Title: Breaking Norms
Author: Mita Balani
Genre: Contemporary LGBT Romance (non-erotic)
Length: 286 kindle pages (64,972 words)
Source: An e- review copy from the author
Source: An e- review copy from the author
Purchase Links:
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2oNuIAp
Amazon USA Kindle: http://amzn.to/2oDLNMA
Amazon India Kindle: http://amzn.to/2ozAcws
Paperback for India Readers on Pothi:
https://pothi.com/pothi/book/
Date of Publication: 3rd April 2017
Publisher: Self-published
Description :
What if you fall in love and your family thinks you are crazy? Sonia too gets in a similar situation.
Sonia, a submissive and people-pleasing girl falls in love with the chirpy girl Esha. Their common passion for painting brings them closer. Sonia realizes that no one in her family will accept her relationship with Esha. But her heart and emotional state are beyond the control of her own mind. At first, they keep their relationship on the hush. Unfortunately, their secret comes out in an ugly way and havoc breaks loose. Will Sonia stand up for herself and withstand the pressure of not following the cultural norms? Are they destined to meet? Can Sonia and Esha live happily ever after?
Breaking Norms is a captivating and engrossing tale of love, agony and tolerance.
Book Trailer:
My Review:
Breaking Norms is a story of two Indian girls living in Mumbai. It’s a tale of friendship, love and the struggle to be together as a same-sex couple.
This is my first LGBT novel. It is very difficult to understand the feelings of a lesbian couple for a heterosexual reader. This topic is still a taboo to talk about in Indian society. I could empathize with the characters of Soni and Esha. I could feel their pain when their family and even their best friend couldn't accept them initially and put a lot of restrictions. I felt, irrespective of a person's sexual orientation, we should respect every adult.
I liked the writing style which is casual and in the first person. At few places, it felt boring but overall it is like reading the journal of Soni and going through her life's up and downs. The characterization is good too with the depth enough to understand every character. The characters of Soni, Esha and Girish are impressive. I liked the way the story covers from Soni's teenage to her career, love, marriage, her hobby and her ambition. The climax is good and positive though predictable.
My Rating: 4/5
PS: I have received this book from the author in exchange for a review and this is my honest opinion on the book.
A snippet from thebook:
LGBT individuals struggle with higher occurrences of depression and suicidal thoughts, which have been linked to personal experiences involving harassment, discrimination, interpersonal conflict and lack of social supports. Several of them feel isolated once family and friends seclude them after they find out about it.
About the Author:
Mita Balani was born in a small town of India and has been living in the United States for several years. Growing up, she cherished writing stories and reciting poems. In engineering college, where most of her classmates published technical papers, she enjoyed taking part in storytelling contests, debates, and poetry competitions. Today she has a successful career in Information Technology, but she still loves writing stories and poems. This book is her first foray in writing a novel. This novel is inspired from parts of a true story. Life experiences of an Indian origin lesbian friend living in the United States inspired her to write this story.
You can follow the author on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitaBalani
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/
Until next time,
A very honest review.Story sounds interesting but probably for a niche audience.
ReplyDeleteI liked the review..However I have objection to this line "It is very difficult to understand the feelings of a lesbian couple for a normal reader". The moment you say this you bracket the lesbians as binary opposites vis.a,vis 'abnormal'. I would have appreciated if you had used the word "Heterosexual reader" or something synonymous. I do not intend to offend you, this was just trying to be politically correct. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out Balaka. I don't want to offend anyone but i think i didnt
DeleteThanks for pointing out Balaka. I don't mean to offend anyone but i think i didnt choose a right word. Will edit my post.
Delete