Book Review
Title: Soft Animal
Author: Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan
Publisher: Penguin Random House India, 2023
Pages: 261
Very many people – too many, in fact – live partial
lives. That is, most people don’t explore the depths of anything: the meaning
of their life, of their love, of their religion, whatever. There is no passion
about anything. Consequently, life becomes dull, even painful.
This novel is about the dull pain
experienced by a woman in her mid-thirties. She is married to a rich man who
was in a love-relationship with her for long enough before marriage. He is an
IT professional and she is a homemaker. Mukund Chugh and Mallika Rao. A rich
Punjabi boy and the not-so-rich “south Indian girl” (as her in-laws refer to her).
Mukund is a good guy. Mallika, the first-person narrator tells us that “All my
life I had wanted to be with someone like Mukund, someone so sure of themselves
and their identity.” But disillusionment follows soon enough. Entering into
married life with him is like Alice going to Wonderland and meeting there the
children down the road with whom she played every day instead of the Mad Hatter
and the Red Queen. There is no magic in this Wonderland called marriage.
Covid-19 breaks out, adding to the
misery. Mukund starts working from home. He is online all the time. Mallika
cannot go out either due to the incessant lockdowns. She gets bored, naturally.
This novel is the story of her boredom. Her inability to deal with it. Her lack
of passion. Her quasi-life. As well as that of the others.
Her pregnancy should have come as a
rescue to Mallika. But it doesn’t. On the contrary, she hates it. She wants to
abort the foetus which she calls ‘The Cells’. Mallika has not learnt to
appreciate the worth of human life. She has not learnt what it means to be
human. And she doesn’t try either.
The ‘soft animal’ of the title comes
from a poem of Mary Oliver. “You do not have to be good. / You do not have to
walk on your knees / for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. / You
only have to let the soft animal of your body / love what it loves.”
Mallika doesn’t know what the soft
animal of her body loves. And she doesn’t try to find it out either. Instead
she blames Mukund for being insensitive. He is insensitive, at least as much as
any ordinary man who gets on with his regular job and commitments. “Mukund isn’t
stupid,” Mallika informs us, “he just chooses not to notice things,
which makes me even angrier than if he were actually unaware of the fact that
other people have feelings and emotions, and are whole, complex beasts, just
like him.”
The novel doesn’t take us anywhere
beyond that ubiquitous bestiality of the human race. That’s the problem with
it. It leaves us without giving us anything deep to think of, with a feeling
that life is nothing more than a protracted tolerance of inescapable nausea.
The first many chapters gave me the
feeling that it was just a shallow entertainer with its wit and brainy
aphorisms. Quite like Anuja Chauhan’s works. But as I moved into the middle of
the novel, I understood that Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan is serious, wants to be
serious at least.
There is a soft animal, a real one,
in the novel, a constant companion to Mallika. It is a dog that Mallika’s
parents had rescued from a cruel owner. The dog is scared of people because of
what it had endured for long. But it is submissive. Receptive. Quite listless
too. Soft. Is Mallika finding a parallel to her in that helpless creature? But
Mallika isn’t as helpless. She is assertive. She has the freedom to do a lot of
things including sitting on the balcony and drinking wine, smoking cigarettes, eating
organic veg, buying books and posting pictures on Instagram. And more. If she
doesn’t go beyond that when she has every opportunity to, then whose mistake is
it?
Mallika’s is a quasi-life as is everybody
else’s is in the novel. But too many quasi-lives don’t make good literature.
PS. This post is part
of Bookish League blog hop hosted by Bohemian Bibliophile.
Hari OM
ReplyDeletesounds like the author might fare better writing for soap operas... YAM xx
I'd agree with you.
DeleteDoesn't seem to be a book I might enjoy. Sounds quite depressing. Thanks for sharing your thoughts
ReplyDeleteIt entertained me in the beginning and then it became a pain, depressing at the end.
DeleteMatter of privilege
ReplyDeleteI really like your hard-hitting no-nonsense review. Also, the comparison of Mallika with a rescued dog who just stays in a corner of the house seems interesting. Being a feminist I still wish to read the book to find for myself how I feel about Mallika's privileged life. I think privilege comes from the ability to make choices, and being able to say "No" when you wish to say no.
