Em And The Big Hoom Analysis

We often tend to take the presence of the loved ones in our lives for granted. Despite knowing that all of it has to end someday. But what do we do when life throws a different challenge at us?
‘Em and the Big Hoom’ tries to answer precisely this question. A touching and heart-rending novel by Jerry Pinto, the book deals with the dilemma that the anonymous narrator, his father Augustine and sister Susan face when his mother, Imelda, starts swinging from caring to funny, from irreverent to melancholic, from daring to suicidal as he was growing up.
The story tries to document her life through the eyes of her son, the narrator. It tries to depict a son’s attempts to understand his mother – about who she really is, throughout the various phases of her illness- before, during and after the episodes of madness.
It’s full of adventure, pain and humor yet not self-indulgent, emanate self-pity or make it a comic. The beauty of the story lies in the perfectly balanced concept and writing style. Parts of it come alive with descriptions of Em’s pain and pleasures yet you cannot miss the subtle humor that lurks beneath all the pain. It also gives us stimulating glimpses of hidden and uncommon facets of Mumbai life. The book takes us through the dark and crammed parts of Em’s mind and makes us look at a ‘mad’ person from a whole new outlook.
The story challenges societal norms. It makes you think and self-introspect about your perceptions regarding people who are different from us. With minimal melodrama and nominal Bollywoody flavors, the story flows on like a river only to suddenly churn and rush into a waterfall, roaring and gushing and then settling back into a calm flow that may at any moment in time take another eventful