Unloved in Love - The Story of Imperfect People by Rituparna Ghosh

What makes this story – Unloved in Love – different from any other similar romantic saga, when the title itself is an oxymoron. What does author Rituparna Ghosh say that distinguishes this book from others? Maybe, it is in the way she says it. Ms. Ghosh reveals a wry sense of humour from page one, when she introduces the way her heroine, Kiara, was born to parents who were taken aback when she arrived. From that point on, Kiara continues to be self-deprecating, “cruising rock bottom in expectations” till she shocks everyone by doing well as a career woman.

Three main voices tell the tale, followed by a fourth voice at the end. The three voices belong to Kiara Sen, Kyle Wolf (an interesting German background there) and Karan Shergill, three attractive young people, as they take the action ahead in a series of see-sawing events that keep the reader wondering what the outcome will be.

Kiara sees herself in a mirror that is diametrically opposite to how others view her, maybe due to a childhood that has been eclipsed by supposedly more attractive and intelligent siblings, and a mother who minces no words. So, when two men, who are also best friends, vie for her affections, she turns into a nervous wreck, torn between a pair of grey-blue eyes on the one hand, and gorgeous brown eyes on the other. That one has Greek God looks, and the other has two scars on an unconventional face, does not help in the least.

Both Kyle and Karan have their own share of angst, fuelled while they were growing up… issues of abandonment, trust, authoritarianism, emotional turmoil, and career and relationship woes. While one needs Kiara to make him feel braver and basks in her “witty, insightful, doe-eyed adulation”, the other drowns in her expressive eyes, and declares his feelings openly to the reader, but never to Kiara. “She encouraged you to completely surrender to her, to let go and totally and utterly belong.”

Kiara grows as a person, and as an entrepreneur, through all her tribulations. She is only human as she lets go of opportunities for the sake of love, but she hangs in there, standing on her own feet till she finally emerges triumphant. 

By the end of the book, the reader wants her to take a particular path. The man who loves her waxes eloquent. “I was again reminded of a warm afternoon by the beach, sea gulls cawing and gentle waves dancing around my ankles.” A man who can say something that romantic is worth having! 

However, just when the reader is waiting for that perfect ending, Ms. Ghosh whisks it out of the way. This is a book about imperfect people, after all, which does not take away from the fact that it is a delightful story worth reading!