Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Достойный жених, книга 2

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Достойный жених, книга 2 by Vikram Seth

6 reviews

norimee's review against another edition

2 stars, because it is well written and shows a plethora of well rounded characters and a view into an important time in Indian History.

BUT: what really made my blood boil and wanted me to give it even negative stars is how the author handled telling the story ark of Saeeda Bai and Tasneem. The way he just didn't give any importance to the violence against women in his story.

When Maan attacked first Saeeda Bai and then Firoz, him strangling her nearly to death and her persistent injury and the effects on her voice (her livelihood) is only mentioned in passing. There is no remorse or guilt described in Maan, while the guilt and worry for Firoz nearly eats him up and is described in detail. Not even at their next meeting, the only focus is on how he might have fallen out of love with her and no word about what he had done to her and what she had actually done for him in pretending it never happened and lying for his sake to the police. But even worse was how Seth wrote about the issue with Tasneem. The big scandal being that she was the Nawab Sahib's illegitimate daughter and Feroz's half sister while the fact that Feroz's father actually FUCKING RAPED 15 YEAR OLD SAEEDA BAI AND GOT HER PREGNANT is only mentioned in passing. If there wouldn’t be a child, this would literally not have been an issue. No reason to feel bad about or for any of the characters to acknowledge it, after they learned about it. The widely respected Nawab Sahib drunkenly raped a 15 year old child and 15 years later Maan Kapoor nearly strangled her to death out of jealousy.

These facts shouldn't be treated so nonchalantly as if that's a normal part of life and the way you just treat women. Normalising violence against women is not okay today and it wasn’t okay in 1993 when this book was published.

Content Warnings

natoasty's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

Content Warnings

liaandersson's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

anushareflects's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

pipbiz's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

sherbertwells's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Four families in the fictional Indian city of Brahmpur juggle familial expectations, post-partition politics, and their own desires in the search for suitable matches. After spending 1350 pages with Seth’s sparkling, multifaceted characters, I cannot help but long for a few more pages.

“Every man’s love life is interesting. If he doesn’t have one that’s interesting. If he has one, that’s interesting. And if he has two, that’s twice as interesting” (516)

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