Set in early twentieth century Kolkata, Parineeta (Espoused) is the unforgettable story of a child-woman's intense and bittersweet romance. Lalita, an orphaned girl who lives with her uncle, considers herself betrothed to Shekhar, her benefactor and guardian. After several failed attempts, Lalita finally gets the egotistical Shekhar to admit that he reciprocates her feelings. However, tensions erupt between Shekhar's prosperous father and Lalita's poor but principled uncle and the situation is further complicated by the arrival on the scene of Girin, a mild-mannered and eligible bachelor, who is attracted to Lalita. The lovers' world is turned upside down and Shekhar and Lalita find themselves estranged. Years later, they meet again and the story takes another unexpected turn.
Parineeta is a classic that has captured the imagination of generations of readers. This new translation, published to coincide with Vidhu Vinod Chopra's film, will delight Saratchandra's fans, as well as those who are not familiar with the writer's works.

A true Indian Classic by one of our great literary authors. I loved the book..wish I knew Bengali to read it in its original form but even the translation is spectacular!

I hope this book will travel far as a bookring and take with it some of our beautiful Indian literature.

And shes off....

Hollydolly (Canada - Intl)
Shpriz1 (US)
morsecode (US)
Thursday5 (US)
Erishkigal (US - Intl)
Alvhyttan (Sweden)
Katyan (Finland)
Sirah (Finland)
Kitty-meow (Switzerland) The book is here
Juliet982 (Venezuela)
Catsalive (Australia)
Scotsbookie (UK)
Lyzzybee (UK)
PRCS (USA-Canada only)
Spaceystacy (USA)
ScarlettwannaB (USA)


....
back to me Gussy916

RELEASE NOTES:

Parineeta is on her way to Snowy Canada.
Safe travels little book.

Whoo Hoo, Parineeta arrived today all the way from India...Yay. Good ole Canada Customs opened the package up,(maybe they had a quick read)but all is OK. I will be reading it this week-end, I will email for the addie for next on the list so as not to hold the book up.
Thanks Sanya for sharing this lovely book.....

March 14/06

Finished reading this charming book last night,my second (first being Devdas) delve into what I would call true, beautiful Indian literature. The story is just heart warming, I have just ordered the DVD, I know I will enjoy it.
For the rest of the ring, if you have not read Devdas, by the same author, or not seen the movie I urge you to do both. The book is great, and Shahrukh Khan and Aishwaya Rai are magnificent in the film. Infact, I think it is one of the best movies ever. I am sure Parineeta will be up there......oh sorry for going on.
Mailed to Shpriz1 (US) today.

Received it today. Thanks...:)

This was a very easy and fast read. I enjoyed the story, although I do have some problems with it. I really like the beginning, but towards the end everything started to move so fast that I want to literally hit the breaks.
I am really glad to have read the introduction prior to reading the story. Without it I wouldn't have picked up on the significance of flower garlands.
Thank you for including me in this ring.

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Waiting for morsecode's address.

This book arrived safe and sound in Buffalo today

I think I made a mistake by reading the critical introduction instead of just jumping straight into the novella. In his introduction, Sagato Ganguly compares Lalita to Nabokov's Lolita. I could not disagree with this comparison more. Lalita is nothing like Lolita, Shekhar is not very much like Humbert, and their relationship and the societal implications of it are completely different.

This book might be a little difficult for those who don't know alot about Indian culture. The introduction explains about the garlands (which is really the most important thing to understand in this book), but if you don't know what the familiarisms mean (mama, didi, etc) you'll have a hard time - especially at first - keeping track of the relationships between the characters.

In any case, I enjoyed the book. It was a quick easy read and I am sure that it translated well into film.

I just received Thursday5's address so I'll be sending the book off to its next reader today.

Hollydolly, I love the bookmark that you left in the book.

Parineeta arrived safe and sound today. I am looking forward to reading it!

I enjoyed this lovely romance and the glimpse into Indian family life. It reminded me of a Shakespeare plot. I must get the DVD to see the film version. Thanks for sharing this book Gussy916. Sent to Erishkigal today with a postcard of my city.

Book and card arrived Fri past, but I was having isp issues and couldn't get online...

so now I've read (it small, sweet, and a very quick read) and pming for the next addy. I agree with Thursday that it is reminescent of a Shakespeare plot with the complications,misunderstandings and separations building before all can finally be resolved. And I'm very glad I read the intro: I would NOT have understood without it.
as it was, it took me awhile to catch on to terms of endearment/relationship.

Gussy, thank you for sharing glimpses of your culture. I had just finished one night @ the call center when Parineeta arrived, so it was a double treat to read them back to back, modern and traditional! The two in combination illustate well how societies are changing, not just here in the West.

I quite enjoyed this book, and like several other readers will look for the dvd!

tried to edit when I realized I'd set reserved rather than traveling, but edit wouldn't allow me to change the status. sorry.

This book arrived here today.
Thank you Erishkigal for sending it and thank you gussy916 for sharing it.
I have several bookring/ray books here just now, but this cute little book looks like a short read so I try to read it next week in between a couple of other books.

In the photo you can see that “Parineeta” visited an old Swedish house. Can’t see the book? It’s there, in the veranda, on the chair, in front of something black. ;)

This is a lovely little book!

I had some trouble to get in to it first, because it really describes a different culture than the one that I‘m used to. Of course, if I go back to the early twentieth century of my country there are more similarities between our countries, but still there are a lot of traditions that differ.
As some readers have said before, I’m glad that the introduction explains about the garlands. And I would have liked some more explanations about the person's relationship to each other and about what those words mean, like “mama”.
Then when I started to get in to the story – it was almost over. ;)

This book reminded me of Pearl Buck’s book “Pion”, but they also differ a lot.

I am glad to have read this charming little book! :)
Thank you gussy916!

And tomorrow - of it goes to Finland!

This book arrived here today! Yippee!

I really enjoyed this little cute book, it was so nice to travel back to Indian culture by this story. I so much enjoy this kind of Indian stories, I wish I could see the movie too! Thank you for sharing this book!
After one week we'll have our 1st National Bookcrossing Meet up of Finland (!!!) here in Jyväskylä, so I hope to find there a courier who would take this to Sirah!

For my great surprise, I also noticed in the beginning of the book, where there was a description of the author, that he was born in Bengali, but later lived for a long time in Burma (Myanmar), where he also started his great work of literature. So in honor of this author, I took this book also to be a part of my Book from every country in the world-challenge representing Myanmar.

Got the book from Katyan, thank you!

Thank´s a lot for this lovely cute read!
I really enjoyed it and I wish to see the movie based on the story, since I´m fond of Bollywood movies.

The last member of the book ring is Kitty-meow in Switzerland, so let the book travel!

Oh my, I am so sorry! This book arrived before my summer holiday and I completely forgot to journal it!
I am through reading it shortly and will pass it on asap!
SORRY!