ReplyDeleteThe book received more generous reviews from the media. But I found the lack of depth offputting.
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ReplyDeleteFrom your review it's evident that the book lacks depth. If it's a story of mundane life, even writers can bring out the extraordinary from ordinary tales and present them in exciting ways. Here is the talent to show your writing prowess, and I think this is somehow missed in the novel. - Swarnali Nath (The Blissful Storyteller)
ReplyDeleteI won't mind saying that the author of this book stands in need of tremendous introspection.
DeleteInteresting review. I have not read this novel, but I have read the author's older novel 'You are here' aeons ago.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first work of hers that I read.
DeleteI haven't read this author. The basic plot seems interesting, but then your review makes it sound like a slow, monotonous kind of read, which I might not enjoy unless I connect with the writing style. How is her writing style?
ReplyDeleteI typically read sample chapters before buying a book, but you said that the beginning is interesting and later it becomes depressing, so I think I'll avoid. The cover is also very dull thud. Thank you for the review.
Style is an elusive affair. There are as many styles as there are individuals.
DeleteMeenakshi can be good entertainment with her wit. She's intelligent.
It doesn't sound like a book I would enjoy. I find contemporary relationship-based novels quite banal. I would rather walk into a new world, so prefer fantasy and historical fiction.
ReplyDeleteI understand you. I too don't like novels of this type which put me off for a few days. I bought this being misled by a review.
DeleteWhen I'd read what this book was about I was very intrigued, given how relevant some of the themes can be to anyone. I was almost scared at the thought of reading it and I'm not even in a relationship. But I think I loved your review of it more, however. Such an honest take on empowerment and helping oneself, loved it!
ReplyDeleteThere has to be some possibility of redemption too, which is totally absent in this book!
Delete'Mallika’s is a quasi-life as is everybody else’s is in the novel. But too many quasi-lives don’t make good literature." You last line sealed the deal for me. I think many people assume that true literature is about boring sermons and flawed humans. In reality though, true literature is about making the reader think, and more importantly, feel!
ReplyDeleteI wondered again and again why Penguin took up its publication. There are certain standards we expect from certain publishers.
Delete"Mallika’s is a quasi-life as is everybody else’s is in the novel. But too many quasi-lives don’t make good literature." Your conclusion husked the book beautifully. And it also made me wonder about the publishing standards of the famed publications in India.
ReplyDeleteThe author lives in a place and time that probably thrives on superficiality. But it is the duty of the writer to surpass the superficiality of given existence.
DeleteMundane lives often make up for mundane literature. What's worse is that we aren't even willing to imagine beyond it. Many established publishing places have often disappointed me with their choice of manuscripts.
ReplyDeleteCompetition, Sonia. It is ruthless. Writing is finding it hard to survive these days!
DeleteReading of lives and emotions unexplored makes me worry that so many of us might be doing the same.
ReplyDeletePossibly the book wanted to express the dullness in totality.
That's entirely possible. But there has to be something in a novel that the reader carries with her, something more than the dullness. See how Waiting for Godot presents dullness.
DeleteWell I dont know how much I am correct in interpreting the character of Mallika from your review but I smell it like a typical housewife like character ready to enjoy a privileged life given by husband and demands the attention and time always being at home. The world is very big and honestly we need to have a connection with the outer world rather than sitting at home and enjoying luxury gifted by husband. If you need attention, respect and own identity you need to connect yourself with outer world. I am always vocal about the fact that every women on earth in today's time need to be independent and financially independent to make her own place rather than playing a victim card and blaming partner.
ReplyDeleteI'd agree with you on these points. A woman is entitled to her identity, freedom and choices. But Mallika has the freedom to discover all these. Instead of doing that, she goes around blaming the foetus and trying to abort it. Well, I found this character absolutely disgusting.
DeleteI enjoyed reading your straight-talk review as well as the comments from the community. Going on a limb here to connect the book with TV shows and movies. To depict mundane life purely for entertainment or monetary benefit might be appealing to some segments of the audience. Personally I find it’s worth reading reviews like yours to assertion if the book is impactful, thought provoking or emotionally engaging or is it merely a time pass.
ReplyDeleteI often get the feeling that writers today need to experience the agonies of life personally in order to acquire depth of thinking. This author seems to have had too easy a life.
