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Book Review: Sita's Curse


Title: Sita's Curse
Author: Shreemoyee Piu Kundu
Publisher: Hachette India
Genre: Erotica/ Fiction
Price: Rs 350
Pages: 332

Spoiler Alert!

"Somewhere, behind closed doors in her solitary world; Somewhere, under the sheets with an indifferent lover; Somewhere, is a woman who will not be denied..."

Sita's Curse is the story of a girl named Meera and traces the journey of her life from childhood to adulthood. Born to her parents, after three miscarriages, she did not come into the world alone. Kartik, her twin brother is her soul mate, in every other term that we will find out later. Married at the age of nineteen to a man twelve years older than her, the need for her sexual fulfillment forms the story. Meera is clearly the heroine here, even if there is a chapter by that name dedicated solely to her in the book. 

The prologue starts of with a masturbation scene, where in Meera is lying on her bed enjoying her pleasures as her husband and his family are knocking on the door to her bedroom, along with a parrot constantly screeching out "Ram Ram". Her self indulging act is described with vivid detail, as her fingers reach every inch of her own body. As she folds her leg to sit up as she reaches her climax, the author chooses to call her 'Goddess Lakshmi seated on a half open lotus'. Meera's act in the introduction of the book clearly is responsible for the sales of this book. Indian authors have been always known to rely on sex to build up a story, pre-marital or otherwise; Sita's Curse is no different. Every alternate page in the book is a sex scene, described with clear details as to where whose hands was. Meera's vagina is called as 'her sex' and the male organ here is called as 'his hardness'. The sexual content did not bother me much, as much as Meera did. In search of pleasure, she goes on having sex with almost every male character in the book. And one female too.

The book starts of promisingly, with Meera's childhood and her bonding with her twin brother. But after a few pages, it turns cringe worthy. Kartik, her own twin brother begins lusting for her. She is seen discussing about her breasts and every other change in her body with him. Why, he even helps her remove her bra, because she finds it too tight. Incest much? Well yeah. Meera is described to be very beautiful and her hands are described to induce poetry. At a tender age, she tries to have sex with her dance teacher, which again is described with microscopic details, only to be interrupted by her first period. I was surprised that she know how to perform oral sex and understood sexual pleasure even before reaching puberty. Her twin brother, apparently sees this scene and is troubled in his mind as her wants his sister only for himself, body and soul. In order to control his feelings for her, he is conveniently sent away from the house, only to be dead a few years later.

The rest of Meera's life is spent in the quest of a male who would make her feel the way Kartik did. She tries to find him in every man she encounters. Be it the complete stranger, whom she has sex with on the river banks, or the modern dance teacher in her building or her sex chat lover whom she meets later. Meera is clearly a woman with a voracious sexual appetite, and her sterile husband, Mohan is someone who can barely get his organ up. The first time they have sex, ends up with Mohan raping her and she writhing in pain. This is soon forgotten and they try to start afresh soon. With her initiating sex in bizarre of places, including an open street one night, immediately after a movie where all they did was feel up each other. Meera even gets excited when she watches her brother in law Bansi and his wife Vrinda, having sex in their room one day. Natural, I suppose. But the hunger she shows is insatiable and after a few chapters I ended up feeling sorry for her. 

The other most important characters are Guru Amarkant Maharaj and Yosuf. Yes, you guessed it right, Meera has sex with both of them, while being married to Mohan. Guruji is a saint worshiped by her husband's family and he steps into her room time and again to 'heal' her as her mother in law believes that she is jinxed. Yosuf is the guy she meets in a sex chat site aptly called 'Mumbailover.com'. They have sex online first, via the camera and on one cataclysmic day, they meet. Only to end up saving sex again. And again. And again. This fateful day was June 26th, when the city of Mumbai flooded. That day, both Mohan and Yosuf go missing. Only one of them comes back. What happens to Meera next? Nothing. She still remains the same old girl, craving for sexual fulfillment. She even masturbates on the night, her husband goes missing.

This is how the book is described; "Bold, brazen and defiant, Sita's Curse looks at the hypocrisy of Indian society and tells the compelling story of a middle-class Indian housewife's urgent need for love, respect, acceptance and sexual fulfillment."

Strangely love, respect and acceptance does not make its way in to the book at all. Mohan willingly sends her to English classes and her nephew teaches her how to use the internet, which she used to dangerous extents. Everybody she sleeps with has only sex on their mind. And so does she. Not even once she is shown falling in love with any of these men. Even with Yosuf, it seems transactional instead of love. She has sex with all the men with the same passion and desires more from each of them. At one point of time, I even thought that she is lusting after Bansi, but that angle abruptly ends so does the angle of Chhotu who conveniently disappears from the story line. Guruji's sex scandal takes too much of limelight towards the end, making the already struggling story line sink. Expectations were really high with this book, but in the end it turns out to be real cold. Just like the protagonist, who is touted to be hot and lust worthy.

