These, Our Bodies, Possessed by Light

by Dharini Bhaskar

‘Maybe all of us are no more than Venn diagrams – our personal
biographies and those of our relations colliding to create the
teardrop of our selves.’
Until now, Deeya has found an unquiet contentment in the memories
of her affair with an older man and in a spare but tolerable marriage.
Then, Neil comes into her life, offering a heady romance and a new
identity. Will Deeya give their fledgling relationship a chance?
Perhaps the seeds of her answer have already been sown by her
family – by her grandmother and mother, both of whom have been
compelled to make complex negotiations with love.
As Deeya confronts their stories, she must Will she upend
her family’s history and build a narrative of her own? Or is she – as
are all of us – destined to carry forward the concessions and mutinies
of our ancestors?
Refreshing in its vision and assured in its craft, These, Our Bodies,
Possessed by Light is a remarkable debut about (un)sanctioned memory,
uncommon love, and the claims of familial history.

Genres: India, Indian Literature, Fiction, Literary Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published November 25, 2019

Reviews

[Mridula Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever tried to describe how it feels to savour the last piece of your favorite sweet? The moment when it slowly dissolves in your tongue and you taste joy and you hope that it stays longer with you. But no matter how hard you try, the moment ends and you're left craving for more.
.
Well, Dharini Bhaskar's writing is just that. She weaves tale upon tale and indulges your senses. You are sucked right in, not wanting to leave these pages, hanging on to each word. Deeya, our narrator, gives us three generations of women, and narrates the tale entirely through her memory of things, sometimes getting blurry and at other times, crisp and clear.
.
Bhaskar's characters are bound to remind you of people in your life because everything that happens is relatable. Her characters are fierce in their own way, even when they are gentle. The writing flows uninterrupted and that's probably the thing I enjoyed the most. I didn't try to predict the story (a terrible habit of mine) but let the author tell her story at a steady pace. These characters are bound by blood and also by an invisible bond through their struggles, each growing out of their individual experiences and of that as a family.
.
However the lyrical writing could have taken a break for a moment and focussed more on the actual plot.
If there's one book you add to your TBR today, this should be it.

[Prachi Pati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every once in a while, you stumble across a book, that sings to you. You read many books, some take you on an adventure, some make you fall in love, some make you laugh, some make you cry, some shatter your heart and some are just not worth your time. But then, in your journey through many such beautiful books, you come across those few books, that sing to you. That talk to you, whisper into your mind, telling you, “I know you and I know your heart.”

I love reading books without reading about their reviews or the story. I go in, not expecting anything. And I absolutely love it when a book surprises me so much and in such a great way. I’ve been trying to make my way through the JCB shortlist titles this year, and its no wonder that this was one of the books that has been shortlisted for the JCB Prize. It absolutely deserves it and has become one of my favorite books this year.

In this story, narrated by one of the central characters – Deeya, we travel through the lives, loves, desires and heartbreaks of three generations of women – Deeya’s grandmother Ammama, her mother and the story of the three sisters – Tasha, Ranja and Deeya.

If you liked narration and stories like Circe, this is definitely a book I would recommend. It is like a soothing bed time secret story for women, narrated by women. I felt a pull towards the story and Deeya’s thought process especially because I found so many similarities in the way we think. Throughout the story, there is the constant push and pull that each of the protagonists experience between their personal desires, their inner conflicts and what society expects from women in general.

I have highlighted many passages in the entire book and I can’t stop recommending it enough. I’d recommend this book highly if you’re a woman, and even more if you’re an Indian woman, are married or somewhere in between, are lost between what you want and what others want you to want. The book doesn’t give you any answers as such, but it gives you friendship. When you read it, you feel, through these characters, that you’re not alone, in the way you feel 🙂

[Chitra Ahanthem · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title references Richard Silken’s poem ‘Scheherazade’, a name integral to the Arabian Nights, of the woman wedded to a distrusting King who must tell a story each night to hold the interest of her husband to save her life.What follows in this intergenerational narrative of women and their lives is intertwined to how stories are as much about what is written in literature – in novels and in poetry, but also about the stories that each of us imagine and embellish to fill in the dreary landscape of our existence.
Deeya the main protagonist and narrator, someone who loves words and books and who time and again imagines not just the lives of her grand mother, mother and her two older sisters is in many ways the restless soul that lies within each one of us seeking meaning, seeking vitality, seeking incandescence in life while we remain struggling with the weight of humdrum existence, the people around us who enter by sleight and then leave. 

