Review of THE SPOILED HEART by Sunjeev Sahota

3.5 Stars

Nayan Olak is running for election for the position of general secretary of the largest labour union in central England. Forty-two years of age, he began as a factory worker but has been involved in union advocacy for decades. For Nayan, the union has become the centre of his life after a tragedy two decades earlier. Now divorced and caring for his aging father who is suffering with dementia, he starts a relationship with Helen Fletcher who has returned to the neigbourhood with her son. Nayan’s opponent is Megha Sharma, younger and better educated but with less experience, though she is serving as the first head of diversity, equality and inclusion. She shares Nayan’s Indian ethnicity but comes from a wealthier class.

Clashing visions of the union’s future lead to a vicious and destructive campaign. Nayan believes in broad economic reforms to benefit working people while Megha focuses on specific initiatives to address injustices against oppressed groups. The campaign becomes a series of ad hominem attacks where Nayan is labelled a racist and misogynist and Megha, an out-of-touch and divisive elite.

The narrator is Sajjan, a former neighbour of Nayan. A novelist, he is fascinated with Nayan’s story and meets with him years after the events to get his version of what happened during the election and his relationship with Helen. He thinks that he may be able to retell Nayan’s story in a novel. Sajjan is not just a narrator; he acts as a detective gradually unravelling the truth of what happened to Nayan and others involved in his life.

This narrative choice means that the information Sajjan provides is second-hand and there are suggestions that Nayan’s version of events may not always be reliable. Sajjan suspects that Nayan is not always totally honest; at one point he refers to Nayan’s “doctored version.” The truthfulness of the story Sajjan tells is also compromised when it seems that his parents were involved in Nayan’s past.

There is considerable suspense. There’s the outcome of the election of course. But then there are suggestions that Helen may have played a greater role in Nayan’s past than he suspects. Though Helen is a home health care aide, why does she refuse to accept Nayan’s father as a client and avoid any contact with him? Though Nayan and Sajjan meet “several years” after the election year, at first Sajjan is given only “glimpses of a truth [Nayan] couldn’t yet bear to voice”; only at the end are dark secrets revealed.

The novel is like a tragedy telling the story of a man’s ruin, both personal and professional, and explores whether the downfall is self-inflicted or caused by societal issues. Nayan’s character is well-developed. He’s a good man who has suffered, but he is flawed and there is certainly a degree of hubris that contributes to his heart being spoiled.

The book also examines how a few words or a single careless action can have unintended and unimaginable consequences. The toxic effects of social media are also detailed.

Though the discussion of election issues is sometimes heavy-handed, I enjoyed the book - as I did Sahota’s earlier novel, China Room (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2022/01/review-of-china-room-by-sunjeev-sahota.html).