“The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny: A Novel” by Kiran Desai
Booker Prize winner Kiran Desai’s latest novel is The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny: A Novel. It is published by Penguin Random House India. It is a doorstopper of a novel and utterly delicious. It is ostensibly about Sonia and Sunny who are based in the USA. They are more or less of the same age. Coincidentally, their grandparents are neighbours in Allahabad or Prayagraj as it is now known. The older generation attempt to be matchmakers for their grandchildren, encouraging them to meet with the view to get married. This is the basic plotline. The story is spread over many, many years. It moves between continents, nations and cultures. It is a slow moving novel wherein the reader wishes to soak in every detail.
And wow! The details.
Kiran Desai inserts herself in the text, in the good old-fashioned form of storytelling — the authorial narrative. She does not hold herself back. She provides a running commentary on society, the shifting political winds, socio-economic disparities, etc. Interestingly, it is a big fat novel with both men and women characters explored at length. It is not possible to say that this is a woman-oriented or a male-oriented novel, a peg that many seek in contemporary fiction. In reality, we co-exist side by side with a range of experiences. Yet, Kiran Desai’s uncanny ability to observe sharply, assess, and articulate on behalf of the characters is worth reading. It is a phenomenal cast of characters, across the socio-economic spectrum, in India and abroad. She writes about them, but does not judge them. That, if need be, is left to the reader. I had the strong feeling that with her art intersects life in more ways than one.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is written from the perspective of the desi author who also has the good fortune of seeing with the eyes of a foreigner. She left India at the age of 16. First she moved with her mother, Anita Desai, to the UK and later to the USA, where they now reside. Kiran Desai spent nearly two decades writing this story. She pared it down from 5000+ pages to the current length of approximately 700 pages. Extraordinary confidence given that publishers are lamenting the dwindling book market sizes, with readers rapidly vanishing, in all likelihood succumbing to the internet and mindless reels. So, to create a novel that is of this magnitude, with even the main protagonists meandering in and out of the landscape, requires a remarkable sense of conviction in one’s storytelling. In this case, it holds true. It is a novel that will remain with the reader for a very long time.
Much will be said about the book from today, as it is the day when the embargo on writing about the novel publicly is lifted. Apart from which, it has been longlisted for The Booker Prize 2025. The shortlist announcement is on 23 Sept 2025. This book is expected to make the cut. Let’s see.
I read the ARC in less than three days. It would have probably been quicker if life had not interrupted. The last time I read big fat novels like this was when I read War and Peace and A Suitable Boy. But those were many decades ago, when there were fewer distractions and reading was all that we did in our leisure time.
I interviewed Kiran Desai for TOI Bookmark. Ours was the first interview that she did in India even if it is published later than those that appeared today. As soon as the link is available, I will post it here.
And here it is. Published today, 23 Sept 2025, a few hours before the shortlist announcement is made.:
On Sunday, 28 Sept 2025, the Times of India carried excerpts from the interview in print. It has received an incredible response. One of these manifested in a Hindi translation of the interview by professional translator, Prabhat Ranjan. Here is the image of the print out.
21 Sept 2025, Updated on 1 Oct 2025.
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