Blind Faith by Sagarika Ghose
The Book
Mia’s father commits suicide, plunging her into a depression it doesn’t seem she’ll ever recover from. Sent to interview a Brotherhood, she meets Karna, a guru who seems to have materialised out of a painting from the Kumbh Mela her father gave her. She also meets Vik – a successful and charming business man who her mother and stepfather hope become her husband.
My Thoughts
This has got to be one of the most frustrating books I have ever read. I am both fascinated and completely disappointed by it.
The predominant theme is most certainly love, and the complexity it brings into our lives. Various relationships are observed, none of which ever really demonstrate the end result of ‘true love’. Mia seems incapable of determining exactly how she feels about Vik – swinging from frustrated and put off, to concerned for and appreciative of.
Justin, as far as I’ve understood it, has endured Indi for no other reason than making up for the unfairness others suffer. It’s his way to repent for the evil of others.
Indi and Vik – well that whole dynamic had me raging. And even the Brotherhood with Vik – I actually really do not appreciate the reasoning given to Mia at the end, it feels entirely contrary to what their purpose is. In the end the only genuine love I felt was portrayed in Blind Faith was the love Mia had for her father, and even then she’s often referring back to study material which demonstrates the high likelihood of her losing her mind.
The character development is all but non-existent with epiphanies or revelations only really occurring in the final few chapters –but not sufficiently enough to bring any absolute conclusion to the experiences had. Considering the locale of Kumbh Mela, I had hoped for a far deeper exploration into the cultural side of Delhi and India – but even this was more focused on the obscenity of religion and belief systems.
As for the blurb. The bit about Mia being drawn to Indi? Can anyone who has read this book PLEASE tell me when and where this happens? Because as far as I read, and recall, it doesn’t. In fact, their meeting is only at the very, very end of the book – and even then, it’s alluded to but we don’t get to actually see it play out?
Conclusion
I get antsy about giving low rated reviews – but this is one where it just couldn’t be helped. This is going to go under my ‘borrow don’t buy’ recommendation, I will however say that I’d like to have a go at one of Ghose’s other books, her writing is truly exquisite and I like to think this was a case of wrong book/wrong person.
More Information: Published By: HarperCollins Published Date: July 23 2015 Genre: Contemporary Fiction