It is foremost an ode to words, how they can be strung together with a deft hand, carefully threading them to give away just a bit; how they can make or break connections and conversations, some stilted, some keeping certain things hidden, some enticing,some seductive, some alluring, some untruthful and mostly hiding more than they let on. This isn’t so much about the story or the plot as much as how the narrative brings together the beauty and magic of literature and art that is birthed by fallible people who fail those around them, how their artistic creation gives succour to others while inching out those closest to them, exiling them to often barren loneliness after occupying a central importance. This is a book that a reader will want to revisit and ponder over but also a book that is not meant for everyone. 

[Sheece · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is going to be a bit biased as the writer is a dear friend. And while we haven't met for a while, reading the book felt like I was sitting alongside her and we were having a long chat filled with interesting stories and musings.

The book reads beautifully, if it is ever made in a audio book with the author rendering it in her voice itself, it may be a an even more beautiful experience.

The writing is fluid, full of wonder, and in many places philosophical. Tasha stays with you longer than other characters and I would have loved to see her story in more detail, in fact a sequel with the lives of the other two sisters, should be explored.

There is a nice little reference at the end of the book that points out what the characters are talking about in the book, and it was quite a delight to see it as I was wondering where the quote/extract is from when reading. So the book also opens you to other interesting works.

The strongest bit about the work is the relationship between the women, their individual struggles, how they are all broken, and yet how it is all shown so normally, the book reads like a really long euphemism. And yet, that's really how it is all around us, isn't it? Makes me feel our real lives are a caricature of what we think our life is.

The men are shown in poor light, and I would like to take this opportunity to tell men that they need to try harder to be better human beings.

There is a moment in the book where Deeya and her father are interacting, that moment has been captured most beautifully and will stay with me for a while.

Do read this book.

[Resh (The Book Satchel) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories of three generations of women, set in a domestic space interspered with myths from arious sources.

What I loved:
- the five women of the household. They are full fleshed and flawed.
- Rhythm of prose; v lyrical and poetic book. This book def pays a lot of attention to language.

There are portions in the novel where I would have liked a stronger plot. These, Our Bodies Possessed by Light remains an enjoyable read if you love stories in general, and enjoy reading about contradictions in domestic spaces.

READ mini reviews of the JCB prize shortlist 2020 here


Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest

[Sonali Dabade · Rating 5 out of 5]

'These, Our Bodies, Possessed by Light' was shortlisted for the JCB Prize 2020, which is why I picked it up, so that I could try to predict which of the five would win. Honestly, this was my favorite of the lot and I was rooting so hard for it to win! But it's still a winner in my eyes because now, I'm on a special mission to get everybody to read it. Hah.

You can watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh0Mx...

This book is the story of Deeya, who is married to a man who is away for months at a time. She lives, reminiscing an earlier affair with an older man, until Neil comes along, offering her romance and the excitement that comes with it. Questions of whether or not she's doing the right thing plague her, but she has to look no further than her own family, her mother and grandmother, who have had to live while making different pacts with love. So in she dives into her family's history and unearths truths and lessons that might or might not help her solve the conundrum she is facing.

All I can do is squeal about how much I love this book because of its lyrical writing, its hard-hitting prose, its ability to pull the reader into its pages and retain them there, never letting them escape, its strong female characters that show nerve and strength and moral fiber in ways that counts the most in their lives, the love that bubbles up even from the cracks in the family's fabric, the belief that the reader will stand by and understand the decisions and choices - and how could I not, the author having put it all so glibly, so beautifully?