Inspite of the million references made to the Ramayana, the title of the book is not clear. Sita and Meera, both iconic characters of mythology are compared often, but the result again ends in bad taste.


Verdict: Read only if you have an open mind and are willing to be disappointed.

Rating: 1 out of 5.

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Comments

  1. An honest review at last! In India, most women never really undress fully while having sex. And here, we have this village belle who does not have an access to a TV or Cinema, having sexual fantasies imagining herself in various positions! And a mother advising her daughter to keep herself in shape, no matter what....to keep the men desiring you!!! Utter bullshit! In the end...she is still nothing.

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    1. I totally agree. I was shocked at the mothers advise too. The book is complete nonsense. Kamasutra would have been a better read.

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  2. Hahahhahahahahahahahahahh. Cringe-worthy review! This makes me think if the author of the book simply decided to put Savita Bhabhi down on paper (pun intended. okay that was a bad one, but lol). Out of curiosity (especially since this is not one of those 120 books, 320 is a hefty price to pay for Indian fiction), I googled up some reviews. Apparently, it has been touted as path breaking. "Voice of the voiceless" on some occasions. Another slightly better worded review, said you may not like this book if you are not liberal minded. Hmm. I think I'll hang around in the book store and read a few pages to see if the story is worth the narration.

    Sex, drugs & depression regularly make an appearance in most of what I write about. I have always felt that it needs to be done with a certain kind of class. Else you risk your story and your characters seem trashy. Honestly judging by your review, you'd think someone who got a major publishing house to print out their book would know the difference... :)

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    1. Savitha bhabhi would be much better I'm sure. When I say cringe worthy I mean it! I read the reviews too, hence I signed up to review this myself. I don't know what others saw that I did not! Sex in a moderate amount is totally fine. Enjoyable too. But now when it is in your face with every page. Ewwww, thinking about it grosses me out!

      Read it, you never know, you may like it. This one is just my opinion after all.

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  3. Thanks for the honest review. Definitely not reading it. I read other reviews and most of them said it was a book worth reading. Though after reading this, I won't. I mean bold characters and storylines need to be tackled with class and finesse and having grown up reading the likes of Sheldon and Lahiri (now that's classy) I really don't think I'll enjoy reading this. :)

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  4. wow...I was looking forward to reading this one. Thought it might be an indian erotica for the first time!! I haven't ever read one. BUT THIS LOOKS LIKE BLAH!

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    1. What a straightforward , honest and mind blowing review..I am looking forward to be disappointed..lol

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    2. @Red, I had never read Indian erotica too. This one made me want to never read one too. Try it at your own risk :P

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    3. @Enchantress, Thanks and all the best!

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  5. Ok, seriously having second thoughts now !

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    1. Do NOT read it! I cannot emphasize on this enough.

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  6. Just totally hate when books disappoint. I feel sorry for you.

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    1. I feel sorry for me too. But then I saved a lot of lives out there.

      :)

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  7. I read many good reviews about this book and was looking forward to reading it. But I guess I'm not going to prioritise this on the to-read list now. Sex overdose isn't really appetising, and even when there is, there has to be a subtle way of treating the subject. Too much of it on the face , with no purpose served at the end , is not encouraging !

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    1. Not encouraging at all. If anything, it is angering!

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  8. That was one honest review. You called a spade a spade and loved that about your review. I agree, it does sound so distasteful that all she does is sleeps around with everyone. I do hope that erotica as a genre is explored better by Indian writers. I am steering clear of this book. Thanks for this review, Soumya!

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    1. That's the hope Rachna! Thanks for reading!

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  9. Ha ha ha ...I loved your review :) too much hype for nothing at all :D

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  10. Never heard of this book and sounds like another pathetic attempt like fifty shades. I am all for women being empowered with sex but there needs to be some passion to it. What's the point of cold sadistic and passion-less sex?!

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    1. Lucky you, that you haven't heard of it! I was the doomed one who had to read it.

      Fifty shades is lying in my bookshelf, yet to see its day. I'm staying away from erotica for a while now. Sex without passion is something that I can never imagine.

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  11. Ha finally found someone who hated the book.There was soooo much of sex and sleaze in the book that I found it repulsing after a few pages. And the sex did not even excite me :(

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    1. I know! Apparently some reviews are calling this book "pathbreaking"! Stupid sleazy book it was.

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