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Farhad J. Dadyburjor, Ariyan Kassam: The Other Man (AudiobookFormat, 2021, Brilliance Audio) No rating

Review of 'The Other Man' on 'Goodreads'

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I got this book through an event on Amazon highlighting books from around the world. I was interested in to mainly because it was book about a gay relationship that was actually written by a man. You'd think that would be a fairly normal thing but most of the gay romance books I see are written by women. I wouldn't strictly call this a romance. If it was written about a woman it would be called chick lit. Funny how there isn't a slightly insulting term for a fluffy sweet story about a man figuring out his place in the world. This novel is set during the time when gay sex was being decriminalized in India. Ved is facing a choice. Can he come out to his family and friends as a gay man? Will it ruin his career and destroy his relationships with his family? He's making a decision mostly by putting off making a decision. He's paralyzed with indecision. This passivity makes him just go along with his mother's plan to have him marry a wonderful woman. As the engagement plans start to ramp up he meets a man. Now he really needs to decide what he is going to do. Ved's passivity was a bit frustrating to read about. Everything was happening to him because he just wouldn't say anything to anyone about anything. But it was understandable. He was acclimated to a world where being gay was unacceptable. He doesn't know how to move in a world where that may not be as true anymore.