This book is more than I can explain in a few gushing words. It's exploration, it's Amamma's curt affection, it's Mamma's stoic love, it's Deeya's confused morality, it's Tasha's confident self-exploration, it's Ranja's aloof insistence that she's all okay - it's vibrant art that talks to you in more ways than one, to which the cover does supremely amazing justice to!

Please, please, please read this book. Please!

[Manjul Bajaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Very exquisite writing, loveliness piled upon loveliness, Dharini Bhaskar weaves a beguiling tale of women without men, across three generations. So beautiful is the writing that quite paradoxically about three quarters way through the book I found myself yearning for less perfection, a bit of rawness, a crack or two to let the pain pass through without the filter of beauty. In the end it felt completely ethereal, not real enough. But these are characters who will stay with me for a long time.

[Jyotsna]

DNFed at 24%

Not a captivating read

[Chahna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Even though it took me forever to finish it, I liked it. The writing was amazing.

[Gayatri Saikia | per_fictionist · Rating 4 out of 5]

These our bodies possessed by light" by Dharini Bhaskar is one of those books that grasp your undivided attention from the very first page of the book.

Told from the narrative of Deeya, the story encompasses the lives of three generations of women : her grandmother, her mother and her siblings with herself included.

Most of the times, I find myself deluded in the story not giving much attention to the characters, or vice versa, but with Bhaskar's novel I couldn't decide whom to fall more in love with : the characters that hold enigma from the very first page, the storyline that's a melancholic yet beautiful song in itself or her storytelling that makes your heart arrant with every flip of the page!

I particularly felt myself sympathizing with Deeya, who finds herself scuttling for joy and cocoons herself by weaving a story based on memories real and otherwise. Deeya's bond with her sisters felt seemingly obscure from my third person viewpoint and I could feel her sadness seeping throughout parts of the story.

I equally loved Ammama's character that spoke to me of resilience, her curiosity that makes her seek for borders unknown and tread the path less travelled by woman of that period. However, a few comments by Amamma on Deeya's physical appearance completely took me off guard and showed me a polarizing side to her character.

But all in all, I don't think I've quite enjoyed a contemporary family drama from an Indian author as much as I did with this one.

[Prabhs · Rating 2 out of 5]

If it wasn’t the need to finish all the books in JCB literature long list , I would have stopped reading at page 100. Long prose and mentions of lines and stories from books, author name dropping, it felt like reading a disjointed journal. I don’t understand how this was long listed.

[Mallidi Harshitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read! I loved a lot of things about it and the writing is exquisite. This story of five women and men around their lives is so unique.

There’s a certain lyrical quality to this book and it only enhanced my experince.

[Shruti Santosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful book about three generations of women and their quest for love, selfhood, an easy marriage. Not often have I read about Indian women depicted in such fine strokes — some submitting to the vagaries of love and the desires of their bodies, some boldly claiming a failed marriage, some finding comfort in oblivion.

There are many moments when the book takes an ordinary act and a passing thought that you and I might witness at trite frequency and turns it into a piece of art, a revelation, a thing that is not in fact trite, but noteworthy and beautiful. Such is the writing. It makes you pause.

"Maybe without being wholly aware, I, too, was ageing – if ageing means being less conscious of the body’s let-downs."

"There was a charcoal drawing across it, thick black strokes – never-ending fingers or strands of hair or wave after wave of seawater, who could tell."

[Ethan Guo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ambitious. It stuck the landing in some spots and missed the mark by a considerable margin in others. Yet, the ending was beautifully written and you can tell a lot of love was put into crafting this multigenerational story.

[Aloka - allys_bookshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

.

Review
‘What can one say of childhood grief? That it is lonely. That it is invisible. That it is denied the vocabulary granted to adult despair. That it shifts, mutates, but seldom vanishes. That it casts a mark.
My sisters and I, we were sorrow stained.’
.

