My Plate Review: #BookReview The Nine Chambered Heart by Janice Pariat ~ Puzzle pieces of a girl's life from the men she dated! #Booktube

The Nine Chambered Heart by Janice Pariat

Publisher: HarperCollins India Publishers

ISBN: 978-93-5277-379-4

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 204 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

Unveiling of a character in bits and pieces from the eyes of the men she came across.

As the name suggests, the book itself is an account of how we live in pieces in the heart of several people. How the thoughts and notions that people think of us actually becomes our personality for them.
We cross paths with people at some chosen moments where our thoughts, behavior and way of thinking becomes the way they perceive us. And before we know it becomes our personality for them!

Thank you Harper Collins for introducing this fine work of fiction to me which very much is an ice breaker in the regular series of reading. A book which has absolutely no name to the characters, with no sign of creating visuals for the person to at least imagine how the characters look like but definitely makes you live the whole scenario perfectly.

The Nine Chambered Heart is divided into 10 parts with about 9 narrators sharing their stories about the girl they happened to be connected to. All the narrators are connected with a string i.e. the girl they talk about. This unnamed girl instantly takes our heart in the first chapter (The Saint) and we find feeling protected and adoring her. Flipping through the book you shall find that each story is a piece of puzzle in putting up the life of the girl together. Be it her childhood art teacher gifting her an art for life or the solo trip she takes to the city with a river – each phase throws in light to the adventurous, escaping and thoughtful mind of the girl. With every narration you come close to her.

But much as we would like to believe, this girl isn't a perfect one – she has her mess too! A mind in chaos, a messy heart, artistic soul which is constantly in a move to find something positive and permanent. She is found looking for love, stability and peace which somehow remains unaccomplished.

The experiences the men have with the girl is not love though – they are either lust, friendship, dates or attractions at some level or the other. While some men do go extra edge to provide for her comfort and peace, she takes an exit to find something more calming.

The book brings out the true story behind the people who are looking for love. It definitely brings to light how too many people are hurt and feelings are destroyed in search of one soulmate who is believed to make us complete! It shatters the myth of how the bollywood kind of stories are actually myths that sometimes shatters our life.

What I disliked about the story is that at some level the girl is shown weak enough to not cope with the kind of life she has built for herself. Her loneliness and search gets the better of her leaving her fall prey to her own weakness. Even though she realizes that some men aren’t for her – she finds herself returning back to them without a purpose.

But as they say Love is your biggest strength and your worst weakness – the story binds you completely.

This is the first book I read by Janice Pariat and I am compelled to fill in my days with more of her writing. A fine sense of crafting the characters without even describing them – making the readers live the narrations without even knowing the name of characters – she has done an excellent job!

Totally worth a read!