AUTHOR: Sundari Venkatraman
ISBN/ASIN: 9788192997575
GENRE: Fiction / Romance
NUMBER OF PAGES: 284
FORMAT: Paperback
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: I thank Rubina Ramesh of The Book Club for this
review copy. And yes, the author too!
SUMMARY:
Sangita Sinclair was not always this successful & passionate lady, heading the NGO “Penn Urimai” for downtrodden, abused and
homeless women….
When Sangita catches the eye of Gautam Sinclair she is a simple, homely girl; utterly unaware of her charms & capabilities. She
has the devil’s own time in overcoming her inhibitions, hesitation, and her family’s orthodox and outdated rules before
recognising her love for Gautam.
Will Gautam be able to solve Sangita’s Dilemma or will she be forever trapped in her past?
FIRST IMPRESSION:
The Madras Affair earns the 'distinction' of being one of the most coveted, sought after books in my wishlist this year. To say it was one of the
top five books I so really wanted to read in the whole of 2015 would not be an exaggeration. My reason? I loved everything about
the book since I first set sight on it. The title caught my attention in a way not many other books had. And then there was the
beautifully designed cover. The color scheme and the font were enough to enthrall me and capture my undivided attention.
So it was with high expectations and a mild anticipation that I picked this book up, wondering if the full novel would live up to
the hype I had given it. And yes, it was one hell of a ride!
REVIEW:
The Madras Affair - my first thoughts, after getting over the awe of finally holding the paperback in my hands were 'would this
word mean stereotyping my city and make it seem like it was still in those forgotten sleepy nineties?' NO. It did not mean that at
all. In fact, it gave the word 'Madras' a million colours and beautiful flavours. The plot is simple. A woman who was abused and
hurt in a marriage gets a chance at a second lease of life. Will she be able to overcome her apprehensions and hurt from her first
marriage and get over her conception that men are beasts? Will she be able to consider remarriage in a society that still insists on
shaving off the widow's hair? The brilliance of the author is in weaving a enticing tale around this simple premise.
Sangita is a frightened, confused, young widow. She had an abusive marriage, so much to the point of wishing her husband
dead, in spite of knowing that her life as a widow would be no walk in the park. Requests to her parents to save her from her
husband's clutches falling on deaf ears, Sangita lives in tormented silence until fate and drunken driving claim Giridhar's life.
Everyone involved mistake Sangita's stony silence as shock and her orthodox family members consider shaving her hair off to
prevent her from 'attracting' other men. She accepts her ascetic life as a celibate single mother for her son Sandeep.
Gautam, the confident and ahem... attractive English Professor who chances upon Sangita in her workplace and immediately
takes to her. He does not understand why he is so smitten by this calm innocent woman. He is not deterred by her marital status
and wants to marry her. But before convincing others around him about marrying a widow, he has to convince Sangita herself
that all men are not hurtful and there are a few who have really honorable intentions. The romance (or the tension thereof) is
mingled with the constant battle of obsolete customs and outdated mindsets and the end result is a nice page turner.
Now moving on to the writing, I had thought of voicing a few complaints I had about why the first chapter told me the most
important thing I needed to know and then the subsequent chapters unfolding as a flashback of the events in Sangita's life. A
part of me preferred to have the suspense intact and let the tension build up as the chapters progressed. But as I read through
the book in parts for the second time, I realised I understood, at least a little bit, why the author chose to write her book in this
way. And also that the whole charm of the story is in that first chapter! Maybe if that were not the case, I would have read the
story differently :)
The storyline had a nice, steady and even progression. The charm of Madras that effortlessly shifted to Chennai and thankfully
wasn't portrayed as some age old town filled with slow folk (at least that is how some books portray what was, is and always will
be a vibrant city, no matter what name it is known by). I had a chance to participate in a facebook interview where I asked the
author few questions, and her thoughtful, clear answers only increased my wish to read this book. And The Madras Affair did not
disappoint me one bit! The characterisation of Sangita (though I could not quite agree with half the things she did) was realistic.
She was a bit contradictory but that could be due to the constant war between her desirous heart and rational mind.
