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jjmcdade's review
5.0
I was surprised to see that the average rating on this book was a 3.33. I truly enjoyed this book. Confessions: I particularly like books written by people from other cultures. I see it as a way of finding out how other people view life and the world.
That being said, this book had a surprise I never saw coming. Don't want to spoil anything; so, I won't say more. But, it's a quick read and absolutely worth it. I liked the way the author used the protagonist's voice to justify her behavior. Her inner self was in a constant battle to keep her view of herself as a respectable woman intact.
That being said, this book had a surprise I never saw coming. Don't want to spoil anything; so, I won't say more. But, it's a quick read and absolutely worth it. I liked the way the author used the protagonist's voice to justify her behavior. Her inner self was in a constant battle to keep her view of herself as a respectable woman intact.
smitz's review
4.0
A surprise of a novel! Slow pace and quiet writing. But Mrs. Sharma packs a punch. Her character is delightfully surprising and just has layers and layers to it. Such a well crafted commentary on a society we know too well.
I could not put this book down.
I could not put this book down.
agarje1's review
4.0
This was a really fascinating look into the life of a middle class married woman in Delhi and all the contradictions that she embodies and deals with. One of the better books that I have read for school.
em_beddedinbooks's review
4.0
Mrs. Sharma is a cutesy , plucky lady.
She is 37, lives with her aged in laws and 15 year old son Bobby, who dreams of being a chef, though Mrs. Sharma who is a receptionist to an OBGyn specialist has higher hopes for him. Her husband, a physiotherapist is working in the Middle East for monetary purposes.
Mrs Sharma becomes friendly with a young man in the metro station and the friendship grows. Her narrative ensues, focussing upon herself and her life, along with many musings of a general kind. Mrs. Renu Sharma is mentally strong and she knows it.
So what happened towards the end was totally unexpected.
I enjoyed the narrative, the first few pages of which were written in an almost pidgin English, but later I realised that it is Mrs. Sharma's style and she cares two hoots whether we like it or not.
She is 37, lives with her aged in laws and 15 year old son Bobby, who dreams of being a chef, though Mrs. Sharma who is a receptionist to an OBGyn specialist has higher hopes for him. Her husband, a physiotherapist is working in the Middle East for monetary purposes.
Mrs Sharma becomes friendly with a young man in the metro station and the friendship grows. Her narrative ensues, focussing upon herself and her life, along with many musings of a general kind. Mrs. Renu Sharma is mentally strong and she knows it.
So what happened towards the end was totally unexpected.
I enjoyed the narrative, the first few pages of which were written in an almost pidgin English, but later I realised that it is Mrs. Sharma's style and she cares two hoots whether we like it or not.
geckoedit's review
5.0
Despite atrocious violence in recent months, India’s vibrant publishing industry has discovered some fantastic writers, and occasionally some of those success stories become one of the country’s most brilliant exports. Fresh off the gravy train of success from her debut novel, Overwinter, which was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, Kapur brings us the story of a middle-class Indian housewife whose life’s focus is her family and their well-being, until she meets a handsome stranger on the train.
Mrs Sharma’s husband is away, working in Dubai. But she is not lonely; she works hard to support her son and in-laws, holding up the roof with her careful control over every aspect of their lives. From choosing a husband for her sister-in-law to buying a suit for her future businessman son, Mrs Sharma has everyone’s lives planned out, with their best interests in mind. However, the pressure can be exhausting – doesn’t she deserve a little holiday from it all? She finds this escape in the calm, mysterious presence of Vineet, the stranger on the train. Bringing modern ideas of love, marriage and sexuality into conflict with traditional ideas of her duty to her family, Mrs Sharma struggles to reconcile what she wants with what she thinks is right. If only everything would just go according to her plans… But her son wants to be a chef, not a businessman, and that’s the least of her problems. Her husband will be home in a few months; then it will all be sorted.
