'The House That BJ Built' - Book Review

 

Before Anuja Chauhan came into the picture, who even knew what ‘chutney fiction’ was? The whole concept of chutney fiction or commercial fiction was brought into the Indian book market by the one and only Anuja Chauhan. Preceded by “Those Pricey Thakur Girls”, this story has everything and more that you saw in its prequel. Having a way around the decidedly post-imperial English that she uses, she mixes the language with some tangy, cheek-in-tongue Hindi words, and you can be sure what you read becomes all the more fun. Released in 2015, this book proved yet again why Chauhan is one of the funniest and wittiest writers India has offered.

The readers that Anuja Chauhan has oh-so devotedly built knows why they like her a lot. Be it the bold and quirky way that she writes, or the perfectly relatable descriptions she gives about situations in people’s lives, the fan in me definitely knows what to look for in her story. When I read her books, I look for a crazy family just like mine, a goofball love story which I wish to have, and of course, lines like ‘…it was better to demolish the house and keep the family together than demolish the family and keep the house together.’ With her sprinkle of Hindi words into English and inventing fun words like ‘incomepoop’ (you figure out what that is!), she’s sure to keep you hooked.

The subject of this novel is none other than Banaoing, the family home of the alphabetical sisters, Anjini, Binodini, Chandrakanta, Debajini, and Eshwari. While “Those Pricey Thakur Girls” followed their lives, the heroine of this novel is not these women, but Bonita, the sole heir of Binodini. Living with her grandparents after a tragic accident happened in her life, Bonita AKA Bonu does not want to sell the house. Just like he aunts have strong reasons to sell it, she has her reason not to sell it. When Eshwari’s young lover Satish Sridhar arrives with a prospective sale, a long, drawn-out battle ensues. To complicate matters further, there’s a wily uncle who has his eye on the property and Samar Vir Singh, BJ’s grandson, who must mediate the sale, and try not to fall in love with Bonu.

The crux of the story is more or less the same. With the sisters trying to sell off the house and claim their share, self-proclaimed ‘fashion knockoff designer’ Bonu gets in the way. Of course, how is an Anuja Chauhan story complete without a toe-curlingly sexy love story? If the prequel was all about Debajini and Dylan, the sequel is all about Bonu and Samar. Samar, a famous movie director in Mumbai may or may not be “shaadi-shuda”, as his aunts say. However, both Bonu and Samar have a tough time keeping their eyes off of each other. The hilarious situations that occur with them and their love story is what the rest of the story encapsulates. 

This book being Chauhan’s darkest yet, it does not show the sisters in an angelic light anymore. If the alphabetical sisters were all cute and sweet earlier, this book takes a sharp turn to the opposite side. The protagonist of the story, Bonu, is no sweetheart either. Just into the book, you’ll realize that you are going to have a hard time connecting with her. But, the one thing that has remained constant in her books are bold, ballsy, and brilliant women.

As expected, just like any other romantic comedy would end, Bonu and Samar end up defeating all odds. The various subplots that Chauhan introduces into the story all tie up. It’s not like you will ende up wondering “What happened to that minor character?”, because everything would have been sorted by the end. Readers, you will not even feel the slightest pang of disappointment after finishing this book. She’s written it so beautifully that you will feel light-hearted and happy that everybody ultimately got what they want. “The House That BJ Built” gives its readers, and its characters, exactly what they needed at the end.