Socialite Evenings

The character Karuna appears to be fashioned on how the author views herself and how she thinks the super-rich live. The latter part is probably pretty much her own imagination without any basis on real life characters. The story is one of the earliest for the author - may be written at a time when she had not experienced many things in life. The part where she talks of her middle class background is somewhat credible. Such a society does exist (at least did - about thirty years ago). There are references to the type of radio or the station that the father would listen to etc. This part must have come from experience. The parts about how the rich live clearly rings hollow and lack depth. Most male characters (except may be her Father) are so one dimensional they couldn't possibly be of a real person. The husband comes across as zero dimensional. Women are typically insecure or loose or both. Karuna is the only character that has some depth - that too because she is the narrator - albeit a self obsessed one. There is heavy name dropping - Calvin Kleins, or Carrera sunglasses - which again shows the narrators urge to drop names and betrays her ignorance of how the well off really live (and equal ignorance that the rich may prefer Carrera cars but not the sunglasses). The super rich always live in posh localities - never a mention of things that go into their home. There are parts of it that is purely funny especially when Karuna is bitchy to her friend Anjali. Enjoy it for what it is - fiction/fantasy. Not a reflection of the times or mores.

Well, maybe I'm a little abnormal to think this book is quite great. But to me, it was more interesting than or John Grisham books. I am a Korean girl, and even to my North East-Asian eyes, India is a combination of vague & conflicting images, rather than a real country with living people. This book is powerful to make readers to see India which we can't find in National Geographic or Lonley Planet. Of course, the writer wrote mostly about the modern hish society of Bombay, but the variety of characters makes a certain harmony of the universe scale.Well, I'd rather pick another Shobha De book(if she writes on) rather than