Author: Kiran Manral
Published: July 2018
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
The book is about the breakdown of Aisha and Prithvi’s marriage. Aisha is portrayed as suffering from a mental illness. The story is about how Aisha’s illness, Prithvi’s temper, a misinterpretation of actions, intentions and lack of communication create a barrier in a decades-old marriage that leads to devastating consequences.
Kiran Manral takes us into Aisha’s inner world. She brings alive Aisha’s demons and fears, providing a rare and unique experience of what living with emotional and mental difficulties feels like. I was glad Kiran Manral didn’t give an exact diagnosis for Aisha’s illness and left it open.
The book is set somewhere in the foothills of the Himalayas. Once again, an exact location is left open to interpretation. The poetic and descriptive language made for a captivating start. Whether it was the sense of isolation or the bad weather, the descriptions were on point and drew me into the book and Aisha’s head. The arrival of Aisha’s estranged half-sister, Heer, the inclement weather and the sordid history of Aisha’s parents’ marriage all combined to create a sense of impending doom.
The plot couldn’t live up to the expectations set up by the brilliant beginning. I loved the portrayal of Aisha’s mental state and the slow crumbling of the marriage. But the constant, out-of-the-blue switches in the POV, from Aisha to her daughter, Maya or the character of Daljeet (whom Aisha meets on the road) were jarring. And these sudden changes in POV were peppered throughout the book. It just made it difficult to parse whether it was Aisha or Prithvi imagining what the other characters might be feeling/thinking or if I was actually in the head of the other characters. In some places, it was easy to tell, but in others, not so much, which made for very tedious reading.
It also made the vague, open-ended conclusion to the book unsatisfying. Usually, I am a fan of vague endings but in this case, I felt cheated. The story and the end would have felt more authentic if Kiran Manral had strictly stuck to the POVs of Aisha and Prithvi without going into Daljeet’s head or occasionally dipping into Heer’s thoughts.
In conclusion, the descriptions and characterizations were perfect. Kiran Manral brought the foothills, Aisha, Prithvi and the rest of the characters to life. But the plot, the twists in the plot and the conclusion made the story feel incomplete.
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