Mrs Sharma is instantly likable. Reading her words feels like sitting down to tea as she tells you her secrets. She’s as unreliable as any person in her situation may be – desperate to live up to her opinion of herself, she finds justifications for everything she does. She tries not to boast, but shows pride in her son and her own achievements. Even better, she is frank about her sexuality and her desires, and does not shy away from shocking the reader with her honesty. Her unreliability comes from her hypocrisy; while she desires freedom and makes excuses for going after her own desires, she refuses to accept the desires of her son, who wishes to leave school to become a chef. It’s not part of her plan, so it just won’t do. She’s manipulative and controlling, but she is still a sympathetic character as almost everything she does is out of love and devotion to her husband and her son.
Kapur skillfully brings to life the flavors and contradictions of modern India. A woman wants to become a Biologist but is trapped in an arranged marriage. A housewife scams office suppliers to supplement her income. Polite, well-educated and hard-working Mrs Sharma has an affair with a virtual stranger. Weaving a tricky story of the control that desire has over Mrs Sharma’s life, and her desire for control over the life of her son, the reader is fully wrapped around Mrs Sharma’s little finger. You’re on her side, rooting for her, even though this couldn’t possibly turn out well for anyone. But even at the most dramatic and intense moments, you are suddenly surprised by the hilarity of a particular way Mrs Sharma phrases something, or a sudden thought that pops into her mind that is both completely inappropriate and completely realistic.
Kapur’s use of language is also excellent, as Mrs Sharma talks of things being "timewastes" rather than a waste of time, and so on. Her voice is genuine, sincere and frank. She is completely relatable, even at her most ridiculous, or most tragic moments. Perhaps especially at those moments; those are the times that she is her most human. She clings desperately to her dignity and self-respect, refusing to let her sexuality be anything but a natural urge, and one of which she is in control. Despite her role as a wife and mother, she seizes power over her own life, through her work, and through her blossoming relationship with Vineet. She is a strong woman who doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone; she is a force to be reckoned with; so too Kapur is a writer to be reckoned with.
In the conservative setting of India, where the caste system still holds sway over relationships and others’ opinions are deeply central to your sense of self respect, Kapur presents a heroine who is ordinary in her abilities, but extraordinary in her sense of self. She tries to control her life; she tries to fill the role of wife and mother and daughter-in-law, holding the reins of the fates of her family, but it is exhausting. Doesn’t she deserve a little fun? Doesn’t she deserve to come out of her shell? Mrs Sharma is a flawed, complex and thoroughly likable character, and her story is moving. From her highest to her lowest, the reader is carried along. I could not put this book down, and it merits a solid 5/5.
Read more of my reviews on Literogo.com
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
"Other men played with their phones or looked down the train tunnel or walked up and down the platform or stared at women, but Vineet always stood calmly in one place, like a statue of some great man, waiting for the train."
Mrs Sharma’s husband is away, working in Dubai. But she is not lonely; she works hard to support her son and in-laws, holding up the roof with her careful control over every aspect of their lives. From choosing a husband for her sister-in-law to buying a suit for her future businessman son, Mrs Sharma has everyone’s lives planned out, with their best interests in mind. However, the pressure can be exhausting – doesn’t she deserve a little holiday from it all? She finds this escape in the calm, mysterious presence of Vineet, the stranger on the train. Bringing modern ideas of love, marriage and sexuality into conflict with traditional ideas of her duty to her family, Mrs Sharma struggles to reconcile what she wants with what she thinks is right. If only everything would just go according to her plans… But her son wants to be a chef, not a businessman, and that’s the least of her problems. Her husband will be home in a few months; then it will all be sorted.
"But I should say here that I am not a cheap woman. I hail from a good family, a well-educated family, my father actually had a BSc in Botany, and I don’t talk to men without reason. From time to time men come up to me. Some will offer me a smile, some will try their level best to talk to me and some, I have seen, will allow their eyes to roam all over my body. But I just walk away each and every time."
