To begin with, I'm not fully sure of my take on this book as I can't honestly say that I understood it. Preti Taneja's modern adaptation of King Lear had its good and bad moments, although for me, unfortunately, they were mostly bad. I really wanted to like this book as the concept of it sounded amazing - three daughters pushing back against their tyrannical father, fighting to take over The Company, his business that rules over New Delhi. However, I just never felt those powerful moments that the story needed.
I've never read King Lear, so I didn't have any idea as to what the book was about, other than the father passing his legacy onto his children. I don't think I would have chosen this book, had it not been for the book club I'm a part of, but in a way, I'm glad that I read it, or at least, I'm glad that I finished it.
The book was told in the perspectives of six different characters, which I really liked! I'm always attracted to books with multiple narrators, as I enjoy being able to piece the story together and try to unravel the truth (particularly when the narrators have their own agenda). This method worked really well in WTAY, as I never knew who I could trust, as they all had their own personal vendettas and agendas. It kept me on edge the whole time, waiting for a revelation or climax. Unfortunately, I never felt like there was a satisfying revelation, as the ending just seemed extremely sudden and forced, and it left me even more confused than I was half way through.
Although I never really liked any of the characters - most of them were either boring or downright manipulative, but in an uninteresting way - I did, for the most part, feel interested in Gargi, Radha and Sita's perspectives. You could truly see the impact of their conditioning growing up, both from their father and his friends. Sometimes I was able to sympathise with them, as it was clear they had been manipulated, groomed and sexually assaulted, both in their younger and older years, which sometimes became difficult to read. However, it was fascinating to see them begin to take charge, and I felt myself rooting for them to team up, becoming a powerful, unstoppable force, only to be disappointed that this never happened, and that instead, they seemed to turn against each other. Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading their narrations in some ways, but I did find Jeet's section unbearable. His simply bored and baffled me the entire time, and I felt myself looking forward to it ending.
Unfortunately, I was once again disappointed, as I had been excited to move away from Jeet and towards Sita's narration. The entire novel had emphasised the idea that Sita was the most rebellious, that she would be the one to stop her father. However, when we finally heard from her, she wasn't the Sita I had expected. Instead, she was tame and unwilling to fight back. I was always waiting for her to do something, to put an end to her father's rule or unite with her sisters, but she never did anything before she died and the novel ended.
The ending itself was almost like a 180 degree turn. The final part was split into three narrations, returning to Jivan, Gargi and Jeet's perspectives. The novel had felt somewhat stagnant up until this point - I was always waiting for something to happen - and then suddenly, bam. Everything happened at once, or at least it was all unloaded on us at once. Gargi did a whole personality swap, becoming cruel and selfish. Jeet showed himself to be a murderer and power hungry, even though he had tried to convince us he was a changed man. It all seemed quite rushed to me, and I don't think it had the impact Taneja was hoping for.
Overall, I found We That Are Young quite a challenging book to read, both because it was confusing and the writing style often made it hard to fully sympathize with the characters as it seemed somewhat distant. I always struggle to enjoy a book if I don't like the characters, and unfortunately, the characters did not appeal to me at all. I was let down with the book, as I had went into it quite hopeful, however, I think I’ll try read it again some time and see if my opinion changes at all.