What makes a great book?
For me, it’s a book that speaks to me personally and appeals to me at that point in my life, it’s relevance to my mood, my outlook, whether I am stressed or relaxed or whether I need something exciting to happen.
I remember thinking very early on as a mother when I got triggered by something my son did or said, the tone in his voice, so non descript to my husband. But he’s 2 he’d laugh after I had completely shattered in jagged bits all over our house over something trivial and written our toddler off to a life of doom.
Where do these reactions come from? Where do associations to a change of tone, a defensive reaction to a non offensive statement, a larger than acceptable reaction to something innocuous come from?
I read somewhere recently on my feed that we spend our adult lives getting over the emotional immaturity of our parents.
And then we have kids and the pattern carries forward.
Dharini Bhaskar’s beautiful beautiful book is about all this and more. Three sisters, a mother, a grandmother. Deeya the middle sister and our narrator is at the precipice of an important decision, one that will define her at the start of the book. She stops and thinks. She tells the story by going back in time to her grandmother’s tale and her mother’s saying that somewhere in their stories her path was chosen. Her decisions were inextricably tied to theirs. Her mistakes like venn diagrams each intricately joined in parts to the women who shaped her. She weaves a beautiful tale some parts memory – those unreliable fragments of our history– some parts fact and some parts fiction. Because isn’t that what we all are, a burst of fact and fiction, our stories completely different to each person we tell it to?
This book is a play of words for over 300 pages lilting along like a light breeze over grassy fields, in no hurry to get anywhere, and no story in particular to tell, no exciting plot to tie up. it is a combination of psychology, absolutely stunning writing and a story with interesting characters.
I’d put it right up there with God of Small things – a no mean feat as that is one of my all time favourite books. So needless to say I enjoyed this one very much.
I absolutely loved Ammamma (the grandmother) an exceptional woman, and Deeya’s younger sister Tasha.
Read if you like litrary novels with sublime character growth. 

[Rashi Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There are so many reasons to commit to a person. Love, some people call it, or attraction or desire. But perhaps these are surface words for the same thing. We yoke ourselves to those who ferret out our happiest recollections. Who then build us, not something new, but old and half-forgotten.”

“These, Our Bodies, Possessed by Light” is a lyrical and exquisite debut by Dharini Bhaskar. The protagonist, Deeya, has found an unquiet contentment in her barely tolerable marriage. So when Neil comes into her life, offering her a romance of her dreams and an escape from the dreary, she is conflicted and looks for answers in the past—in the complex relationships of her grandmother and mother. As she recollects their stories, she finds herself in a difficult position—to build a narrative of her own or to carry forward the negotiations and concessions made by her ancestors.

Bhaskar’s remarkable debut unravelled me in ways I didn’t think were possible. I savoured each word, sentence, page like never before. The writing feels as if you’re peeking into someone’s most closely held, innermost thoughts—thoughts privy to oneself. The plot isn’t much of one—it is more of an introspection as a third person into someone else’s story. The family trope, the complexities in lives of women, and the beautiful and stark honesty with which the author portrays the characters is outstanding. To say that it brings forth some blunt, harsh truths would be an understatement. This one is not to be missed at any cost. I can easily say that it has been one of my most brilliant reads this year.

[Apurva Nagpal · Rating 4 out of 5]

These, Our Bodies, Possessed by Light is one of those books that hold you not particularly by the story but by the characters and leave an unsettling feeling, a kind of emptiness when you’re done.

The book spans over three generation of women- three daughters, their mother and grandmother and explore how the seeds of their future have been sown in their past(s); by the women and choices that came before them.
Told from the POV of the middle daughter Deeya, she weaves a trail of events of the past, using bits and pieces of frail memories. She tries to trace what led her to troubled relationships and attractions, the choices she and her sisters make and how different yet intertwined they all are.

What I loved was how Deeya’s character seemed oddly familiar to me, how beautifully the timelines tangled and detangled and most of all, a sense of completeness in their broken stories of hope.
A solid debut! I give it 4/5 and recommend it.

[Book Junction · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a breathtaking book it is!!
This is a very beautiful book, one that you will enjoy and crave for. So just go and buy, rent, download or do anything but read this book.

The cover caught my attention and was intrigued by the title. I didn't read the blurb, I never do, I like to go blindly into the book. There were quiet less reviews for this book, but they all talked highly about it. So, I just bought it right then.