Mrs Sharma is instantly likable. Reading her words feels like sitting down to tea as she tells you her secrets. She’s as unreliable as any person in her situation may be – desperate to live up to her opinion of herself, she finds justifications for everything she does. She tries not to boast, but shows pride in her son and her own achievements. Even better, she is frank about her sexuality and her desires, and does not shy away from shocking the reader with her honesty. Her unreliability comes from her hypocrisy; while she desires freedom and makes excuses for going after her own desires, she refuses to accept the desires of her son, who wishes to leave school to become a chef. It’s not part of her plan, so it just won’t do. She’s manipulative and controlling, but she is still a sympathetic character as almost everything she does is out of love and devotion to her husband and her son.
"I know all about sex. I have been married a long time. I even know about porn. Bobby thinks that I am a fool, he thinks that I have no idea that he looks at porn on the Internet. But I know that he does, and I know a lot about those dirty photos and videos and stories that he looks at, the types of things that all boys, and all men, even my own husband, look at these days. Man on top, woman on top, this style, that style, doggy style. I was not born yesterday."
Kapur skillfully brings to life the flavors and contradictions of modern India. A woman wants to become a Biologist but is trapped in an arranged marriage. A housewife scams office suppliers to supplement her income. Polite, well-educated and hard-working Mrs Sharma has an affair with a virtual stranger. Weaving a tricky story of the control that desire has over Mrs Sharma’s life, and her desire for control over the life of her son, the reader is fully wrapped around Mrs Sharma’s little finger. You’re on her side, rooting for her, even though this couldn’t possibly turn out well for anyone. But even at the most dramatic and intense moments, you are suddenly surprised by the hilarity of a particular way Mrs Sharma phrases something, or a sudden thought that pops into her mind that is both completely inappropriate and completely realistic.
"From time to time everybody has to take a little holiday from his life, from all the big and small everyday things. Maybe that is why I enjoyed that evening alone at home when everybody went for the cricket match. Maybe that is why I enjoy meeting Vineet. During those times, all the small, little difficulties of everyday seem far away. When I am with Vineet, it seems that I can just forget everything, everybody, just like that."
Kapur’s use of language is also excellent, as Mrs Sharma talks of things being "timewastes" rather than a waste of time, and so on. Her voice is genuine, sincere and frank. She is completely relatable, even at her most ridiculous, or most tragic moments. Perhaps especially at those moments; those are the times that she is her most human. She clings desperately to her dignity and self-respect, refusing to let her sexuality be anything but a natural urge, and one of which she is in control. Despite her role as a wife and mother, she seizes power over her own life, through her work, and through her blossoming relationship with Vineet. She is a strong woman who doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone; she is a force to be reckoned with; so too Kapur is a writer to be reckoned with.
"This time it was not about my family but about my body. I decided to free my body. I decided to free my body of suffering, another type of suffering, obviously, but actually it is not that different. It is still the type of suffering that comes from the pain of need."
In the conservative setting of India, where the caste system still holds sway over relationships and others’ opinions are deeply central to your sense of self respect, Kapur presents a heroine who is ordinary in her abilities, but extraordinary in her sense of self. She tries to control her life; she tries to fill the role of wife and mother and daughter-in-law, holding the reins of the fates of her family, but it is exhausting. Doesn’t she deserve a little fun? Doesn’t she deserve to come out of her shell? Mrs Sharma is a flawed, complex and thoroughly likable character, and her story is moving. From her highest to her lowest, the reader is carried along. I could not put this book down, and it merits a solid 5/5.
Read more of my reviews on Literogo.com
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
whatbritreads's review
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book and initially toyed with giving it a two star, but I don’t think that rating is fair overall. This thought mainly stemmed from the fact that for such a short book, this took me forever to get through and reading it at some points actually felt like a task. The beginning is intriguing, the middle lags, and then it picks up again in the end. The ending in particular frustrated me because the book felt so unfinished. It could have had so much more potential with a better and more satisfying ending.
