Book Review: The Swap by Shuma Raha

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The Swap by journalist Shuma Raha is a story that is based on the trend of swinging or what is commonly known as wife-swapping.

The story is set in Delhi. Priya is a journalist who is married to Akash for six years but now the once-in-love couple have grown apart, maybe distant as well. There is a lack of intimacy and as happens  after years of togetherness, things have become boring for both of them. During a dinner party at their house, a guest called Tarun Paul tells everyone gathered there about the very happening thing in Delhi social circles- the swinging parties. Going by the keen interest that almost everyone at the dinner party had shown on the topic, Tarun extends to them all an invite for the next one which was being organised by their friends. Though reluctant, Priya gives in and goes with Akash to the party. Things which should have gotten better after the swap, become even worse and Priya finds Akash distancing himself further from her. Priya though has a extramarital affair going on with Akash's oldest friend Dileep and is oscillating between her commitment to her marriage and the nonchalance which Dileep expects of her as far as their affair is concerned. Can the swap be the liberating experience that the couples had expected it to be or do things between them and their friends get murky?

To me The Swap, seemed to be the story of two couples Priya-Akash and Anuradha-Dileep. Written immaculately, The Swap isn't voyeuristic and that is one of its strengths. The book instead tells the story of marriages in the changed times. Told from Priya's point of view, The Swap doesn't make excuses for people doing what they choose to do, be it Priya and Dileep's extramarital affair or the choice of going to attend the swapping party, and that is another of book's or shall we say writer's  strong points. All the characters in the story come from well-educated families, none of them seem to have any other compulsion to go to a swinging party besides a sense of adventure or an attempt at infusing their marriages with some vigour. There is a thread about a trafficked child but I could not see t making any relevant contribution to the story besides highlighting giving voice to some feminism and child trafficking.

The Swap also is a great read, especially the first half if you are looking to pick something that is well paced and doesn't slack in delivering the story. It does get a little trying after the actual party happens but soon the author reins it in. You might think of the book as a social commentary on the racy topic  on which it is written but again it is not. All it is, is a story about a woman and the decisions that she makes, guided by her sense of self.

I reviewed this book under the Book Review Program run by the fantastic folk at #BlogChatter.

Location: Kolkata, West Bengal, India

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