Story of a suicide - Review

The novel is a mixture of reality and fantasy. Though both gender live in constant insecurity and confusion, the male always have a better advantage of expressing his views in the society. Yes it is not fair. But do as the romans do, while in Rome goes the saying. I like the way the book begins . It reflects the words of most of you. Most time, we put up a brave façade and suffer inside. The novel takes us through the life of Mani, a topper struggling with language issues, Hari, a child abuse victims fighting with his homosexuality, Sam, a confident geek and Charu, an insecure girl with strong feminist views.

The story starts with Hari and his loving family. Despite an understanding family, Hari finds it difficult to discuss his sexuality with them. He meets Sam in college who is confident on the surface, yet has trouble in understanding his girlfriend. His character depicts most relationship these days. We are so worried with our needs that we totally fail to understand the emotions and expectations of our partner. We don’t make the extra effort to know them, just assume that we know it best. Mani is expressive about his pains and in a way has learned to accept it. He struggles with his language problems and even tries to kill himself.

Charu, is a confident girl who has strong views on sexuality and a good person at heart. She is brave enough to express her views but chickens out when they retaliate. She is the perfect depiction of today’s girl with a twist. We grumble and mumble, but never find the courage to express it in the public forum. We do talk a lot but there are some issues which are still taboo. The story takes us through love, hate, repentance and deceit. However, the end could have been better. It leaves a lot of untied ends. How will Mani react? Will he move on? What is Charu’s story? Her anger and tantrums is not justified. You don’t need a reason to fight. But anger starts somewhere. Was Sam captured? Can people who invade your privacy (Whatever the reason it maybe) and hide?

The story of a suicide is  a good novel. Sriram Ayer has done a brilliant job. Whenever I feel down, the only thing I tell myself is to face it head on and nothing lasts. Neither good nor bad. Just hold on and keep fighting.