[1]We can think of two categories in fiction that succeed in engaging a reader: one, where the story is dramatic and suspenseful, with surprises springing up as we turn the pages, and the other where we can identify with the characters and their experiences. All and Nothing by Raksha Bharadia falls into the latter category. It is a novel about people, who have achieved material and social success, crowned with corporate glory, but face an emotional void and lead a soulless existence.
All and Nothing is the story of Tina, a talented young girl who ends up sacrificing her aspirations and even her identity in pursuit of winning the approval and love of Aditya. Unfortunately for her, Aditya turns out to be quite a different person after marriage from what she had imagined. Along with Tina in her emotional roller coaster ride spread across a span of 12 years, are interspersed the stories of her four friends, each of whom have experiences typically representing the challenges faced by contemporary urban youth as they seek to balance the equations of success, ambitions, emotions and personal space. How Tina falls into the depths of despair, gathering courage to step out of a loveless marriage and sets on the path to rediscovering herself is what the novel is all about. In the process, she also helps her friends to find meaning in their lives.
The experiences and issues portrayed are not strikingly different, but the way the plot is developed, switching across timelines and viewpoints of the characters, succeeds in keeping the reader’s interest alive. The writing is simple but also displays potential and promise in many parts.
Apart from Tina and Aditya, each of Tina’s four friends — Poorvi, Manas, Kriya and Upasana, are supported by three or four family members, who are named and introduced, but don’t play a significant role in the main story. The story could perhaps have been made tighter by doing away with a few of these superfluous characters. Tina and her four friends remain connected only as friends narrating their individual experiences. Their paths are tangential, and do not intersect or influence each other’s journeys in a major way.
Most readers will be able to relate with the characters, and in case they face similar predicaments, then reading this engaging novel might lead them to finding possible solutions. While the parameters of success and satisfaction remain different for every person, All and Nothing highlights the power of individual choice to take charge of one’s life.
Paritosh Uttam is the author of Dreams in Prussian Blue
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/bookjpg-256