This book is not about feminism, or a feminist. It’s about a woman and three men who call themselves feminists discussing feminism at a coffee table, and a few other places, for roughly six pages, where each of them uses the idea like a trump card to win an argument or justify their illogical stands.
The rest of the book is a love story drama written in Chetan Bhagat style (so it is quite engaging), however, the drama is often dulled by boring distressed debt office conversations, which nevertheless, could appeal to people who understand the stuff. If you like the author’s writing (simple, pacy, funny, and embedded in real contexts), you’ll have fun reading it.
I did not like the main character- the first person narrator Radhika Mehta. She does begin as a promising protagonist, but as she is slowly revealed, she comes off as a selfish, insensitive, uncaring moral-chameleon who fights unnecessary battles and loses necessary wars. There is no confrontation with a parent, there is no character arc like in Revolution 2020. Radhika begins as the right person, and ends up being the right person. But Bhagat had already warned in the first page that she’s not a likeable character, so I guess it’s alright.
Bits and pieces of gender related issues- e.g., female foeticide- have been sewn into the story, but they serve as mere embellishments. The criticism of the society is simply a combination of realisation and preaching, there’s no action that follows. Overall, as far as women’s question is concerned, this book is a wasted opportunity.
But is it a bad book? I don’t think so. It’s enjoyable if you toss the Great Expectations out and read it like a usual Chetan Bhagat novel. Also, credit must be given to the author for picking up an issue that affects half the population directly. His diagnosis is apt, and the characters truly reflect the complexities that exist around feminism in India. Where it lacks though, is in driving the point home. Somehow, several fronts are sealed without a closure.
But it’s a decent start, nevertheless.
roastedmoongfalis 