THE PLEASURE SEEKERS.

The last book read for The What's In A Name 6 book challenge: Lost or Found (or equivalent) in the title category. Whilst not exactly 'lost' or 'found' I thought SEEKers a worthy equivalent being that it's what you might do when something is lost/before something is found. A bit of a tenuous link perhaps but hey Beth, our hostess, does encourage creativity.

THE PLEASURE SEEKERS by TISHANI DOSHI.

SOURCE: Ex-library stock. The edition I read was a Charnwood large print edition published under the auspices of THE ULVERSCROFT FOUNDATION.

It all started in August 1968 when Babo left the Patel family in Madras to fly to England and further his education .... Living in London, he'd fallen head over heels with a cream-skinned Welsh girl, Siân Jones. A mixed-up love in a topsy-turvy world - now two families will never be the same. Meet the Patel-Joneses: Babo, Siân, Mayuri and Bean, in their little house next door to the Punjab Women's Association. As the twentieth century creaks along this 'hybrid' family navigate uncharted waters: the hustle and bustle of Babo's relatives, the faraway phone-line crackle of Siân's; the perils of first love, lost innocence and old age, and the big question - what do you with the space your loved ones leave behind?
...... Outer back cover.

FIRST SENTENCE (Part 1: Sylvan Lodge: 1968-1974. Chapter 1: Departures and depositions of deceit): In the early hours of 20 August 1968, the morning of his son's departure, Prem Kumar Patel succumbed to a luxury he had never, in all his forty-seven years of living, experienced before: he had a dream.

MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 79): These were men she should have loved, but in reality, their absence or presence had played such a peripheral role in her life. This grandson, though, with all his desires - he stood at the centre of her world, and she wanted him to be released. She wanted his love for the Welsh girl to unfold like a lotus and gleam.

MY THOUGHTS: A story of love and family dramas that spans two cultures, The Pleasure Seekers is a fictionalised/reinvented account of the authors parents known in the book as Siân (Jones) and Babo.

Beautifully written, poetic and yet not what I'd describe as overly flowery.The narrative is wonderfully lyrical even if the use of phrases such as 'sha-bing, sha-bang' and  'ba-ba-boom, ba-ba-boom, ba-ba-boom-boom-boom' though charming at first did become a bit tiresome. The use euphemisms such as Mr Whatsit and Ms Sunshine (used to describe male and female genitalia) increasingly juvenile sounding.


Ultimately not a book that managed to hold my imagination throughout. Whilst it began well by about half way through my attention began to wander, the story never quite coming together for me. Sadly The Pleasure Seekers wasn't quite the multi-generational saga I was expecting.

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