I took all the time in the world to read this book. It had the Indian Setting with stories of three generations. What I loved most about this book was the writing. It was so lyrical, so ravishing ❤️ I fell in love with it. Each line had a deep metaphorical meaning.

The plot was so different from what I read so far, it had quotes and thoughts, which I had never felt or been through, made me think, feel for the characters. It was a beautiful journey to read this book. I crave for such books.

[Sin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book, as if possessed, as the author masterfully told a tale of love and heartbreak. Predictably, I fell in love with this book and it broke my heart. Four and a half stars.

[Namita Pal · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What can one say of childhood grief? That it is invisible. That it is denied the vocabulary granted to adult despair. That it shifts, mutates, but seldom vanishes. That it casts a mark.
My sisters and I, we were sorrow stained.”

‘These our bodies possessed by light‘, a debut work of Dharini Bhaskar is well-deserving of being shortlisted for the 2020 JCB Prize for Literature. It carries the story of three generations woven intricately by tradition. Travelling from Madras to Bombay to Delhi and finally to Boston. Fluctuating like a pendulum between past and present on the swing of lyrical prose and beautiful narration, this book becomes a must-read.

This book is a journey of five women covering a time span of several decades. Three granddaughters, their mother, and the grandmom, all of them are supremely fierce and independent women. They are different from each other yet strongly bound by their life decisions. Our narrator, Deeya, is the middle granddaughter who is on the verge of taking an important decision for herself and that is when she starts reflecting on the lives of the women who have made her what she is today. She says that her decision is interlinked with the experiences and decisions that were taken by her mother and grandmother. The men in the lives of these women were feeble and escapists who fueled the decisions taken by these ladies.

I have read this at various places that parents, along with all the love and happiness transmit the fears and trauma they faced in their lives to their children. The experiences of Deeya’s mother and grandmother shaped her mindset and decisions. This story has a psychological aspect intact with it. Every part of the story feels relatable while reading. There is childhood love, failed decisions due to superstitions, inappropriate marriages, and some really strong female characters. I personally love a book if the story feels connected, the characters and the scenarios look real, and this book has everything in it. The flow of the story from starting to end over 300 plus pages was throughout smooth but the truly authentic circumstances, real dilemmas, and strong characters were attention grabbing. Ammamma, the grandmom, and Tasha the youngest granddaughter are my personal favorites.

All the literary fiction lovers do try this book. There is a reason it was listed for JCB prize for literature.

[Jaya Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dharini Bhaskar's book is a beautiful read in many ways. It begins and ends in the present, but travels to many different, real and hypothetical pasts. Throughout the book, our protagonist, Deeya contemplates how women in her family made decisions and how that changed the course of their present and future. Bhaskar's writing is just lyrical- it invokes nostalgia, and brought back memories of my own teenage escapades, my grandmother's pickles and my mother's enterprises. I travelled everywhere with the book- to pre-independence India, to London, New York, Norway, Bombay, Providence. I found my old crushes in the men in these story, felt the rush of the new romances, longing for the old ones. I also really enjoyed all the literary references- from Shehezade to Greek Mythology to tales of old Kannada courts and invention of Mysore Pak.
All the women characters in this book are very strong, smart and enterprising. All of them are also unlucky in love. They travel continents, start new businesses and so much more, all by themselves. But they also feel incomplete without their men. I think this is my biggest gripe with this book, it would completely fail the bachdel test. The women, especially the protagonist, pine for disinterested men, and find themselves waiting for those who have already moved on without them. In three generations of stories not one of them makes a different choice- to be independently happy, let love add to their life without burdening it with the responsibility of completing them. I guess what rescues the book is the protagonist's self-awareness of these patterns, and conscious thoughts about breaking them

[Nuvneet · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There is a moment we wish to crawl into, occupy everlastingly. There is one recollection we wish to cultivate. There is a fragment from the past that we long for all our lives until someone offers us access to it.”

There are so many reasons to commit to a person. Love, some people call it, or attraction or desire. But perhaps these are surface words for the same thing. We yoke ourselves to those who ferret out our happiest recollections. Who then build with us, not something new, but old and half- forgotten.”

