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.