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Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Review: Shape of an Apostrophe by Uttama Kirit Patel
Uttama Kirit Patel's Shape of an Apostrophe is a novel which enjoys making the reader aware of the trauma-related baggage that human beings carry with them, their correspondent responses and coping mechanisms, and how it all shows up in the most unexpected ways in the choices we make. The narrative opens with the newly wed protagonist Lina, who lives in the UAE, and is full of doubts about fulfilling what society considers her inescapable biological destiny as a woman – to become a mother. Having recently lost her doting father who raised her as a single parent, she is struggling to express and come to terms with her grief even as she encounters the innumerable ways in which a woman's body is made the subject of constant interrogation in a patriarchal society, particularly one that thrives on the control of female desire. This is made manifest through Lina's experiences in her in-laws' palatial home where she now lives. It also comes across through her dead mother's musings during her own pregnancy, and through the many tribulations faced by Shobha, the daughter of Raja, the family caretaker. Palace as prison: Shape of an Apostrophe examines the innumerable ways in which a woman's body is made the subject of constant interrogation in a patriarchal society. (Shutterstock) 287pp, ₹455; Hachette India This is not to say that the novel is a heavy read. Patel adopts a tone that is simultaneously humorous and tragic as she depicts the trials of everyday existence for women across social strata in a postmodern world. This is particularly true in the moments when Lina navigates through her own pregnancy without the guidance of a stable maternal figure. At a meeting of a mothers group called Calm Palm Parents, she wanted to ask 'whether labour would rip the lips of her vagina ten feet apart'. But the very thought of uttering the V word calls to mind the wait staff at her in-laws' dinner parties; people 'crucial to the spectacle yet too dirty to touch silverware without gloves'. The author has a way with words and the narrative tone is both witty and devastating in its truth telling. The book's title itself refers to Lina's description of a girl she met while dispersing her father's ashes at Haji Ali in Mumbai: '[she] is the shape of an apostrophe, that little symbol which stood in the place of letters that had disappeared'. The prose takes on a slow rhythmic cadence where Lina is introspecting about her art, musing about the Indian diaspora in the UAE, and thinking back to the earlier days of her relationship with Ishaan, who is now her husband. But in the sections where she encounters resistance from her mother-in-law, Meenakshi, (whose perspective is also shared) about the life choices she makes and how she feels about living in a place that never quite feels like home, the prose becomes heavy, even claustrophobic. This reflection of Lina's mental landscape shows up in the portions about the life stories of Shobha and Meenakshi too. Author Uttama Kirit Patel (Courtesy the publisher) At the beginning of the narrative, Patel shares a note explaining that there are 'two ways to read a story' and urges the reader to carry this notion ahead as they delve deeper into the fictional universe that she has created. However, what you encounter is not a straightforward examination of the duality that characterises the human experience but the presentation of a multiplicity of perspectives, all of which seem valid and worthy of empathy. In the end, apart from Patel's beautiful prose, it is this acuity that makes Shape of an Apostrophe a rewarding read. Simar Bhasin is a literary critic and research scholar who lives in Delhi. Her essay 'A Qissa of Resistance: Desire and Dissent in Selma Dabbagh's Short Fiction' was awarded 'Highly Commended' by the Wasafiri Essay Prize 2024.
The Hindu
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Uttama Kirit Patel takes on society's skewed conventions against women in her debut novel Shape of an Apostrophe
Writers of fiction are used to being asked a particular kind of niggling question: was the book inspired by your life or anyone you know? The answer is not always straightforward. For Uttama Kirit Patel, debut author of Shape of an Apostrophe (published by Serpent's Tail), it comes in many forms. Her novel begins with an apology letter she wrote to the biological child she decided not to have in favour of adoption. 'I wanted to adopt since I was 16. When the time came to act on that want, I was overwhelmed with guilt. The guilt was not truly mine, but of how I was supposed to want a biological child. I was a bit angry: why should I be feeling guilty for making what is considered an unconventional choice?' The novel follows Lina, who lives in a villa in Dubai with her husband Ishaan and her in-laws. The opulence around her is at odds with the turbulence she is weighed down with. She never wanted to have children, but now finds herself pregnant. Still grieving the recent death of her father, Lina's predicament becomes more complicated when she discovers a family secret on a trip to Mumbai. 'The idea was to write a story that challenged the presumption that all women want to be mothers or want to mother in a specific way, because I think that narrative is limited and misses the nuance of maternal desire and intentional parenthood. I wanted to challenge myself and write a character that was the opposite of me because I have always wanted to be a mother. There are so many women I know who are consumed with guilt when they make that choice not to have a child,' says Patel. Home turf debates The title came to her on a visit to the Haji Ali Dargah, the famous Sufi shrine off the Mumbai coast, that features in the novel. 'I saw a little girl sitting by the water. She looked to me like the shape of an apostrophe and that image stayed in my brain. When I was writing this story, the memory of that girl kept returning to me, almost like a pleasant haunting. An apostrophe stands in the place of letters that have disappeared, symbolising what is not there, what is unsaid, untold or yet to be told,' she says. Patel, who grew up in the UAE, and has lived in 12 cities, set the novel in Dubai, a place with no reproductive autonomy, to explore the severe gendered restrictions that are placed even within seemingly progressive families. 'But it isn't about the UAE anymore because reproductive rights are being restricted everywhere,' she says. Even as the novel's characters navigate skewed conventions of the new and old world order, the probing, often moving novel lays bare the fault lines of the domestic sphere. 'It is an extraordinary space, as it reflects wider societal shortcomings so starkly and is a place rife with opportunity to change gendered dynamics. The micro inequities that exist are largely going unnoticed by men and quietly tolerated by women as part of everyday life's annoyances. What is expected of women is compliance. There are so many patterns we can prevent from getting inherited,' she says. Moreover, Patel observes, the home can be a safe space while also being the place where we are the most dishonest. Stories within stories Class dynamics too are intricately layered into the story. Fiercely rebellious and aware of her privileges, Lina is confronted with her own prejudices when she encounters her long-time domestic worker's daughter, Shobha, in Mumbai. 'While they are indispensable to employers, particularly in critical moments, they rarely get credit or respect. The emotions, complexities, failures that we allow in ourselves are not allowed in people who work in domestic spaces. Even an employer with the best of intentions expects gratitude and servitude. It really gets to me,' says Patel. The novel, with chapters that shift between multiple characters, employs a precise, concise language that is both absorbing and laden with mini-stories within stories. It took Patel seven years to write, a majority of which she was working as a marketing strategist. 'To get to the depth of the story took complete absorption. I wrote every Saturday. I start out writing by hand, then structure it on index cards, then write scenes on a computer. Then I go for a swim where new ideas will come and then I rework it all. After a few drafts and a few years, I took eight weeks off and went to New Zealand and disconnected from technology and wrote,' she says. Finishing the novel was liberating. Patel lost her father before she began writing it, and the grief she felt bled into the story. 'There was no other way to live than to have that grief beside me. Every character in the novel has their own grief in some shape and form. There is power in it. It's a living thing. It has a place and purpose. I can be immensely happy and immediately immensely sad. I wanted that duality in the book because they can co-exist,' she says. The writer is an author and freelance journalist based in Delhi.
