An Incurable Insanity by Simi K. Rao

Name of the Book: An Incurable Insanity

Name of the Author: Simi K. Rao

Name of the Publisher: Tate Publishing

ISBN-10: 1627465928

ISBN-13: 978-1627465922

Disclaimer: I recieved a ecopy of this novel from The Tales Pensieve  in exchange for  my honest review.

A Sneak Peek...

"Here... lunch." She pushed a box towards him.

"I don't want it."

"Why?"

"I feel awkward."

"But you never felt that way before, so why now?" You took me for granted. She stared reproachfully at him.

"It's different now." My perspective has changed. I behaved like a slave master, it's humiliating. He stared right back.

She pretended to appear disinterested, "you can eat it, give it to your friends or throw it away. This is all I can do to pay you back right now."

"You don't have to worry about paying me back. It's the least that I can do to make up for what I've put you through."

Her chair knocked sharply against the wall, as she jumped to her feet. "What? You think that's compensation enough? Nothing you do will give me back what I've lost! Yes, I agreed to marry you because I was blind and innocent! But who gave you the right to destroy my life, especially since you were having an affair and there was no hope for us? You treated me as if I was a disposable object! Why? Tell me why?"

"Yes I know I'm the worst kind of cad! But my hands were tied! My grandfather was on his death bed, I had no choice!" He snapped back gripping the counter till his knuckles turned white.

Walking up to him, she said softly, "Yes you had  a choice. You could have walked away. You could have been a man."

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The Review...

Ruhi Sharma is a blushing bride, with dreams to have a loving husband and a family. A dream which most of the brides are supposed to dream. But what does a lady do when she is told by her new husband that he is in love with someone else and would prefer to have this marriage annulled?

After her dreams are shattered, she requests Shaan to let her tag along with Los Angeles till she is not ready to tell her parents. Against Shaan’s better judgment, he takes her along thinking that all would be solved according to his own wish. Now that was damn selfish of him, wouldn’t you say?

Ruhi is also of the same opinion and after a stint at playing the docile housewife, she decides she had had enough. Off came the traditional saris and churidaars and her new avatar dazzled Shaan off his senses.

Moreover his girlfriend , who was very much married to Shaan’s superior at the Aeronautics and Space Engineering,was keeping him more as a candy man rather the the true love he believed it to be. With is girlfriend gone, he could now focus more on his wife. To his surprise, [???] he felt very much attracted to her. 

Fate introduced small instances in their life which brought them closer but they both tried to stick to their original deal of “being friends without benefits.”  But then when she did not arrive on time at night, Shaan would be terrified that something is wrong with her. He suddenly became from a detached husband to a nail biting lover. Waiting for if she was late in returning home, rushing back from office just to spend time with her, dinners and walks and most of all the hidden soldering passion which he did not understand himself.

Both knew they loved each other. But Ruhi was too badly hurt emotionally to initiate the discussion and Shaan felt Ruhi would reject him because of his past behavior. And not to forget the looming presence of Shaan’s girlfriend, which was proving to be a bigger thorn then they had anticipated. Would they be able to overcome their differences and have a marriage based on love and mutual respect or would the girlfriend’s presence prove to be too much for Ruhi to handle? Or what the girlfriend say about Shaan not being able to affort a divorce for his career be the cause of divorce between them

What I liked….

This story has all the ingredients to find its way to a readers shelf. The right kind of tension has been created from the beginning. While you sympathise with Ruhi, Shaan too keeps up his end of touching a reader’s heart. Each character was needed in the plot, each doing their role in pushing the protaganists towards each other. 

The Indian setting was drawn up beautifully with marriage ceremonies, Jagjit Singh songs and the love of the author for poetry was evident it this story. Not a a bad touch. Unique yes. And may take some of the readers getting used to it. But it does not affect the overall story.

Another thing I felt I ought to mention is that while Ruhi started out as the timid kind of girl, marrying according to parent’s wishes and still wanting to accept a husband whose heart belongs to someone else, thankfully she does not continue like that and develops a spunk of her own as the story progresses. [though at times a bit too much] but nevertheless, this kind of damsel in distress where a girl takes all the crap from a guy is something I abhor and thankfully Ruhi manages to shift to her fiery self just at the right point in the story.

Rating…

Reasoning…..

The story follows a straight line where the boy and the girl marry and work through the difficulties of their marriage. But while reading the story everytime I had to stop to read the explaination of the hindi dialogues kept within the brackets. That somehow caused a few hurdles in the reading of the story.

Ruhi’s fiery self was bordered on obstinancy. While at one point the readers would sympathise with Ruhi, but at times I found her obstinate behavior a tad irritating. Unless, that is what the author had wanted to achieve. 

There is two more things which got me thinking about this story.

1. Did Ruhi and Shaan did not meet before marriage and where he could have told her about his affair? Agreed in India we have arranged marriage system but the boy and the girl does meet before the decision time, right?

2. The character of Sanjana. She is a part of domestic violence without blaming the husband. Ruhi witnesses that and realizes the Shaan is a good husband. That is the measuring factor of a good husband?

I am sorry but though I am not a part of a feminist movement, I felt a tad strongly about this point. But… [yes there is a big but…]

Some of the views that have been brought forward in this story can be related to many of the woman settlers in the USA. For example, Ruhi not having enough money of her own and Shaan initially not thinking about it also. But again if she was a MBA graduate from India, why did she have to work in a provision store. Assuming she had the right to work in USA [ and if she didn’t she couldn’t work in a provision store also unless illegally] she could have worked in any of the companies in the US. It is just that when a reader wants be like Ruhi, these questions would come up. And if all these points are added up the Shaan definitely comes out as the stronger character.  

Would I recommend this to my readers.. definitely. The small instances when they eat Maggie together or clean the baby poop together makes it worth while. Where did the baby come from….? Not telling ….:) Find out for yourself…….

Meet the Author.....

Simi K. Rao was born in India and has been living in the United States for several years. Her contemporary romance novel An Incurable Insanity, published by Tate Publishing, will be released on October 8, 2013. An Incurable Insanity is her first foray into writing. The inspiration for the story came from what she has seen transpire among and within the immigrant community. Some of the experiences included are her own; some have been garnered from friends and casual conversations with acquaintances. She also writes poetry, is an avid photographer, loves to travel, and is a practicing physician. She currently lives in Denver with her family.

Watch out for her interview at The Tales Pensieve....... Coming Soon!!!!

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