Mistress: A Novel

I quite enjoyed this book, my second by Anita Mair, the first being Ladies' Coupe. A lot of her writing is not just about plot or "story" but about the feelings and experiences of the characters, and in that she excels, writing in a way that evokes the time and place as well as fleshing out the characters.

Against the backdrop of Kerala in Southern India, Anjali Nair paints a deeply evocative tale of generations past and present, of locales near and far, of love, honor and betrayal. It is the story of Radha, a woman with modern day skills but still bound by tradition, her husband Shyam, her Uncle Konam ... and Chris who arrives at their resort from the USA.

Radha feels constrained in her marriage of convenience, her artistic soul free to seek self expression only in conversations with the dreamy and philosophical Konam, who has disappointed his family by becoming a famous Kathakali dancer. She is bearly tolerant of Shyam, who she sees as materialistic and boorish, with lowbrow aesthetic tastes. The sudden appearance of Chris in their midst causes her latent vibrance to erupt with volcanic fury of emotions, which changes the relationships she has with all three men.

In a sonorous cadence, Nair introduces in turn each of the nine types of human emotions (as exemplified in the classical dance drama form of Kathakali). She spins her tale from the narratives mainly of Radha, Shyam and Konam, an emotion serving as the theme for each of nine chapters. Radha and Chris (is this a clever update of the iconic Hindu lovers Radha and Krishna?) meet again and again as not-so cladestine lovers while Shyam helplessly watches on and Konam gives the relationship tacit approval.

It was well written and i kept my interest in the book till the end.

The only reason I am glad that I skimmed this book is that now I will not read more by this author.

This story is told in three point of views. First, we have Radha, a young woman who really dislikes her husband. He's more of a driven entrepeneur, and she's got no direction at all and stays that way throughout the book. Her husband, Shyam, who doesn't understand his wife and only wants to possess her. Then we have Radha's uncle, and I skimmed most of his parts, but he's been a famous dancer and is being interviewed by an American man.

Radha and Shyam are so contentious, it reminded me of episodes of The Needlers on Saturday Night Live. It's stomach turning how they don't get along, and frankly I kept waiting for her to leave him already!

If you are a fan of this author's books, don't read on because I am about to summarize the book in order to save other readers the time.

1. Couple doesn't get along.
2. Enter strange and facinating American. The wife has a torrid affair with him.
3. Young American is in India to invterview wife's uncle.
4. I couldn't stay awake to read all of Uncle's passages, but he has this "feeling" he knows this young American. ((This part felt so cliche to me))
5. The wife gets pregnant from the torrid affair, but finds she doesn't love the not so facinating American anymore.
6. The uncle and young American do have a connection. ((Gee what a surprise))
7. The wife leaves her husband and does not stay with her American lover either. ((Gee, what another surprise!!))

OK, so there you have it.

I enjoyed both The Ladies' Coupe and The Better Man, but I think this is Anita Nair's best novel to date. Universal themes about marriage are explored, as well as the nature of art and the importance of family ties. Set in lush Kerala, it is well worth reading. The language and nuanced emotions are beautiful and compelling.