I feel like I didn’t really like our protagonist at all, but I can’t put my finger on why. I really liked her narration and the writing style of this book worked for me – but something wasn’t right. I know it’s not supposed to be the most action packed of contemporaries, but the plot was very slow and honestly nothing much happened at all. There was some discussion of the role of women as serving men, motherhood, cultural norms and loneliness that I liked but it wasn’t gone into enough. Sexuality was talked about more often, and I liked how there was talk of breaking taboo of women being sexual beings. I would’ve liked similar conversations to be had with the other themes in the book.
There aren’t many characters in this book so they’re easy to keep track of, but tell me how about half-way through her mother and father-in-law completely disappear? I was under the impression they all lived together, but there are several scenes in the book set in their home and they don’t seem to be around at all. That really confused me.
I’d definitely read more from the author. As I said, I liked the writing and some really interesting themes comes up that I’d love explored more in fiction. This book was by no means bad, just left me wanting so much more which is a shame.
I feel like I didn’t really like our protagonist at all, but I can’t put my finger on why. I really liked her narration and the writing style of this book worked for me – but something wasn’t right. I know it’s not supposed to be the most action packed of contemporaries, but the plot was very slow and honestly nothing much happened at all. There was some discussion of the role of women as serving men, motherhood, cultural norms and loneliness that I liked but it wasn’t gone into enough. Sexuality was talked about more often, and I liked how there was talk of breaking taboo of women being sexual beings. I would’ve liked similar conversations to be had with the other themes in the book.
There aren’t many characters in this book so they’re easy to keep track of, but tell me how about half-way through her mother and father-in-law completely disappear? I was under the impression they all lived together, but there are several scenes in the book set in their home and they don’t seem to be around at all. That really confused me.
I’d definitely read more from the author. As I said, I liked the writing and some really interesting themes comes up that I’d love explored more in fiction. This book was by no means bad, just left me wanting so much more which is a shame.
gweiswasser's review
3.0
Full review at: http://everydayiwritethebookblog.com/2017/03/private-life-mrs-sharma-ratika-kapur/
The Private Life Of Mrs. Sharma, by Ratika Kapur, is about Renu, an Indian woman in her late 30s who lives with her son and in-laws in an apartment in Delhi. Her husband is working remotely in Dubai in order to make more money, while Renu works in a doctor’s office in Delhi to help support the family. She’s a modern woman by Indian standards – she works outside the home and has a fair amount of freedom – yet she is traditional in that she dotes on her son, lives with her husband’s parents, does most of the housekeeping, cleaning and nurturing, and has rather old-fashioned views about how marriage works.
One day, Renu meets a young man named Vineet on the train, and instead of telling him that she is married, she strikes up a friendship with him. They spend time together on a regular basis when her son is in school. It starts as a platonic friendship, an escape for Renu to fill her lonely hours. The book is written as Renu’s private inner dialogue, and she comes across as chaste and naive as she spends time with Vineet – but justifies it as something she deserves because her husband is away and her son needs her less. Of course, Renu is not as innocent as she portrays herself, and before long things have progressed into a dangerous zone, with their relationship turning physical and her ability to keep her two lives separate in jeopardy.
The Private Life Of Mrs. Sharma is about the collision of old and modern, as well as freedom and responsibility. Kapur’s language is strikingly simple – almost childlike – yet also formal and sort of indignant. (More contradictions!) I can’t settle on how I felt about it, or about Renu – despite her selflessness and devotion to her family, she was also immature and selfish, caring little about the desires of others.
And there’s a surprise ending which seemed really out of place.
So this was a mixed bag for me. I liked that it was set in India, and it was an easy, engrossing read that effectively explored some of the tensions in modern middle class Indian society. But the protagonist was frustrating, the language almost claustrophobia-inducing at times, and the ending was jarring.
