I Didn’t Expect to be Expecting-Richa S. Mukherjee

Book: I Didn’t Expect to be Expecting
Author: Richa S. Mukherjee
Publisher: HarperCollins India & Black Ink Books

Do you think that we need a little bit of humor in our lives?

I Didn’t Expect to be Expecting by Richa S. Mukherjee is the story of Tara and Abhimanyu who live in the Maximum City, and have a great life with promising careers, great friends, and a love for travel. Things take a turn when one morning Tara discovers that she is pregnant, and she suddenly gets a completely different perspective on life. With a husband who is equal parts jittery and supportive, a foul-mouthed best friend, a maid who is expert in burning food, and a bunch of friends, Tara juggles her life between work, friendships, and herself as she navigates the anxieties of parenthood.

The book is an excellent work of storytelling as Richa explores the different aspects of pregnancy and how different people react to it, from the expecting mother, father, and the entire gamut of the Great Indian Family. The book is filled with humorous situations from the very first page and it is very difficult to not laugh till your stomach hurts with some extremely funny situations that develop in the book. The journey of Tara as she explores motherhood has been explored in an extremely detailed manner, and this is actually one of the best things about the book. Another thing that I loved about the book was the abundance of puns and comebacks that just lifted the story to a completely different level. Apart from the fact that it explores the journey of unexpected parenthood on Tara and Abhi, the story has multiple sub plots that explore friendship and love, and it was a wonderful icing atop the cake that the main plot is. Richa also covered the cultural dissonances between Tara’s and Abhi’s family, that added to the comedy of errors that was already happening. The language of the book is simple, and has some very character specific idiosyncrasies. The climax scene of the book is one of my absolute favorites from the book, and believe me this has a lot of them.

Richa sketched an entire ensemble of characters that have their own quirks and it’s very difficult to not mention them all here. The characters are very life-like, and the emotions felt very real, almost as if I were a part of the party crowd at Kabir’s wedding, or a part of the Richard & Davis Advertising Agency when the scene with Pamela unfolds. But if I have to pick, Abhimanyu will top my list of characters. With an anxious yet supportive stance, he came across as a perfect guy to compliment Tara with all her quirks. I loved the short fight in the end, and how the moping happens, almost like a kid. Tara was another gem with her foot-in-the-mouth moments and some extremely great sarcasm. Had she been real, I would have probably asked for a class or two. Mira, with her Mr. Moo Moo business, and choice of guys was a story in herself, and probably I would like to read her story someday. Radha and her moments in the book were just epic to a fault that I could actually imagine something like that unfolding in my home as well. Last, but a very creative character, Raool, and his changing character was just fabulous.

Overall, a sure shot recommendation from me if you are looking for a book to accompany you while snuggling inside your bed this winter! Since I was laughing through all the 328 pages of the book, I cannot resist but give it a 5-star rating!

Get a copy of the book here.