Today we discussed the book “Beyond the Illusions” by Sheeba Shivangini Shah. The meeting took place at 1:30 pm at the British Council, Lazimpat. It was heartening to see more than 20 participants at the meet. All public vehicles were off the road due to the bandh, but the readers walked all the way to the venue regardless of how far they lived. This proves that our club will keep going strong, rain or shine!
The meeting began with a brief “author interview” section, where participants asked the author questions regarding her reading habits, interests, personal life, and so on.
On to the book! …
A fair number of folks had read the book, so the discussion was pretty intense. Many ideas shared between readers and the author alike. Many participants criticized the book for having rather flat characters and somewhat difficult language. But the main lament appeared to be how unclear the book’s stance was, because the “moral” of it all appeared a bit ambiguous.
Clarifying on this, the author stated that she had deliberately left an open ending, giving free reign to the reader to make his or her own opinions on matters such as spirituality, godliness, sexuality, tantric practices, womanism, etc…
The whole issue of materialism vs. spiritualism was also discussed in great detail, with each participant sharing their own point of view on how each one of us could achieve happiness in life.
We are very grateful to all the participants and the novelist for joining us today and helping to make this meeting a great success. Sheeba Shivangini Shah is working on her third novel that deals with three generations. We wish her luck on the new book!
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