself, Looking forward to buying a copy whenever it is published in India! First of all, it was so engaging Rheea Mukherjee has a crisp, cool, and clear voice that immerses you in Miras life.
The Body Myth is San Francisco meets bustling Suryam City, The narrator Mira falls hard in love with sickly and spiritual Sara, and her devoted husband Rahil, She reflects on it and just keeps on going,
Also I LOVE Mira as a teacher and her interactions with her student Samina, Ultimately I think The Body Myth does a magnificent job of portraying the relationship between our minds, our bodies, and those of others, Though this was really a weird read, I loved it, Those who aren't familiar with polyamorous relationships or haven't come across one in real life might find it a bit difficult to come to terms with the concept, You might take some time to warm up to the plot, but eventually you will and you'd also come to love the story and its deep characters,
The lives of Mira, Sara, and Rahil are intrinsically linked, Apart from sharing a polyamorous relationship, they also find themselves deep in hard emotions, philosophy, and spirituality, What hooked me to the story was Rheea's poetic prose, A story would turn engaging when the narration is topclass, even though there are only pages and pages of drama between three people,
The other thing I loved about the book was its approach to mental illness, The buildup to find out what illness Sara was really undergoing was done so subtly, And Mira's refusal to label Sara's sickness deserves an applause,
I am someone who loves serious literature with chunks of paragraphs, descriptions, and enlightening dialogues, So, I loved this book, But I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't in the mood for reading unusual plots and are looking for some light read,
Kudos to Rheea Mukherjee's daring attempt!,
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“Perhaps they had done this before, Perhaps somewhere in this house were the remains of a broken heart, another widow who fell for their charms only to have her spirit shattered, ”
One word: Weird, And not necessarily a good kind of weird,
This short novel strikes me as being confused: it doesn't know what it wants to be,
Somehow it seemed that this novel was less than the sum of its parts,
“We didn't possess the exact same background to grid our foundation, but we were similar enough to dance to the tune of happy urban complacency, ”
I was intrigued by the opening chapter, which throws us immediately in this midst of this notquitelove triangle, Our narrator Mira is a recently widowed English teacher, After a brief stint in a hospital, Mira is quite content to live by herself, unwilling to form meaningful connections, let alone seek a new husband,
“If I'd lived in the Victorian era, I would have been dismissed as a fragile woman who suffered from hysteria because her husband just died, Or if I had lived a century before in my own country, my depression would have been glorified, needed, and aggressively presented to society as that of an ideal grieving wife.
Had the words clinical depression empowered me I couldn't remember, ”
Enter Sara and Rahil, Mira comes across the couple after she sees Sara having a seizure in a park, After they invite her to their house Mira becomes entranced by the couple, Beautiful Sara suffers from a long list of mysterious ailments, and Rahil dotes after her,
Yet, Mira immediately suspects that Sara might not be as ill as she claims to be, or that perhaps Rahil is behind Sara's illness,
“She had listed off her diagnoses with a building pride, which unsettled me but compelled me to believe her, to believe that there was something very wrong with Sara, something even science couldn't account for.
”
I enjoyed Mira's cynic narrative, At times, I did find that her actions were at odds with her inner monologue, She seemed two different people, Around Sara and Rahil she acts in such a wimpish way, I found her commentary on love, marriage, and teaching, deeply entertaining and in comparison her socalled 'complex feelings' for Sara and Rahil were, . . not that complex I never quite understood her fascination with Sara or her relationship with Rahil, Sara seemed more 'object' than person, and yet the narrative implies that she is a deeply profound and thoughtful woman,
There are a lot of quotable scenes or monologues but the writing did seem to try too hard to come across as sardonic, so much so that, other than the occasional 'haha' or 'that sounds clever', I experienced very little while reading this.
“Although I will say, contemporary Indian English fiction is shit, and India has yet to create its first Kafka, ”
What could have been an intriguing tale of passion and jealousy delivers a lukewarm and predictable depiction of the typical 'love' triangle and in this case the love seems.