DeleteI agree. Experience shapes thinking and creativity.
DeleteI can't quite make up my mind about Mallika from your review. I want to sympathise with her as I can understand how terrible it would be to live with an insensitive man and yet despite being a free-thinking woman she chooses to live on with him. The first part of the book is witty, that should make for a good read yet it sounds kind of slow. Blaming her unborn baby for her troubles is another thing I could not understand. Seems like a mixed up book where the author cannot makeup her mind about what she wants to convey.
ReplyDeleteShe doesn't exactly blame the unborn child. She doesn't even think of it as a child. Cells, she calls it. That sort of misanthropy doesn't suit a character with whom we are expected to sympathise.
DeleteI think the author stretches women's liberation too far.
Besides the fact that this book doesn't interest me at all, it is saddening to know that people live such lives (I had to google this new form of life). I'm just in conversation with someone who is always having issues even though she has everything in life. Surely, she is unaware of the depth of the numerous blessings she has.
ReplyDeleteDiscontent is a serious problem and good writers have tackled it dexterously earlier, like Sartre's Nausea.
DeleteI was looking forward to reading this author's next book but after reading your review I am not too sure if I want to pick it up.
ReplyDeleteIf you liked her earlier work, give this a try. After all, this received some favorable reviews too. I look at novels from a classical point of view which demands an empathetic understanding of humans.
DeleteI love that quote about having a soft animal inside us! It's quite interesting how that's been put. At first glance this doesn't seem like a book I would pick up but the concept has me intrigued. Great review!
ReplyDeleteThat soft animal is to be discovered, understood and nourished... But the protagonist of this novel fails all through and hence remains a disappointment to the reader at the end.
DeleteI had not heard of this book or the author before so was glad to know. I can probably give it a try considering Mallika is such a flawed character. Really appreciate how honestly you reviewed this book.
ReplyDeleteGive it a try is what I'd say too. You may discover something that I failed to.
DeleteBoring as it may be, many people are actually living this life everyday. And that makes this book real. But yes, unless, we ourselves are in a situation like the one Mallika is in, it is a dragging story, at least that's my impression from your review.
ReplyDeleteThough the story may be boring, but many people are actually living this life, every day. Imagine that. And that's what makes this book real. And yet, for those who cannot relate to the story will certainly find it slow and dragging.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say the story drags. In fact, very slow plots can be gipping in their own ways. Example, Waiting for Godot of Samuel Beckett. Such a slow play where nothing happens for the whole hour and yet we stay glued to it.
DeleteIt's not the pace. It's not the dullness of the protagnonist's life. It's the author's inability to extract our empathy for the protagonist or any character in the novel.
What a well-written review! "This novel is the story of her boredom." is one of the most wow remarks I've read in a review. Your review tells me the book is perhaps addressing more than one theme at once, with of course Mallika's discontent being central. But I'd read this one to first hand understand how the author deals with this theme for the protagonist.
ReplyDeleteDo read. You may have a different view on it.
DeleteHonestly, not my cup of tea. Looks like a very slow and sounds quite depressing. Thanks for sharing it in detail.
DeleteI wouldn't describe it as slow really. Superficial. That's it.
DeleteI’m very familiar with Meenakshi’s writing because I’ve followed her from days as a popular blogger back in the early 2000s (Compulsive Confessor). I also read her first couple of books and realised they were barely-fictionalised versions of her own life as clear from her blog. I think you’ve described the lack of a certain depth in her writing really well. She wants to reach it but is unable to. Perhaps some day she will.
ReplyDeleteNoor Anand Chawla
She will reach the depth, Noor, I'm sure. I love the search, the quest, the yearning. I'm pretty sure het next character is going to have depth and that's going to be her best seller.
DeleteOh it's too depressing for my taste. But thanks for letting us know about the book :)
ReplyDeleteLoved the review. Though I think the text might be a tad bit slow for me. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.
ReplyDeleteHaven't read any books by the author. This one is not the kind I would be interested in. Seems superficial and stagnant. That said, all authors have their readers and the book has probably found its readers too.
ReplyDeleteYou said it. All authors have some readers and it goes on.
DeleteI loved to be a part of this blog hop. I got some new friends.
Thank you so much for participating in the blog hop. It was an honor having you on board.
ReplyDelete