A+Suitable+Boy+by+Vikram+Seth

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=Book Summary= Opening and closing with a wedding, this novel is ostensibly the story of a Hindu family trying to find a suitable husband for their younger daughter, Lata. Who will the suitable boy turn out to be? The dashing Kabir, with whom Lata falls in love? The ambitious businessman whom Lata's mother favors? Or the sophisticated poet her relatives choose? The interwoven stories of four families linked by marriage form the background for this marital quest. It proves slow-moving at first, but the patient reader will inevitably be caught up in the compelling rhythms of a richly complex tale. The setting--India in the 1950s--is vividly realized: the enormity of the subcontinent, its overpowering heat, lush gardens, colorful festivals, and exotic foods. Memorable characters abound; not since Dickens has there been such a lively and idiosyncratic cast crowded into one novel. Drama is provided by the simmering conflict between Hindu and Muslim, which breaks out unexpectedly throughout the novel. This is old-fashioned storytelling at its best; highly recommended. BOMC and Quality Paperback alternates; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/93. //- Beth Ann Mills, New Rochelle P.L., N.Y. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.//

=About the Author= == Born in 1952 in Calcutta, India, Vikram Seth was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Stanford University and Nanjing University. He has travelled widely and lived in Britain, California, India and China. His first novel, //The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse// (1986), describes the experiences of a group of friends living in California. His acclaimed epic of Indian life, //A Suitable Boy// (1993), won the WH Smith Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book). Set in India in the early 1950s, it is the story of a young girl, Lata, and her search for a husband. //An Equal Music// (1999), is the story of a violinist haunted by the memory of a former lover.

Vikram Seth is also the author of a travel book, //From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet// (1983), an account of a journey through Tibet, China and Nepal that won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, and a libretto, //Arion and the Dolphin: A Libretto// (1994), which was performed at the English National Opera in June 1994, with music by Alec Roth. His poetry includes //Mappings// (1980), //The Humble Administrator's Garden// (1985), winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Asia), and //All You Who Sleep Tonight: Poems// (1990). His children's book, //Beastly Tales from Here and There// (1992), consists of ten stories about animals told in verse. Vikram Seth's latest work is //Two Lives// (2005), a memoir of the marriage of his great uncle and aunt.