It ends with us

So my dearest worms…I read this book a while ago and a blog on it has long been coming.

If you know me, then its obvious that this isn’t the type of book which you’d find me reading, but in the name of exploration I ended up picking it up because it was suggested by a friend and we ended up discussing it chapter by chapter as both of us read along. 

(Funny side story - I asked friend #2 for the book. They inquired about why I was reading such a book out of nowhere. When I told them that it’s been recommended by Friend#1 and that we’d read the chapters side by side and discuss them, they said that it sounded so cute. I still don’t know which part of the childhood trauma or the screwed up adult lives of the main characters was cute)

Oversimplified - girl grows up in an abusive household, enters an abusive relationship and then asks her husband for a divorce the moment her daughter is born

In short - 

• There are no bad people, just people who do bad things. Even good people can do bad things - a doctor who’s supposed to save lives can also ruin them
• You can roast dead people at their funerals and get away with it
• Childhood trauma can and will influence and ruin adult relationships, going for therapy since the age of 6 won’t solve all your problems 
• A hormonal teenage girl snuck a homeless 18 year old guy into her house and made out with him…and on her bday… yeah lets not go there, I still can’t wrap my head around how readers found all of this cute
• Victim blaming? Cool now lets see how you think when you’re in the victim’s place? Not so simple now is it? Thought so. 
• Domestic abuse is bad -> don’t try to justify it  
• Children often end up repeating their parent’s mistakes even if they were determined all their childhood to do the opposite

It wasn’t a bad book per se. I just don’t buy into the hype around it. Maybe growing up in an Indian household (where even if your parents don’t want to know about everyone else’s life, they have no choice but to be made aware by the giant extended family) gives me a different vantage point compared to many of the other readers. 

I know that my own grandparents used to watch such random saas-bahu serials on the TV when I was a toddler. This introduced me to domestic abuse at the age of around 4 or 5, just because I liked to loiter around the television waiting for my turn. Then growing up I overheard stories which perhaps I shouldn’t have as a small child.   

While the book is fictional…it story isn’t fiction for everyone. Then when you know these people…the story just hits different…

I was happy with the ending of the story, it sends out a message of solidarity, strength and hope, while also inspiring people around the world. It is definitely a book worthy of being recommended and should be read by more people. 

The story just…somehow left a bad aftertaste…