‘The Complex’: Karan Mahajan’s new novel is pacy but does not create a lasting impression

Karan Mahajan’s latest novel, The Complex, presents a sticky, claustrophobic world where personal ambition and filial mistrust are always at loggerheads. The glue that binds the Chopra family together is the dead SP Chopra, a “great man”, who was among independent India’s first statesmen. SP’s political legacy is formidable, and despite his foundational role in the creation of the new nation, his nine children have struggled to replicate his success. Cramped in A-19 Modern Colony in Delhi, the family jostles for space and privacy, as each of them remains emotionally distant.

The crisscrossed Chopras

The plot primarily revolves around Gita and Sachin (SP’s grandson and granddaughter-in-law who migrate to the US right after marriage), Sachin’s uncle, Laxman, and his wife Archana, and Sachin’s brother Brij and his wife Karishma. Vibha, Laxman’s sister, divorced young and a widow from her second marriage, tries in vain to pull the crisscrossed strings of the family and establish herself as the family matriarch in her father’s absence. The Chopras, now financially diminished, are proud of their legacy and their privileged upbringing has them convinced that they are meant for great things.

The novel spans a period from the 1970s to the early 1990s – the in-between years when India was finding its footing...

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