A Place Called Home-Preeti Shenoy

Book: A Place Called Home
Author: Preeti Shenoy
Publisher: HarperCollins India

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “Home”?

A Place Called Home by Preeti Shenoy explores the story of Alka who lives in the cramped servant’s quarter at Mrs. Shetty’s house in Delhi, where her mother works as a maid. On the look out for an escape from this closed in life, she gets a chance when Mrs. Shetty sends her to the same school as her daughter Tanvi. As the time passes, she marries Subbu, who has a four-hundred-acre coffee estate, and as she starts settling into her life with her heritage home, two daughters and her mother-in-law, and all seems well, but things take a turn when secrets about her life that she had guarded start tumbling out, they threaten to destroy all she has made of herself. To protect all that she has, Alka must fight her demons and travel back to the world she worked so hard to leave behind.

Preeti’s writing has always been powerful, and as with all her books, this book has layers that keep you hooked from the very first page to the last. The book explores the idea of family, relationships and the idea of home and how they can mean different things to different people. The first half of the book moves at a pace that slowly and steadily builds up Alka’s character and life, and sets the tone of the plot for the second half. Preeti explores a variety of ideas and weaves it into the plot. From social stigma to the social idea of “marriage”, the characters in the book endure all of that and that is the story that emerges from the struggles and their reactions to it. When we come to the second half, the pace of the book picks up and things start falling into place and at times more than one you have an aha! moment as your mind goes back to that one tiny bit of information that came across in the first half. The descriptions in the story are vivid and paint a wonderful picture of events as they occur, especially the coffee estate and it was as if I was walking into the estate myself, and to be honest, this has inspired me to now take a vacation to Sakleshpur as soon as possible. Most importantly though, as we come to the end of the story, the title starts making sense, and not just in the obvious manner, but for multiple characters as they explore the idea of home and what it means to them, and while not giving out any spoilers, the visual comparison that Alka makes is such a wonderful summary of the idea being shared.

While the plot of the book is powerful, the characters are equally important, specially the three main people who form the crux of the plot. Alka’s character has been crafted in detail, as we see her grow up as the story moves two decades in time. Preeti makes clear distinctions in her life, and the 4 parts of the book are very clearly marked. From innocent questions as a kid, to exploring her life as a teenager, her life as an independent woman and then her life in the estate, the character grows leaps and bounds and yet there is a certain part of her character that keeps you intrigued. I liked her steadfastness and her perseverance to achieve what she dreamt of. Coming to Krish and Subbu, I liked how they have been created as opposites, not just physically, but emotionally as well. When the contrasts emerge, you realise how their characters have been subtly giving hints to the buildup. Apart from our three primary characters, I liked how the other characters have been built in to provide context to the plot and how they have been detailed just enough to make fiction seem real.

Detailed analysis done, I have a few more observations that make this book a worthy read. The first and the foremost is the focus on food and how Preeti has built in the local cuisine and I believe that this was something very important for me, specially to build up the second part of the story. Secondly, the quotes that serve as section dividers are quite apt and set the tone of the section perfectly.

If you are looking for a book that is layered and makes you think about the concepts of love, family and the idea of home, then this is a book that you should definitely pick up. The book scores a perfect 5 for me.

I was provided a copy of the book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Get your copy of the book on Amazon India or your nearest bookstore!