The Whole Nine Yards by Jagari Mukherjee
My take on the book:
The Whole Nine Yards is a collection of nine short stories; as the name of the book signifies the title of one of the stories and means collection of nine stories.
The Only solution is about Najma, a fifty-five-year-old widow who is waiting to meet Hayat. Najma was first introduced to Hayat and her mother Zara through her husband Asif, when Hayat was a young child. How did this friendship influence Najma’s life and what happened to her relationship with Asif?
The Model is about Nandini, a middle aged, unmarried woman, who is a model by profession. At work, Nandini had to listen to ageist jokes that she looked like a chic grandmother while at home she had to care for her parents, especially her father who fell sick often. Will Nandini be able to take care of both her parents and her profession?
The Whole Nine Yards points out how wearing a sari is sometimes considered as a qualification for getting married and how the protagonist’s approach towards sari changed over the years.
The Email is about Deepali and her relationship with Rakesh and the growing fondness between Rakesh and Sara. Later, Deepali meets Sunil; will Deepali repeat the same mistakes as she made with Rakesh, or will she prioritize herself and her career over Sunil?
The Dilemma is about Chandrani and Sanjoy; getting married to Sanjoy meant she left Kolkata, her parents and her life here and shift to London. When faced with the same dilemma twice in her life, what decision did Chandrani take?
The Petunias is about Anu who is grappling with the grief of her marriage that ended abruptly. To escape this reality, Anu starts buying random items from online ecommerce site and soon her house has piled up cardboard boxes. How will Anu be able to come out of this compulsion to buy and will she find a solution to her grief?
The Rendezvous is about Neelima and Sandip who are meeting again after a gap of twelve years. Once introduced for an alliance by their parents, what made Neelima and Sandip drift apart and will they be able to sort their differences at this point in life?
The Court Marriage is about young nineteen-year-olds witnessing the court marriage of their friends and acting as witnesses to their bold move. But will love blossomed at that age be able to stand the test of time?
The Polka Dotted Butterfly is about Sonia who is undergoing a separation from her husband and as she battles her loneliness, she finds an unexpected companion in a polka dotted butterfly that visits her every evening. Will the butterfly judge Sonia any less than everyone around her?
This is a collection of short stories where all the stories revolve around a female protagonist and discuss about their life choices, especially love, marriage and relationships. The characters are real, raw and few stories are tragic and heart breaking, which makes the reader ponder on these characters long after.
There are stories which have similar circumstances and backdrops, but the characters make contrasting decisions, through which the author highlights how different people make different decisions when faced with same circumstances and how these decisions influence their life.
While the message in some stories is loud and in your face, some give a subtle message especially around loneliness and heartbreak. All the characters and their situations feel familiar, making them relatable to readers. My favorite among the lot is The Petunias as it is very relatable and highlights a mistake we all tend to make often. If you like reading short stories that make you introspect, then definitely pick this one.
My rating:
4/5.