The Private Life Of Mrs. Sharma, by Ratika Kapur, is about Renu, an Indian woman in her late 30s who lives with her son and in-laws in an apartment in Delhi. Her husband is working remotely in Dubai in order to make more money, while Renu works in a doctor’s office in Delhi to help support the family. She’s a modern woman by Indian standards – she works outside the home and has a fair amount of freedom – yet she is traditional in that she dotes on her son, lives with her husband’s parents, does most of the housekeeping, cleaning and nurturing, and has rather old-fashioned views about how marriage works.
One day, Renu meets a young man named Vineet on the train, and instead of telling him that she is married, she strikes up a friendship with him. They spend time together on a regular basis when her son is in school. It starts as a platonic friendship, an escape for Renu to fill her lonely hours. The book is written as Renu’s private inner dialogue, and she comes across as chaste and naive as she spends time with Vineet – but justifies it as something she deserves because her husband is away and her son needs her less. Of course, Renu is not as innocent as she portrays herself, and before long things have progressed into a dangerous zone, with their relationship turning physical and her ability to keep her two lives separate in jeopardy.
The Private Life Of Mrs. Sharma is about the collision of old and modern, as well as freedom and responsibility. Kapur’s language is strikingly simple – almost childlike – yet also formal and sort of indignant. (More contradictions!) I can’t settle on how I felt about it, or about Renu – despite her selflessness and devotion to her family, she was also immature and selfish, caring little about the desires of others.
And there’s a surprise ending which seemed really out of place.
So this was a mixed bag for me. I liked that it was set in India, and it was an easy, engrossing read that effectively explored some of the tensions in modern middle class Indian society. But the protagonist was frustrating, the language almost claustrophobia-inducing at times, and the ending was jarring.
rockpools's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kazen's review
3.0
The good:
- We spend the entire book in Renuka's head and it stays interesting. Events are related after the fact, as if we're a best friends and we're discussing her life over tea. The plot itself, character development, and short chapters make for a quick read.
- The story is a look at what life is like in India today with context for those not familiar. (~raises her hand~) No info dumps, just helpful details perfectly placed.
- I love that Kapur didn't sanitize the English into something more British or American. The Indian-ness (I'm inventing that word right now) of the language makes it sing.
- A major theme is what it means to be a woman in a modernizing society and boy does it resonate. Over the years Renuka has taken care of her own father, her husband, and her son, making her wonder:
The not-so-good:
- I'm only barely on board with the ending. The last line makes it and saves it.
- A big theme is what it means to be a mother, which is something that doesn't interest me personally. That's just me, though, so don't let it keep you away if you like exploring motherhood in fiction.
All in all a solid enjoyable read, but it lacks the oomph to make it unforgettable.
- We spend the entire book in Renuka's head and it stays interesting. Events are related after the fact, as if we're a best friends and we're discussing her life over tea. The plot itself, character development, and short chapters make for a quick read.
- The story is a look at what life is like in India today with context for those not familiar. (~raises her hand~) No info dumps, just helpful details perfectly placed.
- I love that Kapur didn't sanitize the English into something more British or American. The Indian-ness (I'm inventing that word right now) of the language makes it sing.
- A major theme is what it means to be a woman in a modernizing society and boy does it resonate. Over the years Renuka has taken care of her own father, her husband, and her son, making her wonder:
"But who will need me next? Who will I have to worry about next? Who else is standing in line waiting for my attention? I sometimes think that the head and heart that God gave me don't actually belong to me, that even though they live inside me, I don't actually own them. Sometimes I just want to shout. Give me back my head! I want to say. Give me back my heart!"
The not-so-good:
- I'm only barely on board with the ending. The last line makes it and saves it.
- A big theme is what it means to be a mother, which is something that doesn't interest me personally. That's just me, though, so don't let it keep you away if you like exploring motherhood in fiction.
All in all a solid enjoyable read, but it lacks the oomph to make it unforgettable.