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| Kiran Desai Yaffa, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Short Summary
Sonia is an aspiring novelist who has studied in Vermont in the U.S., but returns to India after a difficult relationship with an older artist leaves her unsettled.
Sunny is a journalist based in New York, trying to escape his overbearing family in India and struggling with identity and belonging. Their grandparents once tried to matchmake them, but things drifted apart. They meet accidentally on an overnight train in India, and what begins as mutual curiosity grows into a complex relationship.
Over the course of the novel, Sonia and Sunny try to find happiness together, while dealing with internal loneliness, family expectations, migration, culture clash, past trauma, and the pressures of artistic ambition.
Short Summary
It is the late 1990s. Sonia Shah, born to a GGerman maternalline and Gujarati paternal family, is studying creative writing in Vermont. The snowbound mountains around her feel beautiful and isolating. There, she works on her writing, reads literature, and is often homesick. She feels drawn to art, beauty, and ideas, and wants to be a writer. But in Vermont she also meets Ilan de Toorjen Foss, a famous, much older artist. He is charismatic and admired, and to Sonia he seems like an opportunity—to be inspired, to learn, to grow. Over time, their relationship becomes intimate as well as professional: he supports her in some artistic ways, but also isolates her, exerts power, and becomes controlling.
She finds that Ilan demands certain things: she needs to shape her work to suit his taste; she must move to New York to be nearer to his world. Sonia, craving both intimacy and affirmation, agrees, in part, leaving Vermont behind for New York with hopes and expectations. But in New York, things are not as she imagined: the art world proves cutthroat, and Ilan’s demands increase. She feels haunted by the past, by fears, by something like a dark spell—something she once believed in or allowed, something in her mind or heart that keeps her uneasy. The gap between what she expected and what has happened begins to weigh on her.
At the same time, in New York City, Sunny Bhatia is working as a journalist, or more precisely, as a junior editor or in a reporting capacity. Originally from India, he has moved abroad partly to flee pressures from home: his mother, Babita, is strong-willed; his extended family traditions and expectations weigh on him. In New York, he has a girlfriend who is American. He tries to settle into a life of journalism, writing, interviewing, coping with the insider/outsider atmosphere at work, in relationships, socially. He feels conflicted: part of him wants to belong in the U.S., yet parts of him remain tied to India—through family, memory, class, language. He shares apartments, writes stories, meets people; yet something about him remains restless.
Back in India, Sonia’s return is prompted by the failure or stalling of her relationship with Ilan and by her unease with her life in New York. She returns to her family—her parents, her mother, who is part German, her father Gujarati, her grandparents, aunt, extended family in Allahabad and Delhi. She seeks some grounding, perhaps solace. But being home is not simple. The family has its own routines, expectations, reminders of how she was shaped. The grandparents had, years before, attempted to arrange a marriage between Sonia and Sunny, though neither party was deeply involved; that matchmaking attempt drifted away. Still, the memory of it lingers: some familial pressure, some embarrassment.
Sonia stays for some time. She struggles with writer’s block, with memories of Vermont, of Ilan, of ambition. Sometimes she writes; sometimes she cannot. She grapples with what she wants and what she fears. She also interacts with her family: her mother, father, single aunt, the extended clan. She realizes that being home has its comforts but also constraints. Some people ask about her returning, some about what she is writing, some about her marrying; some about what success means.
Sunny, meanwhile, continues in New York, covering stories, reporting on Indian affairs, sometimes visiting India, sometimes not. He produces journalistic pieces; he follows stories of people who are displaced, of people who feel left behind. He also makes efforts to keep or start relationships. The American girlfriend complicates things: with her, he confronts cultural misunderstandings, subtle prejudices, places where his identity is questioned. Yet, in his work, he also finds some satisfaction. There are days when he sees stories that resonate, that feel meaningful.
