Alphabet Soup for Lovers - Anita Nair (Review & Summary)

Date of Reading: 21/03/2020

Author: Anita Nair

Publisher: Harper Collins

Year: 2015

Source: Nirmalagiri College Library

Rating: 4.5/5

About the book:

Lena Abraham knows that love can end in only one way - disappointment. Her marriage to KK is perfect precisely because she is not in love with him, and their life on a tea plantation in the picturesque Anamalai hills is idyllic. Then, one rainy morning, a man arrives to take up temporary residence in the homestay they run. Shoola Pani is south Indian cinema's heartthrob, an actor in flight from his own superstardom, and the last thing he is looking for is emotional entanglement. But when Lena and he meet, something flares between them that neither could have anticipated. She becomes his Lee and he her Ship, and the place they inhabit Arcadia. Told partly from the point of view of Komathi, whose own relationship with Lena is fraught with buried truths from the past, this searing tale of unexpected passion and adultery reaffirms the magical power of love in all our lives.

Review:

      I have this nasty habit of checking what others read. Quite irritating, I know. All the same, this is what brought this cute little story to my attention. The book was found on my colleague's table. Well, I am not a fan of 'Ladies Coupe' like many others, but Anita Nair's 'Mistress' is one of my all-time favourites. Understandably, I can't really pass this one, can I? Especially when it shares a remarkable likeness to 'Mistress'.

     The novel has a unique structure. Each chapter begins with a first-person narrative by Komathi and is titled with the name of a food or ingredient to make up an alphabet list. So instead of "A for Apple" we get "A for Appalam", the Tamil food item Komathi is familiar with. I was not familiar with all of them, but the way the author linked the events in the story to the food was quite remarkable. 

      The story revolves around the adulterous relationship of Lena with Shoola Pani, a famous South Indian actor. Both of them lead 'perfect' unhappy marriages and now a choice is given which will surely have consequences. Not a morally driven story in that respect, but which is better, living a lie or confronting the reality? I will leave that to your discretion.

     On the whole, this was a fast-paced, enjoyable read that had my brain wheels turning.

Summary:

      Komathi works as a servant on Anamalai Hills in the household of Lena. She had come to the family to look after Lena as a child. At that time she started calling her 'Leema', combining her original name with 'amma', as a term of respect.

     Now Lena lives with her husband KK and both of them are indifferent to each other. A new chapter begins in her life when a visitor comes to stay at the guest house they rent. The guest turns out to be Shoola Pani, one of the leading actors of Tamil cinema. In need of a break from the film shooting routine and his unhappy marriage, he has come to this place with a shaven head hoping that no one will recognise him. Most of the workers are from Assam or Jharkhand and so his plans worked to an extend. But Lena recognises him at the very first meeting itself and the two form an unlikely connection.

       The affair doesn't go unnoticed by Komathi who gets irritated with Lena because she is the one who spoiled her chance for happiness. Her lover Rayar is sent away from the household when Lena's mother noticed that her daughter is also interested in him. He never came back for Komathi.

      To ease Lena's guilty conscience, Shoola Pani goes to Pollachi to find Rayar. He is no longer with his wife and implies his willingness to accept Komathi. But Komathi refuses to seek him since he had already lived their dream with another woman. Still, she wants Lena to take some action to make herself happy.

      When Shoola Pani asks her to come with him, Lena shows reluctance. But a night's sleep clears her thoughts and she leaves with the actor. We will never know how their fates will play out, "But until they try it, how will they know?"

Favourite Quotes:

"Sometimes we tend to value things and people merely because they are inaccessible." - 16

"With the heart, you invest in another person. With your liver, you invest in yourself, and if you don't love yourself, how can you love someone else?" - 44

"I have often wished something would happen to bring her alive, inject some energy into their Dettol life. For that is how I see their lives - sterile, clean and dull." - (60 - 61)

Source: https://www.kveller.com/article/tomato-alphabet-soup/

"Sometimes we call a thing by a different name and tell ourselves it's something else even though we know the truth. We like to fool ourselves." - 69

"Sometimes we must make our own rules, depending on what works for us." - 123

"The thing about food, be it grain or vegetable or meat or fish, is that one must know what one can serve to whom. Every ingredient has a purpose and a message" -142

". . . we forget that we must make our lives to suit our taste, and not someone else's" - 190

"If you give it [regret] room, it will take over your life and poison your tomorrows" - 197

Meet the author:

Anita Nair is the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of the novels The Better Man, Ladies Coupé, Mistress, Lessons in Forgetting, Idris: Keeper of the Light and Alphabet Soup for Lovers. She has also authored a crime series featuring Inspector Gowda.

Anita Nair’s other books include a collection of poems titled Malabar Mind, a collection of essays titled Goodnight & God Bless and six books for children. Anita Nair has also written two plays and the screenplay for the movie adaptation of her novel Lessons in Forgetting which was part of the Indian Panorama at IFFI 2012 and won the National Film Award in 2013. Among other awards, she was also given the Central Sahitya Akademi award and the Crossword Prize. Her books have been translated into over thirty-one languages around the world. She is also the founder of the creative writing and mentorship program Anita’s Attic.