Nani's Book of Suicides -By Sunny Singh When you generally finish reading the latest offering of Indian English writers, or in some cases, as soon as you start, you are beset by an overpowering sense of ennui. Surely you've read that somewhere else? And isn't that sleazy passage a plagiarized Shobha De? What about the stilted vocabulary that you need your Oxford English Dictionary to wade through? Thankfully, I was spared that ritual when I read "Nani's Book of Suicides" by Sunny Singh. The vocabulary is not pedantic, Singh does not dwell on polemics, and most surprisingly, she explores virgin territory. Unlike her peers, Singh tries to find out the effect the stories and myths that we hear as children have on our adult lives. She does this in an equally unusual manner. Following a theme evocative of magic realism, Singh maintains a triple chronicle. In all three veins, Singh shows how the fatalistic choices women like Kunti, Draupadi, Meera and Sita are mirrored in the daily lives of simple women today. Each character, symbols of female strength, is forced to make a decision that will force her hand regarding a vital aspect of her existence. Singh shows how the conditions of women have not really changed that much through the ages. The book unfolds through the eyes of Mini, a young girl in a small town in India. Mini is raised by her grandmother, a mysterious woman healer with a murky past. Her dabbling in the occult leave her scarred and bitter, and she rules the lives of her loved ones with single-minded dictatorship. "Nani's" life forms the second strand of the story, with her own life and value choices affecting her in terrible ways. The third portion traces the mythological characters. Singh highlights the emotions of each of her mythical/historical women with a sensitive pen. She tries to delve deep into the mind and soul of each woman, and brings to light an aspect we might not have thought about. What did Meera think of as she drank the bowl of poison? What did Kunti feel when Karna was removing his divine armor? Mini goes through her later life with the memories of her childhood haunting her. Each woman from her trove of folklore and mythology ends up as a voice of her own conscience, influencing her decisions and mirroring her own emotions. Her own grandmother is the most powerful impression in her life, with her every move centering on what her "Nani's" reaction to that decision would be. An ambitious debut, Singh tries to take the road less taken, and thus may have chosen the less market friendly one. Her novel is not easy reading, and the average reader may not be able to comprehend the intricate web of the plot. The triple narrative requires concentration, and at places, the transitions are not as smooth as possible. Still, Singh does a good job of a difficult task; her story keeps all the initial promises it makes in the introductory passage. Her story telling skills are very good, and her writing does promise much in the future. It just may be that Indian English writing may have found a new writer, someone to steer away from the potboiler and popular fiction, and do some introspective, ground breaking work. A thoroughly rewarding book, "Nani's Book of Suicides" manages to fulfil one of the main criteria of literature: the ability to force the reader to think. Hard. Start a discussion on this article