At a certain point, Sonia and Sunny meet again. The meeting is somewhat accidental: perhaps on a train in India—an overnight train journey where Sonia is travelling, Sunny too. They see each other, recognize something in each other: the shared past (through families), the shared loneliness, the shared longing. They are both wary: wary because of what being an artist or a journalist has cost them; wary because of expectations. Still, attraction and empathy emerge. They begin a relationship: conversations, travels, phone calls, periods of togetherness, periods of separation. They try to support each other. Sonia, with her writing; Sunny, with his journalism. They travel between India and the U.S., between Delhi and New York. Sonia may try again in the U.S. or close to artistic circles; Sunny continues working, perhaps trying to reconcile his identity.
But their relationship is not easy. There are setbacks. Sonia’s past with Ilan continues to cast shadows: memory, emotional wound, doubt. Her creative life is not straightforward. Sometimes she feels she is “writing for others” or that expectations shape her work. She is haunted by the feeling of a kind of dark enchantment—a relationship that asked too much of her creativity, perhaps asked her to become more someone else than herself. Over time, she distances herself from Ilan, but the effect lingers.
Sunny’s own family issues continue. His mother, Babita, is tied up in family history: something about property, status, privilege, perhaps even disreputable family ties or expectations. There are moments when his family in India appears in conflict, whether via politics, via the behavior of relatives, via expectations of marriage or status. Sunny tries to negotiate that: sometimes returning to India, sometimes engaging with family, sometimes retreating.
As Sonia and Sunny attempt to create a life together, they face the challenge of bridging their worlds: her artistic ambitions, her internal doubts, his career and identity, familial pressure, their physical distance. They also deal with loneliness: even when together, each has internal solitude. Sometimes geography, sometimes emotional distance, sometimes cultural expectations separate them. There are moments of tenderness and moments of frustration.
Over time, Sonia begins to reclaim voice. She writes more out of her own self, rather than what she thinks is expected. She lets go of some attachments. Some things are lost: some relationships, some illusions. But also, some things are gained: moments of clarity, moments of connection with Sunny, moments of feeling seen.
Sunny, too, evolves. He continues his journalism; sometimes his stories draw from India; sometimes from immigrant life; he begins to understand better what he wants: maybe less about fitting in, more about being honest, more about connections that feel real. He goes back and forth: sometimes in the U.S., sometimes in India. His relationship with Sonia pulses between intimacy and distance: phone calls, visits, perhaps temporary partings. But he also grows in conviction: about who he is, about what kind of writing he wants to do, about what kind of partner he can be.
Near the later parts of the narrative, there are moments of crisis: Sonia faces an emotional breakdown, perhaps triggered by a dream or memory; Sunny faces career pressure or familial expectation or the health of the relationship. There is a moment where both must decide: whether to commit, whether to stay visible, whether to yield to expectations or to insist on self-definition. In these crisis moments, they each act: Sonia may choose a path for her writing; Sunny may confront difficulties with family or with identity.
Towards the end, Sonia and Sunny find a kind of co-existence: they accept that their relationship will not erase loneliness entirely, that sometimes distance will remain, that sometimes the worlds they come from will pull them apart. But they also find a shared life: either physically closer or emotionally more present. Sonia writes; Sunny continues his journalism. They plan together, take trips together, perhaps travel to India together. They slip between India and the U.S., between home and abroad.
In the final scenes, Sonia has made a more stable home: perhaps she is back in India, perhaps splitting time. Her relationship with Ilan is definitively over, though its legacy remains. Sunny is more sure of himself: he values being a connector, someone whose voice matters, whose identity is not hidden. The novel leaves them not fully “arrived,” but more settled than before; not without longing, but with more acceptance.
The last image is of Sonia and Sunny together on an overnight train, perhaps returning from one place to another, looking out into the dark landscape. They share a quiet understanding: that love does not always erase loneliness but can accompany it; that belonging is never absolute but is built step by step, flicker by flicker.
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