Such is Her Life – Reecha Goyal – review

Book – Such is Her Life
Author – Reecha Agarwal Goyal
Publisher – Fingerprint, 2018
Pages – 178

Occasionally, I hit the deck and find a strange coin with, either, two same faces or none at all. This time, the coin is named Such is Her Life by Reecha Agarwal Goyal. This book, which I fear to call a feminist book, is strange because it has many faces. There are many pages which strike the chord and many pages which pull the string to the level which shakes us to the bottom of the soul. Without being so much a Professor Henry Higgins, let’s get straight into the merits and possible demerits of the book.

Such is Her Life by Reecha is aimed at throwing the sudden arrows, dipped in the various phases of a woman’s life, towards the readers and some pierces the hearts and touches the soul while others fall flat and cannot enter the rigidness of human mind, guarded by the vanity of thoughts and self-satisfaction.

“Grandma, what’s an old age home?”
“It’s a place where people with no children wish they had one, and the ones with children wish they had none.”

Aphorism serves the best purpose in the book. Reecha throws her arguments one after another and the readers just (supposedly) continue reading in dismay, wonder, pity and rage. The book begins with a baby girl (see, I am anti-woman in calling that, baby-girl, for some women who visualise themselves as feminists) and ends with the same girl grown up to become the lady, the old grandmother who is visited by her grandchildren in the old-age home.

Various milestones in the life of a woman are wonderfully visualised in this lovely pinkish book! The childhood, which is often eclipsed if a girl is growing up with a boy:

“She was brimming with joy.
Her brother was to get a new pencil box.
She would get to take his.”

Well, it all seems fancy but this narrative, I will say, is on a way to change. I know many people who had only one daughter and then they decided not to have any other child. I know many people happy with two daughters. And if, as I guess, the children being talked about are from the upper class and urban area, the life behind the glimmer of lights and pace, unfortunately, is sad and hypocrite!

The thing that I liked the most about the book is it is indeed what the title promises to be – Such is Her Life; the author, Reecha Goyal, takes the readers through the journey of a woman’s life – how she grows up; how she learns the womanly way of life; how she learns to love; how she learns to recognise the people around her; how she reacts to marriage; how she cherishes her new life; and so on… so forth. It won’t bore the readers – that is sure!

Readers and casual readers, you both can enjoy reading this poetic book. This is not a novel. This is not a fiction. This is not a non-fiction. This is not poetry either. This is something else! You can get this book from Amazon India on the link below:

Buy on Amazon India – click here