Two young people are living far away from their country while studying in America. Sonia tells her parents that she is feeling lonely, and the news reaches her grandparents living in Allahabad. The only remedy her grandparents can think of for loneliness is to find a suitable boy and get Sonia married. Her grandfather, a lawyer, reaches out to his neighbour and chess buddy, a Colonel, whose grandson Sunny is also living in America and is apparently lonely. The two families decide to arrange a match between them. Sonia’s parents and grandparents are unaware that she is romantically involved with a much older painter.

The matchmaking does not work out, but they unexpectedly meet in India when Sunny returns to visit his family and Sonia comes back after her visa is not approved. As opposed to the title, the book captures the loneliness of everybody — Sonia and Sunny’s parents, grandparents, Sonia’s aunt, and in some ways even the house helps. More than external loneliness, the author captures internal loneliness: what you do, how you feel, and how you react when you are alone.

Sunny gets a job with the Associated Press in New York, while Sonia tries her hand at writing and plans to write a book. The novel further explores their relationship with each other, their families, and their former lovers. Through the book, you travel across parts of India, America, Mexico, and Italy, and through these journeys the story moves forward. I also liked how the story moves through important historical moments, such as the aftermath of 9/11, along with the political and social atmosphere of India in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which made the timeline feel more real and relatable.

I liked the storytelling, the characters, and the way the story progresses. However, there was too much description. Whether it is a place, an object, or even food, I understand that it adds to the story and its flow, but many of the references made by the author seem connected to the upper class of society. I felt that many of the material details in the novel come from an upper-middle-class world. Although the author is not trying to present it as luxury, some of the references felt distant and difficult for an average reader to relate to.

The book is very well written, but the detailed descriptions slowed the pace of the novel for me and made it feel lengthy. In my view, the book could have been shorter by at least two hundred pages. This could also be because I primarily read non-fiction, especially books on history, politics, and socio-economic subjects. It is not that non-fiction books are necessarily shorter, but they tend to move more directly from one idea or event to another. Readers who enjoy literary fiction, especially literary realism, will appreciate this novel.