Book review: Louisiana Catch

Earlier this month, I attended the launch of Sweta Srivastava Vikram’s novel, Louisiana Catch. It was a pleasure meeting Sweta, after connecting online a few years ago. She talked about how yoga helped with healing after her mother’s sudden passing. Sweta also shared her experiences of teaching yoga to female survivors of violence. These themes appear in Louisiana Catch and I was intrigued to read the book.

Here’s a synopsis of the novel:

Ahana, a wealthy thirty-three-year-old New Delhi woman, flees the pain of her mother's death, and her dark past, by accepting a huge project in New Orleans, where she'll coordinate an annual conference to raise awareness of violence against women. Her half-Indian, half-Irish colleague and public relations guru, Rohan Brady, who helps Ahana develop her online presence, offends her prim sensibilities with his raunchy humor. She is convinced that he's a womanizer. Meanwhile, she seeks relief from her pain in an online support group, where she makes a good friend: the mercurial Jay Dubois, who is also grieving the loss of his mother. Louisiana Catch is an emotionally immersive novel about identity, shame, and who we project ourselves to be in the world. It's a book about Ahana's unreliable instincts and her ongoing battle to determine whom to place her trust in as she, Rohan, and Jay shed layers of their identities.

Louisiana Catch illuminates the double-sided sword that is technology today. While Ahana is able to make authentic connections through social media and online therapy, she also has to navigate the dark side of these innovations. The book also focuses on the crippling effects of violence against women, a reality not often spoken about, especially in South Asian circles. Ahana's story is one of struggle -  dealing with marital rape and her mother's death - but also of hope. What had me rooting for her, was her determination to fight her demons, something we all have to do, at one point or another. It was satisfying to see Ahana gain her wings and fly. Her rise assures us that while we can’t control what happens to us, we can write the next chapter of our story. Throughout the novel, Ahana recalls her mother's advice, as a daughter would after her mother's passing. One piece of wisdom that spoke to me was at the end of the book  – “Forgive yourself, beta; grow from your experiences. Know that you are more than your scars. Believe that you deserve love.”At the reading, Sweta talked about the importance of diverse South Asian stories and indeed, stories like Ahana’s need a voice. I look forward to reading more of Sweta’s work.