Sunday, September 21, 2014

Scandalous Housewives Book Review

By The Dehradun Post
by NEHA SAINI on SEPTEMBER 21, 2014

More than raunchy tale of Lust, Kinky Sex!

Madhuri Banerjee is back with another racy read on love and relationships titled ‘Scandalous Housewives: Mumbai’. The book revolves around the lives of four housewives living in a residential high rise of Mumbai. As the parallel stories of these four women progress forward, the reader is compelled to ponder upon the role a housewife (read homemaker) plays in a family.

The book promises a raunchy tale of lust, lies, betrayal and of course a final show down but I would urge you not to judge the book by its cover. At many points the novel surprises the reader by the immense depth of its female characters and their paradigm shifting portrayal. Amidst the kinky sex episodes and saucy secrets, the author portrays the ‘lovely ladies’ in bold colours of liberty, breaking all forms of restraint; pushing all boundaries and stepping over all thresholds.

The plot of the story, though thin through the initial half, gathers pace as the story progresses. The lives of the four friends entangle in a meshwork of explosive lies and as all of them strive to maintain the peace of their households, a threatening email shatters everything to the floor; and this marks the real and ultimate test of their ties of friendship. However will they survive?

I must mention here that the plot is a little unfathomable and shaky at certain points, being a major turn off. This line marks my favourite point in the novel – “The best thing a father can give to a child is respect to the mother.”

If you’re looking for a masala weekend read, I’d say go for ‘Scandalous Housewives: Mumbai’ and you may end up with a little more than you bargained for.

I have purposefully not given it any ratings since I wrote the review keeping in mind that the reader would pick it up just as a weekend read. I haven’t judged it with the same standards as I would an Ayn Rand book. I hope that’s okay.

Available on Flipkart Amazon.in and Infibeam

Friday, September 12, 2014

A Maxim-umm Moment

There are three milestones that would make an author complete.
1. When you win an international prize (Man Booker/ Pulitzer)   
2. When your book sells really well. (1 Million plus copies)
3. When you get a column to write. (Maxim!)
When Maxim magazine asked me to be their Sex and Relationship columnist, I knew I had achieved at least one out of the three things I wanted from my career.
 

But when they called me and told me they wanted to launch my book and me as a columnist in a grand event, I was overwhelmed.
See, I have a confession to make; I am terribly afraid of public speaking. I feel anxious and nervous. I don’t sleep for several nights. I wonder incessantly what I will say, how I will look, and what I will do.
When I finally went on stage my heart was fluttering and I had butterflies in my stomach.
The Emcee asked me, “What inspired you to write Scandalous Housewives? Are any of these stories true?”
And in that moment I lost all my inhibition. If I wasn’t going to be just me, what was the point?
I took a deep breath and replied with a straight face. “Yes. They’re all autobiographical!” Then I smiled finally. And the audience laughed. That made the rest of the questions, the reading and the evening pass beautifully.
When I spoke to Richa Chaddha the actress from Gangs of Wasseypur she told me, “I can’t believe you were so bold and funny. You inspired me!”

My Sex column is in the latest issue of Maxim magazine. My book Scandalous Housewives is on Flipkart and Amazon right now.

Two days later, I gave a talk in Indore on stage for one hour on “Love, Life & Chances”. And I have decided to give more talks in public about every topic I feel from my heart. I’ve realised apart from books, columns, awards and the limelight, I need to be me and talk about what I believe. And that should be the 4th goal of every writer’s life.
Inspiration comes from everywhere. It’s all around us. And we need to give back to truly be successful. So thank you Maxim for giving me that step to do more with my life.   

Watch it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=scandalous+housewives 

Storizen September Issue:
https://issuu.com/storizen/docs/sept2014/7?e=0

Flipkart link to Scandalous Housewives: http://goo.gl/3J2MIr

Amazon Link : http://goo.gl/4Y1edx

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