Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Book-Review: The Weight Loss Club by Devapriya Roy




The Readers Cosmos conducted a giveaway for "The Weight Loss Club" (Rupa Publication) by Devapriya Roy. I haven't read her previous book and the title of the book indicated that to be a self help book about weight loss. But when TRC said this book is like Hrishikesh Mukherjee's "Bawarchi", I knew I had to read this! I participated in the contest and won this author's signed copy.

The Weight Loss Club is about the lives of middle class families living in Nancy Housing Cooperative in Calcutta. Everyone has got his/her own problems.

Monalisa cleans her house in no time and rest of the time worries about her son's studies. Meera finds herself whirling around her daughters and mother-in-law, Aparajita aka Apu is an academic who needs to lose weight to get a nice match, Abeer is busy thinking how to impress Mandakini aka Mandy, Ananda a lecturer/philosopher, whom nobody takes seriously, anyhow manages his job and bedridden mother with the help of a maid and a nurse, Treeza is depressed and carries huge emotional baggage and Oxford-returned Sandhya, a saadhvi/spiritual guru/yoga instructor who, one fine day, comes to live in Nancy Housing Co.

The cover page is interesting but I think the title is misleading. One may think it's a non-fiction.

Writing style of the author is very neat and crisp. For the story,  I think there are too many characters to deal with and I found it very confusing. I almost forgot where I had left (about one character) when the POV of that character returned again (After travelling from many other characters) but I really liked the way author switched to 'various' points-of view.

The characters are very realistic and well defined. I liked Meera's, Ananda's and Treeza's part. Meera nicely represents the typical Indian bahu who doesn't have any personal time. I found Abeer's part a bit dull and insignificant for the story.

Overall, for me it was a simple, light and nice read. You can pick this book if you like light contemporary read!

I thank The Readers Cosmos and Devapriya Roy for sending me an author's signed copy!





2 comments:

  1. Although this really doesn't sound like a book I would enjoy I think you did a great job reviewing it and telling about the book.

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