Love is a many-gendered thing
The Broken Amoretti blends mystery and adventure to break stereotypes and talk about taboo topics.
In a world where love is bound by the shackles of caste, creed and irrational societal norms, its sanctity seems to have succumbed to these stereotypes. While unearthing an ancient cryptic poem and deciphering the complex language seems adventurous, what surfaces by the end of this journey is an eye-opener. The Broken Amoretti, a fiction novel by Sudipto Das and Aparajita Dutta, is a quirky, valiant, and goose bumps-raising queer love story.
Sudipto says, “This is a story of an unprecedented pursuit of identities, overcoming societal norms and taboos, and realising the true essence of relationships that can’t be chained by stereotypes.” According to him, while LGBTQ activism has managed to voice the concerns of several members of the community, he believes there needs to be more clarity on the term ‘queer’. He says, “I wanted to expand the term to encompass not only the relationships widely discussed in LGBTQ circles, but also other unconventional ones, which are discussed in hushed voices or totally brushed under the carpet, citing religious, cultural or even medical reasons. I strongly felt I should weave a story around relationships which can’t be confined to any conventional boundaries.”
Focussing on two main characters - Saoli and Parush - and several others connected to them, the authors shape and build the narrative creating a mysterious trail. Sudipto says, “Though the book is centred on a very unusual theme, a particular aspect of LGBTQ, we were conscious that it should be a gripping story and shouldn’t sound like activism. It should be the voice of those who have hushed their atypical relationships throughout their lives. The book, although set against the backdrop of the IIT Kharagpur campus, should be universal enough to alleviate it from being yet another college romcom. We are aiming to create new standards in conventional romcom novels, breaking the norms and going deeper than the glossy, candy-floss college romance.”