Ever wondered why you cannot help who you fall in love with? Or, if love could happen twice or last forever? Or how to make a relationship last through the years despite the challenges?
Preeti Shenoy’s latest book Why We Love The Way We Do aims to address some of these issues through a collection of essays based on the author’s newspaper columns. At The Hindu Lit for Life Book Talk series hosted at Starmark on Friday evening, the author spoke about modern-day love, if soulmates exist and her journey as an author, in a freewheeling chat with author Sandhya Sridhar.
With Why We Love The Way We Do , Preeti, who is best known for her books The Secret Wish List and The One You Cannot Have , has broken away from fiction to throw light on what modern-day relationships are like, with a few case studies to keep the pace interesting and realistic.
According to the author, “It is very different from my earlier books, but it essentially deals with the same emotion — love. This book evolved from the essays I wrote for my newspaper column. It starts with finding The One and moves on to topics like how Tinder changed Valentine’s Day and important issues such as the effects of anger and nagging in a relationship.”
She adds that while the book essentially deals with man-woman relationships, she believes that the same emotions apply to homosexual equations as well. “I am all for love – be it heterosexual or homosexual. I believe everyone has equal rights. At the same time, I also believe that any kind of relationship is built on the same concept and has similar challenges. At the end of the day, it boils down to the individuals involved.”
Each essay in the book is three-four pages long and is packed with information and case studies that highlight the topic in question. “There was a lot of research involved in the book and it’s based on facts and what people have told me over the years,” says Preeti.
When a reader remarked that all her books – be they fiction or non-fiction – dealt with love and relationships, Preeti said, “My books are a slice of life. One was about a girl with a bipolar disorder, another about a woman whose husband left her and yet another explored the idea if wish lists could ever come true. The stories are more about relationships and not really about love.”
Given that most of her books are written based on the woman’s perspective, it is surprising that at least 61 per cent of her readers are men.
“I was surprised too. I asked them what they found interesting, and, to my astonishment, many responded saying that my books helped them understand better the women in their lives – be it their mothers, sisters, wives or girlfriends,” says Preeti.
She recounts how one man wrote to her saying that her book The Secret Wish List made him realise that his wife might have one as well, and how he’d been under the impression that he was the perfect husband all along. “This sort of response is a great validation for me,” smiles the author.
What also makes Preeti connect better with her readers is social media. According to the author, it is important for her to actively stay in touch with her readers.
“It’s been that way ever since I began writing my blog in 2006. And given how connected we are with our smartphones these days, it really isn’t a great effort to post once in a while or respond to a message from a reader.”
Her next book, she says, will be a work of fiction, something very different from what she’s written so far, and readers can soon see updates about it on her social media pages.
