I bought this book almost a couple of years ago – I don’t remember what motivated me to do so – and, seeing it in the to-read list of my Kindle I started reading it – had to do it some time. Since I don’t like to restrict my reading to a particular genre, and since I had been reading a lot of fast-paced thrillers lately, I thought The Lovers would be a welcome contrast. But, after reading it, I feel that I should have stuck to my thrillers… I felt like chucking it in the middle, but it is a small book thankfully, and I finished it with some effort.
This novel, narrated by an Indian student-teaching assistant-teacher-writer in America, is about, I don’t know what! He tells about the women with whom he has had relationships over the years, and the events leading up to his breakup with each, garnishing the account with so many political and literary and academic references that I was left wondering how much of the novel is original material.
Perhaps the problem is with me – I am not intellectually mature enough to understand the concepts and thoughts that lie behind what has been written. So, giving the author the benefit of doubt, I am rating this one 2.5 out of 5 stars, rounding it up generously to 3. ( )