A review by deegee24
The Bachelor of Arts by R.K. Narayan

4.0

This is an enjoyable, light social comedy about a young Indian man, Chandran, coming of age in the twilight years of colonial India. Chandran's liberal arts education is modeled after the British system, so he spends most of his time learning Shakespeare and organizing the debate club. But he also encounters occasional stirrings of Indian nationalist sentiment among his friends. Following graduation, Chandran moves back in with his middle-class parents, who pamper him without complaint as he tries to figure out his path in life. The only source of tension between the generations comes when Chandran falls in love with a girl at first sight and the respective families, bound by Hindu tradition, find themselves at an impasse in vetting the young lovers' social and astrological compatibility. Imagine a Jane Austen novel in a colonial context, with some really funny satire aimed in all directions.