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Millennial Kumar gets Married at Last! by Lakshmi Priya

 



Millennial Kumar gets Married at Last! by Lakshmi Priya

Reviewed by

Dr. Sapna Dogra

Assistant Professor

 Department of English

Government College Baroh

Himachal Pradesh, India



Millennial Kumar gets Married at Last! |Novel | Lakshmi Priya

 Notion Press, 2021, pp. 154, INR 170

ISBN: 979-888503284-1

 

Lakshmi Priya’s Millennial Kumar gets Married at Last! is a hilarious novel that chronicles the journey of a typical Chennai boy named Kumar from childhood to adulthood. Even his name Kumar is very generic. Many readers will identify themselves with Kumar and his family.

 

The first chapter‘2015-Chennai Airport’ introduces Kumar at the age of 30. The rest of the book is a flashback where “He lets his mind wander down a 25-years long memory lane” (7).

The Preface tells the readers,

 

If there is one festival cherished by all religions and countries across all borders, it is the festival of marriage. Especially in India, this is the most important milestone for a typical India family. . .but with the invasion of interest teeming with matrimony sites, this society of future grooms has become the laughingstock of the nation.  . . (iii)

 

There is an attempt to take a dig at the penchant of Indian society’s faith and interest in marriage as an institution. It is “Dedicated to all Pitiable Indian grooms” (iii).

 

Even though the plot is a bit cliched and predictable the redeeming feature of the novel is the narration. Narrated in a lucid, light-hearted style it made me smile a lot as I followed Kumar and his boyish adventures. The novel has some endearing scenes like those between Kumar and his grandfather whom he calls ‘Bro’ and Kumar’s mother Padma’s visit to a Guruji.

 

One cannot say that the book has been well brought out. It has also been marred by many things. Firstly, the editing should have been taken care of before publishing. The formatting is casual. It seems that the chapters have been hastily put together in the form of a book. Also, many south Indian words are left untranslated withno notes or annotations. It might be challenging for a non-native reader to make sense of the point made. Spread over 16 chapters, the second half of the book falls a little flat and fails to provide the punch. Also, some characters like Preethi are sketchy and could have been

 

All in all, it’s an easy delightful read. Young readers will surely like it.