Book Review: Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag

Genres: Novel, Psychological Fiction

Summary: Ghachar Ghochar is a 2015 psychological drama novella written by an Indian author Vivek Shanbhag in Kannada and was later translated into English by Srinath Perur.

Ghachar Ghochar starts with an anonymous narrator who is a regular visitor to a coffee shop named 'Coffee House'. The narrator comes to Coffee House whenever he feels uneasy and discomfort at home or is overwhelmed by his feelings. 

The story starts in the present when the narrator orders a coffee and takes us to his past where he describes his dysfunctional joint family which includes his parents, his sister (Multi), his Uncle (Chikkappa) and his wife (Anita). The narrator describes how his family withstood together in poverty. And lived and supported each other whenever needed. 

Soon we see that the narrator's Uncle starts his own business of selling spices after the narrator's father losses his job as a salesman. Now the story takes a sharp turn and we get to see how things changed after becoming rich overnight. We get to see a different personality of each character and how they much they've changed because of the money they possess now. From being together to eating together in poverty every character forgets their roots when money comes their way. 

Soon the narrator gets married to Anita, an audacious woman who gets suspicious of how this family works and follows everything on the order of Chikkappa. 

My Thoughts: Overall, I liked the novella. It gave me a perfect glimpse of families who've become rich overnight. And how the writer has depicted every character in a surreal way instead of glamorising the richness of the family the author shows us the cruel side of what money can do. Though we didn't get much of Anita's back story we get to see how bold is she and how she wants to live a respectable life on the hard-earned money instead of being a freeloader.

Really liked how the narrator(the man) is shown naive and have his own views but finds it hard to express it to not to hurt the sentiments of his family. And always find himself in a Ghachar Ghochar which means entangled. Last but not least I liked how Vincent and the Coffee House played a perfect side role and as a stress buster for the narrator.