The Pleasure Seekers
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- 9,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
August, 1968: Babo Patel arrives in London from Madras, with curly
hair, jhill mill teeth and dreams of becoming a success. When he meets
the beautiful, auburn-haired Siân Jones, he falls in love instantly.
She, like him, is in search of something bigger than what the home she
left behind can offer.
But when Babo's parents learn of his intention to marry 'some girl
from God knows where' he is given an ultimatum: he can only marry Siân
if they agree to live in Madras for two years before returning to
London. As the years pass by, the calamities, quirks and heartaches of
first love, lost innocence, and old age unfold across cultures and
generations of this mixed-up family in a topsy-turvy world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Not all that much pleasure is sought (or found) by the characters of Doshi's competently written if thinly conceived debut. The story starts off in 1968 as Babo Patel leaves his Madras home to study in London, and though our hero is quick to give up the strict rules of his Jain upbringing, he's soon summoned home once his parents find out he's been seeing Sia n, a Welsh girl. After Babo gives his folks the silent treatment for a few months, the Patels comes to an agreement: if Babo and Sia n are still together after two years of living with his family in Madras, they can return to London. Sia n arrives in India, learns to take on the role of a traditional homemaker, joins the Overseas Women's Club, and has babies. Years later, Babo's youngest daughter takes off for an English adventure of her own. Ominous dreams and a catalogue of cursory mentions of historical events and pop culture references try to give this story some direction, but the narrative doesn't do much more than mark the passage of time. Doshi can write a nice sentence, but the bigger picture is too slight.
