The Body Myth

A Novel

By: Rheea Mukherjee

Narrated by: Soneela Nankani

Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Mira is a teacher living in the heart of Suryam, a modern, bustling city in India and the only place in the world the fickle Rasagura fruit grows. Mira lives alone and with only the French existentialists as companions, until the day she witnesses a beautiful woman having a seizure in the park. Mira runs to help her but is cautious, for she could have sworn the woman looked around to see if anyone was watching right before the seizure began.

Mira is quickly drawn into the lives of this mysterious woman named Sara, who suffers myriad unexplained illnesses, and her kind, intensely supportive husband, Rahil, striking up intimate, volatile, and fragile friendships with each of them that quickly become something more.

Intoxicated by their attention and eager to unravel the mystery of Sara's illness, Mira wonders if Sara is unwell. Is she faking it for attention? Is it a psychological disorder? Or is Rahil making Sara sick to keep her wings clipped?

A moving exploration of loss, Mukherjee delivers an intense and unexpected modern love story as Mira reconciles reality with desire.

©2019 Rheea Mukherjee (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Inner struggle mimicked in new relationship

There are many themes to delve into in this book. The characters are clearly drawn, especially for the mystery that has to exist to build tension. The rekationships change in interesting ways and the main character's inner turmoil plays out in the world she has thrust herself into for relief. The plot is not entirely clear, but the deep dive into these lives and the way they are linked suffices. The end, however, does come quite suddenly and isn't particularly satisfying.

Mundane and profound in the best of ways

This story is wholey and utterly wonderful. The emotions that are felt throughout this story only speak to the authors talents. A must read for those looking for an unorthodox, yet simple story of love, life, and acceptance.

Disappointing

I truly can’t decide which I liked less - the plot line or the person who read the book for audible. The story itself seemed to be written by someone familiar with the Indian culture just from a cursory view point. The author used words/phrases that are not common to India but are instead, American words/phrases. In all honesty, this frequently felt like a book written about Indian characters from an American author who knows of India but doesn’t truly know India.

The reader was awful. I cringed at her butchered pronunciation of basic Hindi words like the names of the cities, gulab jamun, “appa” etc. I wish she had put some effort into pronouncing the words accurately instead of sounding them out like a person just not familiar with the language. Her reading made this book even harder to get through.

I’ll commend the author on taking a few taboo topics and weaving them together into a unique storyline but I wish she had developed her characters in meaningful ways. This book felt rushed and elementary, almost like a college essay that included lots of references to other authors to fill up the lack of depth in the plot and the characters.

Inserting premise poorly executed

Overly dramatic language drags this book down and makes the story laughable. I couldn't finish it.