. . underbaked Not quite believable Not at all there! Mira talked a lot but felt things in a monotone sort of way, Her jealousy and lust, even her relationship toward her father and her job, were all just underwhelming and flat, In her narration she presents herself as
this intelligent and deep individual but 'telling' isn't enough, I saw little of this inner depth and of these complicated feelings she harbours for this married couple, She is just so passive, in spite of those occasional sharp observations,
The story seemed to promise more than what it actually is, Sara and Rahil are so lifeless, Sara's love for Sufi music didn't make her interesting or layered, Rahil spoke few words, and acted in such a vague manner that I had a hard time believing in his character,
The whole ending seemed at odds with the beginning, What was all that for A few well written paragraphs do not distract from a hazy and poorly constructed story,
DISCLAIMER: I got an ARC of the book,
The art of the review, if it possessed any to begin with, has like many other things gone the Zomato way, Mr. Shah liked the ambience, but the waiter's lack of an antebellum sense of servitude left a lot to be desired, What we are left with is a hackneyed, threadbare grocery list, colored with splashes of rococo prejudice serving as the only reminder that there is indeed a person typing all this out.
This review endeavors to be no more than that, The brief review is that I implore you to buy this book, the economy of it is an attractive proposition in this respect, atodd pages, Mukherjee packs in an engaging narrative that you MUST see to its end trust me, you'll feel the same way at pagewhile not sparing us with sterner themes to ruminate about once you've kept the book away.
Despite its economy, one is reeled in, to the milieu, the mood, the malaise, eventually finding oneself fully complicit in this universe, Anything that does that and looks so good deserves to be on your shelf, The book intrigued and perplexed me An unusual story of love, life and living congealed within the premise of the intellectual and spiritual mind, Rheea's writing has always touched a chord and this offering is no different, Her writing flows seamlessly almost as if one is having a conversation with chamomile tea and oatmeal cookies, You never for a second imagine that you are reading the story of a threesome relationship because it all integrates flawlessly,
The philosophyquoting, polyamoryok Mira the narrator dazzles us with her dalliances, deliberations, segues, insights, Mira's irreverent idiom reminds us of narrators created by Carmen Maria Machado and Otessa Moshfegh, It feels strange, then, that the resolution that the novel provides Mira prioritizes happiness at the cost of philosophical inquiry and locates that happiness in societyok monogamy,
A brief note on rasagura, the imaginary fruit that only grows in and around the imaginary city of the novel
As a symbol not a prop atop an explicitly imaginary plane Suryam in a work that is otherwise realist, the rasagura is bound to confuse readers.
In the beginning, its role is to complete Suryam quickly for, otherwise, the construction of an imaginary place would have required more effort, In a way, we are told that the rasagura exists because there is Suryam, This gives Suryam some purpose, however arbitrary, What, however, is nested behind this accessible logic is something that our minds don't easily agree to have accommodated: that Suryam exists because there is the rasagura, It is this circularity that completes either imaginary construction, in a way that nothing more is needed, By describing a fruit, Mukherjee bypasses the onerous task of building a city, Rasagura is a symbol for the imaginariness of Suryam, but before that, it is its counterweight, This whole book feels like one big vibe check, so basically it was wild, Full review available sitelinkhere! I am a bit confused after reading this book, On one hand, I want to applaud the author for not mentioning even once the dirty gutters and stinking poverty that Indian authors revel in, This is a bold book on modern Indian relationships polyamory in particular hidden, covert, but as I know, very much there in our society,
On the other hand, I felt a bit shortchanged everything happened too fast, too much on the surface, and I felt disconnected with certain events that didnt seem to add to the story.
Perhaps, there neednt have been this whole mental health angle to it, The relationships would have sufficed, given the wildly swinging depths that Mukherjee takes us through,
Interesting. Provocative. Intense. And a bit undone.
A disclaimer: I've known Rheea since we were spotty bratty teenagers, and so I have no objectivity, I went into this book knowing that it would be good, and I came out of the book confirmed in that view,
Is this a love story How do you know someone, how do you KNOW them, where do you find their core authentic self and what if there is no such thing as an authentic self
Mira is a widow, falling in love with Sara and Rahul.
