Home by Manju Kapur

If I were to ever recommend someone a book that would instantly make them go straight  to the Never Never Land, “Home” by Manju Kapur would win hands down! I picked up the book with great apprehension considering that I hadn’t read “Difficult Daughters” or “A Married Woman” and now I wonder why did I even bother with Home. Its not that “Home” is a terrible read – its just that it doesn’t do much for the reader. Yes, one can certainly imagine what “the shopkeeper” Delhi must be like, since the story is set in Delhi in a family of shopkepeers who withhold the traditional values  yet being so hypocritical at the core. At the centre of the story lies Nisha – the daughter of the Lal family who is a rebel in more than one way and has to ultimately pay for it in the long run.

The story is as thin as a gossamer curtain and the language used is almost kindergaten like. I normally love reading Indian Authors and their works but this one has truly managed to disappoint me. I mean why couldn’t the story line be more crisp? Why couldn’t the characters be minimal and well-etched?

I shut the book with relief and had no intention of going back to the characters’ or their lives.