DNF: “Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors” - Sonali Dev

🌉 First impressions: I liked Sonali Dev’s narrative style even though it verges on the melodramatic. The main character, Trisha Raje, is grating but I thought there was potential. The Rajes are glossy, Indian royalty hailing from the fictitious city of Sripur. I wasn’t sure how PPOF would play with the “Pride and Prejudice” framework, but I was interested to find out; already we had a Darcy and a Wickham on the scene. And the food descriptions put me in the mood for haute Indian cuisine. I’m talking infusions, foams, and reductions — oh my!

🌉 Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. The Trisha character annoyed me beyond endurance. She reads like a Cher from “Clueless” (also a PP retelling), but she’s supposed to be a high powered neurosurgeon, not a teen Valley girl. Dev paints with such a heavy hand, that none of the protagonists are particularly sympathetic, and certainly not likable. Her use of British slang is excessive (I don’t think people actually talk this way); and this narrator didn’t help matters much. 

🌉I found it hard to reconcile Trisha’s expertise in the field of neurosurgery and her utterly childish (and self centered) approach to patient’s rights in the care planning process (she views the patient’s opinions as irrelevant because they lack her training). She also possesses an alarming disregard for matters of patient privacy.

🌉 Trisha and her father have a fraught relationship - on the surface, this should be relatable. Many of us can recall young adulthood where we were so self-assured and confident that our parents just don’t understand etc. etc. that we tune out what turns out to be sage advice. In PPOF I was mystified that Trisha is still unaccountably stuck in this phase.