Gautam as a character is honorable, drool worthy and of course, to many female readers, the perfect daydream material. Too
perfect, to be honest. But I enjoyed the book best when he displayed his frustration at the lack of proper communication from
Sangita. I loved how the author had perfectly captured the war between her traditional, orthodox upbringing where women need
their family's permission to even walk out the door and his modernised American style upbringing where he assumes the only two
people whose permission is needed are the bride and the groom themselves. Other characters that stood out are Rekha (an
unexpectedly supportive family member, considering the relationship she had with Sangita) and Rithika (the best friend, if ever
there was one woman to fit that title!). While there were others who supported the young couple and wished them well, these two
were the strongest and made the most impact on me as a reader.
The language is pleasant. Not many people could bring out the city's and the characters' beauty in such charming words. The
characters come to life in front of the reader's eyes and most often than not, pull you in with the details. The story is not
categorised as a simple romance because in parallel it deals with serious issues like widow remarriage and how the society
(sometimes even the family) treats widows. The social stigma is woven seamlessly with the romance aspect of the story and the
constant war in Sangita's own mind between her desire for Gautham and fear of men in general is written extremely well. Most
readers who don't realise just how bad it is to be in Sangita's place would be frustrated by her contradictory statements and
decisioins but it is a reflection of how she had been conditioned so far versus what she actually wanted to be. Special thanks to
the author for writing this part so endearingly, frustratingly well.
Overall, a book that I loved. It did not disappoint me. The charm of the cover and the title are nothing compared to the charm of
the story. Read this book if you like woman centric stories with a romance element. This is the perfect balance of both.
WHAT I LIKED:
- The cover, the title and the mesmerising quality of the story itself.
- The characters of Rekha, Rithika, Ganapathi and Vimala
- The ending - that gives the readers belief that even the worst of situations can turn best!
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:
- The last few pages, (though very descriptive, :-P agreed) seem like the director's cut to a movie. Shortening them would not have stopped the readers' feel of the story being complete!
- I wish there could have been more to read about Gautham's parents. But this is not a real complaint by itself.
VERDICT:
A read you will not regret - there is charm in the writing that could hold you captivated to the story!
RATING: 4.2/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Even as a kid, Sundari absolutely loved the ‘lived happily ever after’ syndrome as she grew up reading all the fairy tales she could
lay her hands on, Phantom comics, Mandrake comics and the like. It was always about good triumphing over evil and a happy
end.
Soon, into her teens, Sundari switched her attention from fairy tales to Mills & Boon. While she loved reading both of these, she
kept visualising what would have happened if there were similar situations happening in India; to a local hero and heroine. Her
imagination took flight and she always lived in a rosy cocoon of romance over the years.
Then came the writing – a true bolt out of the blue! She could never string two sentences together. While her spoken English had
always been excellent – thanks to her Grandpa – she couldn’t write to save her life.
All this changed suddenly one fine day in the year 2000. She had just quit her job as a school admin and didn’t know what to do
with her life. She was saturated with simply reading books.
That’s when she returned home one evening after her walk, took
some sheets of paper and began writing. It was like watching a movie that was running in her head – all those years of visualising
Indian heroes and heroines needed an outlet and had to be put into words. That’s how her first novel, The Malhotra Bride, took
shape. While she felt discouraged when publishing didn’t happen, it was her husband who kept encouraging her not to give up.
In the meanwhile, she landed a job as Copy Editor with Mumbai Mirror. After working there for two years, she moved to the
Network 18 Group and worked with two of their websites over the next six years, as Content Editor.
Despite her work schedule, she continued to write novels and then short stories and had them published in her blogs.
She also
blogs voraciously, writing on many different topics – travel, book reviews, film reviews, restaurant reviews, spirituality, alternative
health and more.
Her first eBook Double Jeopardy – a romance novella – was published by Indireads and has been very well received by readers of
romance.
In 2014, Sundari self-published The Malhotra Bride (2nd Edition); Meghna; The Runaway Bridegroom; Flaming Sun Collection 1:
Happily Ever Afters From India (Box Set) and Matches Made In Heaven (a collection of romantic short stories).
2015 brought yet another opportunity. Readomania came forward to traditionally publish this book – The Madras Affair – a
mature romance set in Madras.
PRICE Rs. 269 for Paperback, Free on Kindle Unlimited
BOOK LINKS: Amazon
Thank you so much for this awesome and detailed review Dhivya. :D I can see you really loved reading my book
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