''Saraswati Park'' is a 2010 drama novel written by

Anjali Joseph Anjali Joseph (born 1978) is an Indian novelist. Her first novel, '' Saraswati Park'' (2010), earned her several awards, including the Betty Trask Prize and Desmond Elliott Prize. Her second novel, ''Another Country'', was released in 2012. In ...

. Set in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, the book follows the story of Mohan Karekar, a pensive letter-writer living in the fictional housing complex of Saraswati Park. When his gay nephew, Ashish, moves in with him and his wife, Lakshmi, their mundane life goes through several changes. ''Saraswati Park'' was Joseph's

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

for which she was awarded the

Betty Trask Prize The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the ...

Desmond Elliott Prize The Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for the best debut novel written in English and published in the UK. The winning novel can be from any genre of fiction and must exhibit depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. The winner receiv ...

and

Crossword Book Award The Crossword Book Award (formerly known as the Crossword Book Award (1998–2003), the Hutch Crossword Book Award (2004–07), the Vodafone Crossword Book Award (2008–10), the Economist Crossword Book Award (2011–13), Raymond & Crossword Bo ...

. It was also nominated for ''The Hindu'' Literary Prize.

Plot

Mohan Karekar is a pensive letter-writer who lives with his wife, Lakshmi, in the housing complex of Saraswati Park in suburban

. Bored with his monotonous life, and stifled by his troublesome marriage, Mohan spends most of his time dreaming of becoming a writer. Meanwhile, Mohan's nephew, Ashish, a 19-year-old English literature student, moves in with them to complete his education after his parents are transferred to

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is t ...

. Ashish, struggling to accept his sexuality, is attracted to his classmate Sunder and later embarks on an affair with his much older tutor.

Characters

*Mohan Karekar, a letter-writer by profession and the protagonist of the story *Lakshmi Karekar, Mohan's wife *Ashish Karekar, a gay 19-year-old English-literature student, and the nephew of Mohan *Vivek Karekar, Mohan's brother *Satish, Mohan's brother *Sunder, Ashish's classmate with whom he shares a sexual relationship *Professor Narayan, Ashish's much-older tutor who tries to seduce him. *Yezdi sodawater-bottlewala * Megha, Ashish's neighborhood friend at saraswati park * Maryank, Ashish's college friend

Reception

Reviewing for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'',

Aamer Hussein Aamer Hussein (born 8 April 1955, Karachi) is a Pakistani critic Biography
Aamer Hussein official website. ...

wrote:

''Saraswati Park'' works well as an intimate and at times wrily humorous study of a unexceptional young man's discovery of himself, through sex and study and the almost wordless support that family offers; it's also good at observing how the young glimpse their elders through a mist of self-absorbed, partial comprehension.

Anna Scott of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' labelled the book "a meticulously written tale of hope and regret" and

Sameer Rahim Sameer Rahim is a British literary journalist and novelist. He became Managing Editor (Arts and Books) at '' Prospect'' magazine, having previously worked at the ''London Review of Books'' and at ''The Daily Telegraph'', and his reviews of both fi ...

of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' wrote that Joseph's writing was "well crafted and the images, when they succeed, feel spot-on". Joseph was awarded the

in 2011. Also that year, the novel won the

; one of the judges, Edward Stourton, praised Joseph's "extraordinary maturity" and added that it was "hard to believe that it is a first novel". The novel also won the Vodafone Crossword Book Award for Fiction, sharing the trophy with Omair Ahmed's ''Jimmy The Terrorist'', and was nominated for ''The Hindu'' Literary Prize.

References

{{portal, Novels 2010 British novels 2010 LGBT-related literary works Indian diaspora in fiction Family saga novels British LGBT novels Novels set in Mumbai 2010s LGBT novels Novels with gay themes 2010 debut novels Fourth Estate books