The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai – Our Review

Our Review… Booker Prize winner Kiran Desai is back (after almost 20 years) with another Booker Shortlisted novel. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is an epic story about India, for the most part contemporary India, where the younger generations leave to study overseas. In the case of both Sonia and Sunny that’s in the US, though they both find it hard to leave their mother country behind. When Sonia complains of being lonely her family try and arrange a marriage with Sunny. The two eventually meet (after the matchmaking effort is rejected) and their lives continue to intersect throughout the story. This is a love story – of sorts. It’s about family love (and duty), love of country (and the hold it has over you) and relationship love (and how destructive it can be). It’s a story about finding who you are and where you fit in. It’s also very much a story about India and how its colonial past and partition have affected the present, the continuing issues of race and class and how the younger generation struggle with tradition and the modern world – as well as the pressures of family and responsibility. It is a very long book, but there is so much going on that has to be resolved and it is all told so beautifully, with elements of magic realism and humour, that you’ll be compelled to read until the very last page. Review by Andi @ Great Escape Books