Reading notes: 'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny'
Recommended. I'm slotting this in at #90 for now on my top 100, but it could easily go up or down later; this is the sort of book that I need to live with for a while.
Desai can laugh at her characters in the important sense described by Jonathan Franzen:
Distance is really critical, and one of the best indicators of distance on a main character—-a protagonist—-is if the author is able to laugh at that person.
As serious as this novel is, Desai maintains that distance. Relatedly: this novel, better than any other recent book I've read, executes a vigorous critique of masculinity without lapsing into cliché or lazy misandry.
Don't be put off by Sonia and Sunny's length: it was quick relative to its length. The quality of the prose is high, and there's a lot to think about, but I only rarely wanted to break my reading flow and mull over a given sentence. It went faster than some much shorter ones (by page count).
I was reminded of Salman Rushdie not only because of the obvious connections to India but because the novel is so ambitious and allusive. I remember thinking, when I was about 4/5 of the way through The Ground Beneath Her Feet, that the book seemed to mention everything I'd ever known. Sonia and Sunny is not as allusive, but the diverse settings, the literary and artistic allusions, and the command of the prose suggest a similar authority.
I've put The Inheritance of Loss on my reading list.