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A Suitable Boy (Dramatised)

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A Suitable Boy (Dramatised)

By: Vikram Seth
Narrated by: Ayesha Dharker, Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal, full cast
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About this listen

Shortlisted for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, 1993
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 1994
Winner of the WH Smith Literary Award, 1994

A Suitable Boy is now a major 2020 BBC TV series and one of the BBC's 100 novels that shaped our world.

The award-winning BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Vikram Seth's masterpiece.

A Suitable Boy is Vikram Seth's epic love story set in India. Funny and tragic, with engaging, brilliantly observed characters, it is as close as you can get to Dickens for the 20th century.

The story unfolds through four middle-class families - the Mehras, Kapoors, Khans and Chatterjis. Lata Mehra, a university student, is under pressure from her mother to get married. But not to just anyone she happens to fall in love with. There are standards to be met and finding a husband for Lata becomes a family affair in which all the members are to play a part. The characters struggle, they try to buck the system, to break free of restraint, of interference - but ultimately their strength and sense of being comes from their family and friends. It is a celebration of ordinariness; a beautifully composed story that is an affirmation of family and friendship.

In his sweeping epic, Vikram Seth has created an entire world filled with warmth, humour, pathos, tragedy - in short, life. Recorded on location in India, A Suitable Boy is made by the production team behind the award-winning Bleak House and The Handmaid's Tale.

Dramatised and directed by John Dryden. A Goldhawk Production.

©2002, 2003 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2002, 2003 BBC Worldwide Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Adaptation Iran Middle East

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Critic reviews

"The drama highlight of the year... this sumptuous production, wonderfully atmospheric, written with pace and performed, by an all-Indian cast, quite superbly. The novel may be vast but I was convinced by this version right from the start. Magnificent drama." (Radio Times)
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I found this dramatised version difficult to follow. I could not easily identify the different characters so many of whom sounded the same. I don’t think that the same problem would have arisen had the text been ‘performed’ by a narrator in.

I should have chosen the full text

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Loved it. Such wonderful life in it. The music and really well matched background noises gave it great body.
I couldnt distinguish the characters too well. There were so many. It was real entertaining and thought provoking.

so amusing

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I enjoyed the book although on the first listen, found it a bit difficult to follow the different characters perhaps because my ear is not attuned to indian accents, yet it did not matter. The sound quality and production was faultless and even without following the story, it was a pleasure to listen to and i have done so more than once, becoming totally immersed in the picture it was painting. The sound gave a context and created a sense of space and place. The music was carefully woven into the rhythms of the actor's voices and enhanced what they were saying. I wish more audio books were so carefully produced and i would listen to almost any book with the same audio production team, i think their achievements and names should be more prominently displayed alongside the reader/actors.

beautiful sound

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This is so much more than an audio book. It's a full cast performance complete with atmospheric sounds and wonderful music. I was completely captivated and transported to 1950s India. Highly recommended.

Magical performance

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I really wanted an unabridged (or maybe a slightly abridged, given the scale of this book!) listen but this was the best I could find. I have the book and tried to read it but maybe because of its vastness, gave up.

This is very atmospheric, the music and background noises add, though they are a little loud at times. It was well acted and I figured out the characters quite readily. But the dramatisation must have removed some of the books 'heart' I feel as it didn't evoke the writing skill that Seth has so much of, and which in the 1/3rd of the book I DID read myself, added so much to the charm (and length!)

So, when it ended, it was abrupt - so much so that I assumed there was another section and my iPod had mis-filed it! But no, it ends sharply and suddenly, with nothing much explained.

Good and not so good

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very well done but a little rushed at the end - such a huge book they did well to pare the story back but I missed the other storylines.

highly edited down but a lovely dramatisation

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Wonderfully entertaining dramatisation, the voices and the music are faultless. Only drawback is it's brevity. Should send you scuttling to the original text.

Delightful !

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Struggled to understand the situations but it was really good to hear some accurate pronunciations.

The dialect made this one tricky for me .

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A true upper middle class Indian family story. Go for it if you want to know what all happens to arrange an arrange marriage in India.

True upper middle class story

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an epic depiction to 1950s india. loved the story lines and the intensity of the characters!

great story line!

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