Join our Instagram channel to discuss our book of the month, ‘Some People’ by Parini Shroff, as we read it. From every-thought-you-had-while-reading to exclusive notes from the author, there’s a lot to unpack here.
Author Parini Shroff’s first novel, The Bandit Queens, was a dream debut—lauded by book clubs and critics alike, longlisted and shortlisted for multiple prizes, including the Women’s Prize for Fiction. It tackled a serious subject—women in the patriarchal world of rural Gujarat—with humour and relatability. Her second novel, Some People, then, is equal parts similar and dissimilar to her first. Like The Bandit Queens, it’s marked by a nuanced portrait of love and relationships, but the two books are worlds apart when it comes to characters and setting. Set in Silicon Valley, Some People grabs your attention at the get-go for the complicated relationship it portrays—that of a mother-in-law and her son-in-law who are to be estranged soon. Sounds complicated? It is. Add in the chaos of an unfortunate fall and living in close quarters for a week and you have the premise for a compelling novel.
So, what is so special about ‘Some People’?
The book opens with a scene featuring Malti, mother to Kavya, who has a nasty fall that results in a concussion, and she needs someone to take care of her in the aftermath. But Kavya is currently studying in India. So, enter Nathan, Kavya’s husband and soon-to-be ex, who steps in to live with Malti temporarily. They’re not close, and have even less in common, which you’d expect of a 70-something Indian woman and a 40-something white man, except the person they love most—Kavya. The book has an almost play-like quality to it—one location, two characters, and lots of back-and-forth that offers a peek into the inner minds of the characters.
Nathan describes Malti as “stern and also funny”, while Nathan himself is a straight shooter, sometimes to the point of rudeness, and a fixer. The book is set over the course of a week, seven days that involve a lot of blowups over what food to order, who pays for said food, dishwashers versus hand washing, and, most importantly, their relationship with Kavya.
Why should I pick it?
Desis will literally laugh out loud (or, at the least, snort) at some of the Indian-isms in the book. Show me one Indian who won’t identify with this: “When his clothes were unfit for donation, he sent them for textile recycling. When Ms Patel’s clothes were unfit for donation, she tore them into highly unabsorbent rags.” The pages are also peppered with a liberal use of words like che, tharki and gadheda—often with no explanation. You can rely on your own knowledge of Hindi slang. Shroff also takes on divorce and motherhood with tact; Malti was a single parent, raising a first-generation Indian immigrant, having left behind a large family and ex-husband back in India. Where Shroff excels, though, is the mindful portrayal of Nathan and Kavya’s relationship—Nathan gets new context for Kavya’s childhood via Malti, and under the pretext of Malti’s injury, the two end up exchanging a flurry of texts and voice notes.
About Parini Shroff
Some People is author Parini Shroff’s second novel. Her debut, The Bandit Queens, was a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, a PEN Open Book finalist, and longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal and the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She received her MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a practising attorney and currently lives in the Bay Area.
