Translated by Arunava Sinha
I
have always enjoyed reading translations by Arunava Sinha and this was one of
the reason for me to pick up this book. But, it was an utter disappointment.
Dibyendu Palit's Illicit,
translated to English by Arunava Sinha, was originally published in 1989 as Aboidho.
The plot spans just three days and
is a slice of the protagonists' illicit life. Jeena, an attractive young
housewife is bored of her 'wooden relationship' with much older husband, Ashim.
Partha, her neighbour, is married, a father of two, and equally bored in his
marital life. We are introduced to them in the high point of their illicit
relationship when the two are planning a secret sojourn to Puri. Quelling her self-doubts
and pangs of guilt, Jeena takes the bold step to be with Partha.
In the next three
days that Jeena spends with Partha, she discovers that all is not as it seems.
Partha's lust takes an aggressive turn and Jeena feels violated. Beguiled by
shame, self pity and doubt, she decides to head back home and put to an end
everything illicit. Undergoing the intense emotional crisis and coming
to the end of the story, the readers will expect an unconventional end, but somewhere
the thread gets lost. You land up reading another clichéd love story, tormented
and torn apart between the pangs of infidelity and clashes of conscience.
Throughout there are detailed account of Jeena’s
emotional crisis yet other characters remain vague. The plot is very wobbly and
predictive. I slowly lost interest. The book jacket refers to Partha as
Mukherjee while he is Majumdar throughout the story. In Pg106, second last para
Jenna is referred to as Gina.
This
would definitely not be in my list of good reads.
Genre
: Fiction
Publisher
– Penguin
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