What does it mean to be a woman who writes about her personal life on the internet, especially when that life falls apart and changes radically? This is just one of the topics that Scaachi Koul tackles in her second book of essays, Sucker Punch. Going through a divorce is hard enough, not to mention going through one when you’ve already written an entire book of essays about your ex-husband and how in love you are. She deftly addresses the many issues that affected her marriage, including their 13-year age gap, differences in cultures, and his affair, doing so in a way that is both funny and heartbreaking.
I was most interested in how she discussed her family trauma, her long-standing body image issues, and coming to terms with her past, including a sexual assault. These are difficult things to write about, but to write with such beauty, honesty, and introspection makes them a bit easier to relate to and read about.
Scaachi’s stories of being raised by immigrant parents and her Indian heritage play a large part in this book of essays. From how her family deals with conflicts (often and loudly) to the pressure she felt to get married, she digs into these topics with humor and heartache. I enjoyed learning more about the Hindu religion, along with their customs, traditions, and mythology.
Additionally, she writes about the relationship with her parents, which, while strained at times, becomes even more complex when her mother is diagnosed with cancer and when her parents find out that she’s marrying someone who is not an Indian. Both of these events cause stress in the family, but to see her reflections on how she dealt with them at the time, along with the aftermath, provide readers with hope and even a few laughs.
Nothing that Scaachi writes about in this book could be considered easy or light. However, reading it gave me an insight into many topics that play directly into current social commentary, including internet discourse, losing your job, and how to deal with telling people that you’re divorced. Sucker Punch is a great, but somewhat hard, book to read, making it very similar to life itself.
