Love

Seema and Barry’s relationship is presented as fundamentally dysfunctional, and the novel thereby examines how a truly loving relationship cannot be sustained if the relationship is based on shallow, conditional dynamics. A major inciting incident of the narrative is the breakdown of Seema and Barry’s marriage, and this breakdown is connected to the fact that their marriage was initially based on shallow motivations. Barry married Seema for her physical beauty and her professional status, while Seema was attracted to Barry for his wealth. Moreover, their partnership was based on the idea that their children would carry on a legacy of success: “Their kids would have her intelligence and his bravado” (66). Thus, after their son Shiva was diagnosed with autism, their conception of their marriage began to crumble. Although the book does not discount the fact that there may be legitimately loving elements to their...