Girls Who Stray-Anisha Lalvani

Book: Girls Who Stray: A Novel
Author: Anisha Lalvani
Publisher: Bloomsbury India

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

Do you think that the choices that we make define us?

A, 23 and unnamed, returns from an obscure British university armed with a useless degree to her new home in Noida—a home of feeble men—and the breakdown of her parents’ marriage. Serial procrastinator, overthinker, anxious and unhinged, A overcompensates her low self-esteem and sense of alienation with snootiness, even as she so badly wants to belong. Her only saving quality is that she is self-aware. Before long, A finds herself elbow-deep in an affair with a property developer and subsequently in a double murder. Faced with the anxieties of the crime along with precarities of living in a hypermodern city marked by seething inequality, A navigates heartbreak and tiny acts of freedom. Girls Who Stray is about the foolish choices you knew you shouldn’t have made. A dazzling literary debut, this coming-of-age thriller is a heady mix of real estate dons, crime, and the twisted, twisted nature of love.

Anisha’s debut novel is a story that explores how choices we make at each step in our lives impact our future. Anisha also blends in two major incidents around that time, right into the plot to turn a mirror on the social lens on a woman who likes to explore life. The writing is gripping, and while the storyline might seem a bit slow to a few readers, the true essence of Anisha’s writing lies in the details. Be it the high-rise buildings of Greater Noida, or the protest sites near Jantar Mantar, Anisha takes her time in setting up the plot of the book. As a reader, if you grasp the messaging, the storytelling becomes smoother. The writing is very visual and being a resident of NCR, I could see and visualize the scenes that Anisha wrote. The social messaging of family, societal expectations, crime, and regret is nicely captured. One more aspect that stood out for me were the songs, translated and mentioned. It was a great experience decoding and then fitting the songs in the story. What could have been improved in the book was a bit of proofreading and fact checking. We see a Shatabdi between Delhi and Mumbai, however that does not exist, and while creative liberties in fiction are allowed, such instances can break the flow of the storytelling. The climax of the book is quite poetic and I liked how it combined all the aspects of A’s life, yet leaves some questions open, mirroring life.

Coming to the characters, the book is primarily driven by A and her approach towards life. In the first half of the book, we see this teenager, who wants to escape her circumstances at all costs, without any regards to the impact on the family back home. The transition of A from this teenager to the person we meet on the last page is beautifully captured. Her moral dilemmas form a critical part of the story, and in the second half of the book those questions start popping out more often. Her relationship with her parents is also very beautifully captured. A’s journey through our country is also nicely captured, and the way it forms a boundary between her character traits was good to explore. A’s perspective on social issues, protests and the prevailing situation adds a wonderful layer to the story.

The book is a definite recommendation for anyone looking to read a well-written thriller with a social message. The book scores a 4.75/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon India or a bookstore near you.