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Ladies Coupé by Anita Nair (Book reviews: 3.5/5)



Anita Nair's third book and a global hit, Ladies Coupé is the story of Akhilandeshwari, a mercy-appointed Income Tax clerk travelling to Kanyakumari in an overnight journey train. The 45-year-old Akhila has been the unmarried sole bread earner of her family post her father's death. She meets five other women sharing the coupé on the journey, each with a vivid story reflecting the struggles and chaos in their respective lives.

 Anita Nair's lead character has been on an emotional roller coaster throughout her life with the singular question mark hanging on her mind , 'Is a woman incomplete without the presence of a marriage, a husband, a family she creates? Is life monotonously sad for a single woman?' Akhila's character goes through the casual patriarchy absorbed deeply in the South Indian society and her family's immense selfish attitude towards her. She is expected to be the 'perfect Brahmin head' in her house; take permission from her younger brothers before leaving the city, work and save tirelessly to marry her sister off without considering her own wedding at any cost, rent an apartment with her sister and take care of her children, be a pure vegetarian and have female friends of the same culinary interests. The reader can easily connect with Akhila and have sympathy and all other sorts of emotions she is overflown with.

 Nair has brilliantly managed the narrations of the five women; Janaki, Margaret Shanti, Prabha Devi, Sheela and Marikolanthu. Janaki has spent her entire life in the secure companionship of her husband and is struggling to maintain a bond with her growing son. She being a pampered wife is a little overwhelmed and yet motivating about Akhila's marital status and independent life. Prabha Devi, a slightly rebellious wife at first, has been taught to be the 'perfect wife' since she could remember. Sheela, a teenager struggling to understand the practical world at too quick a pace under the constant thrashing of her frustrated father. Marikolanthu, a too innocent for the world adolescent whose novice was destroyed in a sexual assault. 

 My personal favorite character portrayal is of Margaret Shanti. As a chemistry teacher, she analyses every person she meets as an element or compound.  She describes her very own ungrateful, rude husband as Oil of Vitriol, destroyer of water and everything else that comes in its path. 

  Ladies Coupé is a short and sweet read that hits just the right spots of the hardships of women's lives that seem too minuscule to the society. The reader can connect with all the characters and have probably faced similar wrath of  toxic masculinity and patriarchy as well. It is neither too feminine nor too hard hitting on the societal norms. It is just a plain portrayal of a single woman's hardship that leaves the reader questioning oneself, 'Is there a happy world out there for a single woman as well?'

 I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. Extra appreciation for the beautiful, candid cover.

 Title: Ladies Coupé 
Author: Anita Nair
Genre: Fiction

 Find the book: Amazon |  Goodreads | Flipkart




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