The book is the story of three women- the grandmother, the mother and the granddaughter told from the point of view of Deeya, the granddaughter. It is from the perspective of women, how their lives are changed because of the decisions taken by the men in their lives. A young girl is married off at the age of sixteen and expected to bear children. Another, through superstition and manipulation, is forced to lead a life of loneliness and never ending wait. The granddaughter, whose life is influenced by an absent father, is always searching for him in the men in her life. The book throws light on how women are treated in our society, the regrets they live with and the memories they keep safe in their hearts which give them hope and will to carry on.
It also highlights that we all view the same situation differently and sometimes our perception can lead us into taking decisions in life and when we are faced by another person’s perspective then we are forced to reassess the whole chain of events differently.
I loved the fluidity with which the story progresses and the language is lyrical. The book is absolutely engaging and thought provoking. A lovely read and is one of the JCB Prize contender for 2020. A strong contender I must say.

[Suprita Ranjan (doyouevenreallyread) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We’re doomed to spend our adult lives recovering from our childhood.”

The first thing I remember thinking about this book is that it’s so beautifully written, reality woven so intricately with myth and philosophy, and also so sad at the same time. It’s a book that is going to demand all your attention from the very first page.

This is a story about three generations of women bound by blood and tragedies. Light on the plot and heavy on characters, the book is a tale about the lives and loves of Deeya, her sisters Ranja and Tasha, her mother Vanaja and her grandmother, Sarojaa. It’s a story that tells us that our lives, our futures are guided and decided by the past actions of our foremothers, that our struggles are a part of a bigger universal picture. Bhaskar’s characters are sharp, resilient, fierce while at the same time they are gentle, vulnerable, self-obsessed and insecure, all lacking in one way or another. Being the youngest and fiercest of her sisters, Tasha stays with you long after you’re done reading the book. I would have liked to read more about Tasha and her life. Venu is another character I’d have liked to know more about. He was the only male character who had a voice different from that of the others in the book, a male character you did not instantly cringe away from.

The narration flows easily, carrying you from one story to the next in this non-linear storyline. The writing is by far the strongest part of the book. It’s dense and poetic and paints beautiful pictures of loss and grief.

These, Our Bodies, Possessed by Light is an ode to words and how these words can be strung together to create stories and how, as long as these stories are well written, they are believable. It’s a story about how decisions of the past bind us and also set us free. It’s a story of loss and grief, full of insights about love and marriage. It’s a story about family and how each of us contain multitudes.

[Shambhavi Pandey · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There is a moment we wish to crawl into, occupy everlastingly. There is one recollection we wish to cultivate. There is a fragment from the past that we long for all our lives until someone offers us access to it.”
.
A book that holds you steadfast from the very first page. I completed it last night and if I think about it now, I’d say it’s one beautifully written piece of literature, with lyrical phrasings and philosophical quotations intricately woven with the storyline. It’s a tale of women spanning over three generations bound by blood and doomed by distress in their personal relationships. The middle daughter and the narrator, Deeya recounts the stories and the episodes from the past, piecing together the odds and ends of her impressionable memory and recollection. In all its appearances, the women persistently come to terms with their governing actions, and choices made in the past define their present. In face of their personal cataclysm and indecision, they identify how indistinguishable their life journey has been from one another.
With solid and profound character development, we are forced to not just experience but thrive with the lives led by these women. The honest portrayal of one’s privy thoughts and complex emotions is what stood out for me, truly remarkable. You grow with them as you understand their strife and familial history. A very powerful debut about a story that is going to be with me for a long time to come. Highly recommended.

[Deepika · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I were to describe this novel in two words it would be a “literary heavyweight”. The reason why I say this is that its beauty lies in its writing , its lyrical writing filled with tons of metaphors, references from other extraordinary pieces of literature from across the globe and also at the same time engaging with its readers. It was like sneaking into someone’s diary written with a careful, hefty introspection and philosophical thought.

