A Suitable Boy
by Vikram Seth
★ Top 5 book of 1993 · #4 on Best Books of 1993
Set in post-independence India, this novel follows Lata and her mother as they search for a suitable husband. Its four families also reflect a whole continent facing its first great General Election.
Best for: Readers who enjoy sprawling family sagas set in post-independence India
A Suitable Boy is #4 on BookWard's Best Books of 1993, out of 36 1993 books that cleared our data bar.
What A Suitable Boy is about
Mrs. Rupa Mehra has one great project: finding a husband for her younger daughter, Lata. Lata is nineteen, studying English literature at university, and not at all inclined to let her domineering mother or opinionated brother Arun decide her life. Three men are in the running: Kabir, Haresh, and Amit. After Lata falls in love with Kabir and learns he is Muslim, her mother learns of their meetings and takes her to Calcutta.
Vikram Seth's novel follows four families over eighteen months in a newly independent, newly partitioned India. It begins in the fictional town of Brahmpur, on the Ganges, and moves across several cities, taking in Hindu and Muslim tensions, caste, land reform, and the run-up to the first election of 1952. At well over a thousand pages, it is one of the longest single-volume novels ever published, yet it stays warm, witty, and humane. It rewards readers who want to settle in with a large cast and live there a while.
A Suitable Boy on the Best Books of 1993
A Suitable Boy came out in 1993. Of the 36 books first published in 1993 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #4 on our Best Books of 1993 list.
Why it made the list: 277 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.6 out of 5 (13 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 1993 list
- The Scam Debashis Basu, #2
- Along Came a Spider James Patterson, #3
- Girl, Interrupted Susanna Kaysen, #5
- Understanding Comics Scott McCloud, #6
See all Best Books of 1993 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1992 Best Books of 1994.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 239 want to read it, 19 are reading it now and 19 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.6 out of 5 from 13 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 75 | 55% |
| Reader love | 94 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 89 | 20% |
Questions about A Suitable Boy
When was A Suitable Boy published?
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth was first published in 1993.
Was A Suitable Boy one of the best books of 1993?
A Suitable Boy is #4 on BookWard's Best Books of 1993, out of 36 1993 books that cleared our data bar. 277 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.6 out of 5 (13 ratings).
Why is A Suitable Boy on the Best Books of 1993 list?
277 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.6 out of 5 (13 ratings).
More of the best books of 1993
- The Giver Lois Lowry, #1
- The Scam Debashis Basu, #2
- Along Came a Spider James Patterson, #3
- Girl, Interrupted Susanna Kaysen, #5
- Understanding Comics Scott McCloud, #6
- Trainspotting Irvine Welsh, #7
See the full Best Books of 1993, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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