Hi everyone! How’s are you feeling in this last week of April 2020? This year is done quarter ways and so much has changed already. I’ve stuck to most of my intentions, and found many other good habits to inculcate. On the other hand I’m still struggling with some of the goals, but I’m working on them, currently working on getting regular with writing/ blogging. How are you doing on your first quarter self evaluation this year? I hope everyone will be finding some extra time during this pandemic to work on their goals. Like I said yesterday, my focus for this lockdown period is finishing the unfinished business, and today’s book review is another such example. This book is with me since the middle of February, and I finally finished reading it in mid April. I still don’t know the reason of so much of procrastination, but now I’m at peace reading this beauty. After rambling on so much I realized I haven’t even mentioned the name of this book, (typical Mansi) ! Today I’m writing about this very different read by far, ‘Em and the big Hoom’ by Jerry Pinto. I still can’t pinpoint what the genre of this book is, or rather I would prefer not to put it on any particular shelf. This book was recommended to me by my friend, whose taste in any type of art is offbeat and she always has hidden gems in her bag. So I expected this book to be huge, deep and hard, for no reasons at all. But when I picked this book from library, it was nothing as per my assumptions, it was a small cute book, the language was casual and it didn’t seem to be intellectually deep at first. I was ready to gobble this book within a few days or a week at most, but it took me two months. The story was engaging, easy and different, yet I couldn’t continue with it, and it took me many new starts to read it.

Talking about the book, it is very differently written than anything I’ve read so far. The narrative is in casual words but every word has a deeper dimension. It took me some time to get to know the characters completely. Jerry calls his mother Em, and his father Big hoom, and that made me chuckle. But the book is full of such strange things and not every strange fact will make you chuckle. The author tells us about his family of four, living in a small (really small) apartment in Mumbai, and about the lives they have lived and they are living. His talks with his mother or Em as he calls her, take us to even older times, to when the Em and the Big Hoom met and fell in love. She even unravels struggles she faced as a child and how it changed her personality. These talks between mother and son are so special, and they build up a beautiful relationship they share in front of us. Slowly as the book goes on we discover that Em is suffering from mental disorder, and it is undiagnosed, her family and herself call her mad. But they all take good care of her, and adjust their lives around her. The book takes place in the era when mental health was not so widely talked topic in India, and especially not in the lower classes. Now reading this book, in the age when mental health is given as much as importance than anything, my heart ached for her, every time I read another trigger, another symptom.

The story revolves around Em and her illness. Her personality shines through even when the mind clouds up her sometimes. She talks passionately about the days she was working and earning a good sum of money. She talks about her illness and her suicidal attempts with the same passion. She never fails to care for her family, and make sure that she’s not overloading their schedule, yet she never speaks it out loud. She feels such a real person at heart. The family does their best, to educate themselves about this condition, and give her the best of the life she can have. And their true attempts make your heart go numb at times. The book gets engaging as it proceeds and the last few chapters nearly took me into the book itself . The end was a little hurtful but calm. The calmness that haunts you.

I’ll read this book again, at a stretch, before returning it to library, because I’m sure I’ll find a new aspect every time I’ll read this book. This book is not for weak hearted. It made me think about my father’s illness for so many times. But the book is beautiful. It’s worth the pain it will offer. It is the dose of bitter medication you’ll take forever to swallow but will make you feel better in no time.

Let me know if you’ve read this book, and how you like this book. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading my book experience. More about another book in the next blog. Till then keep reading, stay positive and stay safe!