The story revolves around three generations of women- Amamma [grandmother], vanaja [mother] and Deeya, the narrator and the middle child in the family. The grandmother was married off at the age of sixteen to a married man for the purpose of giving birth to a child. Then vanaja too, had a similar fate in terms of marriage as her husband Karthik disappears leaving behind his family. Deeya has also found an uneasy contentment in her affair with an old man and then in a tolerable marriage. All the three women at some point in their life had to make compromises in love.

The title of the book These, are bodies, possessed by light drawn from the poem ‘scheherazade’ by Richard siken, is also entrancing in a way as it signifies the premise of the story. You will get to know this when you read it. I think I will revisit this book again sometime as I am not satisfied reading it only once. I was distracted by its beautiful, prose that I didn’t pay much heed to the plot.

[Akilesh Sridharan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dharini Bhaskar's debut fiction These, Our Bodies, Possessed by Light published by Hachette India is quite an immersive read.

You definitely can't say this is her debut fiction. The lyrical prose she's adapted throughout this 330-page novel is commendable and an achievement of a sort in itself.

I picked/bought this book/ebook because a Tamil ponnu has written a English literary fiction. And I wasn't disappointed; she'd indeed mastered the craft of storytelling through various timelines with ease and subtle nuances.

It's a women's story, five of them — Amamma, Amma, and three sisters: Ranja, Deeba the narrator, and Tasha. The men in their life are mostly absent because they have either died, or ran away from family life, or mere escapist.

Every woman have a back story, a romance of sort, a matured one though. The story travels from 1940s to present day, and moves from Madras to Bombay to Delhi, Norway to Dubai to Rhode Island.

There's sisterly warmth, fights, parental problems, fractured family, first kiss, love with an aged man, breakup, infidelity, marriage and its troubles, and whatnot. This novel is packed with all emotion, a wholesome meal to say the least.

The novel could have been cut short by few pages, just my thought, as I felt a bit stretched out by extra few chapters.

I loved all the five women characters — but my favourites are Amamma and Tasha. Read this wonderful novel and you would enjoy the women characters in the story, and the story as a whole.

[Shreya Karumanchi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because of it’s curious title and beautiful jacket design. I was also super excited to read the work of a young Indian woman.

The pace of this book was extremely slow which wouldn’t be a problem for me usually as books like those usually make up with their beautifully constructed sentences and sharp visual imagery. However, I cannot say that either were present in this book.

I found the plot shallow - nothing really changed from the beginning to the end. There were quite a few inconsistencies with the plot as well as the characters. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters, maybe except Ammamma a little but then again, like I said earlier, a lot of inconsistencies left me very confused. Perhaps I just didn’t understand what the author was trying to say?

Either way, I didn’t enjoy it as much I expected to.

[Ilene Leventhal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, though it was very easy to put down and took quite some time to finish. As many have said before me, the writing is beautiful- luxuriant even. However, there is little force driving the book home. Perhaps the last 50 pgs or so had me really turning. Other than that it was slow though lovely, like a warm bath of words. I kept thinking perhaps I was reading it in translation, because some word choices seemed odd or misplaced, and perhaps if it were it might explain how languid it felt. However, it seems she wrote in English? I’m not sure- 4 stars for the sheer beauty of it. I’m glad I read and finished it, but it won’t be in any stack of books I offer a friend when asked for help with their next read. I don’t think. Maybe…

[Vaishali Dhar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The journey of reading this book has been long and an amazing one. This story is about Deeya and how her life's journey is defined through her choices and also, through the choices of her parents and grandparents.

It is a journey of three women across three generations and about their life choices,love,desires and heartbrakes. Dharini Bhasker's writing is exiquisite and flows through easily. Anybody can relate to the story as to how our life is the result of our choices and our reactions to the smallest of things. How we sometimes think, what if, we wouldn't have taken the path which lead us to where we are right now, how things might have been different.

Throughly enjoyed this one and would highly recommend it.

[drmuddappapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title may make you wonder (it unravels itself eventually)

The book will stay with you a long time after you've read it. The author has woven the complex characters so well spanning different generations. The element of suspense is structured so well, it leaves some work to the reader too. The author draws analogies from mythology and poetry and so accurately at that. The title made me wonder if I should read the book, I'm glad I did.