Who is Sara, really Why is she I'll, what is wrong, can it be fixed What is Rahil doing there, do his devotion and support hide something deeper
Mira has spent years with her grief as a widow, with the consolations of philosophy.
With Sara she cannot hide behind those abstractions, Together we see these three people navigate the difficult path of trust and honesty,
With beautiful, shocking prose, Rheea Mukherjee asks us how we see ourselves, our bodies, how we navigate sickness and health in a concrete world, This concrete is literal developing urban cities in India are hard edges and shiny surfaces and metaphorical what are you What are you allowed to be when you live here
Pitting western philosophical thought against Sufi spiritual consciousness perhaps pitting is the wrong word, this is a conversation, an argument, a forgiving.
When you love someone, whom will you set free, and whom will you cage
The Body Myth is a nuanced, gentle narration of healing, finding and losing your self and another's.
Mira, Sara and Rahil work through their journey, privately and publicly negotiating their relationship with themselves and each other, Each event is inevitable each moment is a complete shock, Rheea Mukherjee's control over her narrative is flawless, I highly recommend this book get hold of a copy as soon as it launches and thank me later, The protagonist, Mira, is a lot like that one friend in your circle with the tragic past, Everyone likes to speculate about her romantic liaisons behind her back, but very few people truly know anything about her life,
One can imagine that since her husband's untimely death, she has withdrawn from her past groups of friends in favor of intermittent communication with one intimate confidant,
You, the reader, are that confidant, You get to hear her side of the story outside of rumour, unkind remarks, and salacious whispers,
This story takes place in India, in a modern city called Suryam, only home of the endemic prized Rasagura fruit, Nevertheless, anyone who has experienced living in a close knit culture a culture that valorizes family and the sanctity of marriage, that is uncomfortable with talking about loss and grieving, and that views widowhood and singledom with equal parts pity and suspicion will relate to Mira's life here.
As a readerconfidant, I found the story happened in such real time and demanded so much of me that I had to pace the book, and come back to it like a phone call to a friend at the end of each day.
By the middle of the book, I was enthralled by and exasperated with Mira, I found I genuinely cared about her happy ending, whatever she defined that to be,
If you're the kind to devour a book in one sitting, this experience might feel like an allnight sleepover session listening to the riveting and often disturbing confessions of a long lost bestie.
I started the book curious about the taste of the unknown exotic Rasagura, but stayed for its addictive growing familiarity, Once you taste this book, you will have to see it through to the end, Be warned that it may not be a feeling that you are comfortable with, expect to encounter, or leave the book with,
I count myself lucky to have read an ARC from the author herself, Looking forward to buying a copy whenever it is published in India! First of all, it was so engaging Rheea Mukherjee has a crisp, cool, and clear voice that immerses you in Miras life.
The Body Myth is San Francisco meets bustling Suryam City, The narrator Mira falls hard in love with sickly and spiritual Sara, and her devoted husband Rahil, She reflects on it and just keeps on going,
Also I LOVE Mira as a teacher and her interactions with her student Samina, Ultimately I think The Body Myth does a magnificent job of portraying the relationship between our minds, our bodies, and those of others, Though this was really a weird read, I loved it, Those who aren't familiar with polyamorous relationships or haven't come across one in real life might find it a bit difficult to come to terms with the concept, You might take some time to warm up to the plot, but eventually you will and you'd also come to love the story and its deep characters,
The lives of Mira, Sara, and Rahil are intrinsically linked, Apart from sharing a polyamorous relationship, they also find themselves deep in hard emotions, philosophy, and spirituality, What hooked me to the story was Rheea's poetic prose, A story would turn engaging when the narration is topclass, even though there are only pages and pages of drama between three people,
The other thing I loved about the book was its approach to mental illness, The buildup to find out what illness Sara was really undergoing was done so subtly, And Mira's refusal to label Sara's sickness deserves an applause,
I am someone who loves serious literature with chunks of paragraphs, descriptions, and enlightening dialogues, So, I loved this book, But I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't in the mood for reading unusual plots and are looking for some light read,
Kudos to Rheea Mukherjee's daring attempt!,