Em and The Big Hoom

Pick it up: If you want an nuanced portrayal of mental illness. If you want a book that beautifully explores the bonds of love, resilience, and the challenges of navigating difficult circumstances within a family unit. If you're looking for a novel that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, honest and insightful, and beautifully written.

This is a poignant, and often humorous, story of the Mendes family in Bombay, about living with a family member struggling with mental illness and the profound impact this has on all their lives. The story is narrated by the unnamed son, who is trying to come to terms with his mother Imelda’s (Em) recurring battles with bipolar disorder, while his father, Augustine (‘The Big Hoom’) serves as the family’s stoic anchor amidst the chaos (of which there is plenty).

Em is the vibrant and unpredictable heart of this story. Flamboyant, funny, and full of life,  until she suddenly fall into her dark periods marked by deep paranoia and suicidal tendencies. Juxtaposed against this is the enduring love story between Em and the Big Hoom, told through the son’s recollections, and excerpts from Em’s letters and journals. The Big Hoom, despite the increasingly difficult task of caring for Imelda, never loses his calm and remains kind and committed.

The family struggles to maintain their own sense of balance amidst Em’s rapid shifts between joy and despair; each day is an unknown and they know they are not a ‘normal’ family. The narrator grapples with his love and resentment for his mother, his admiration for his father’s unwavering support, and his own fear of inheriting his mother’s condition.

The humour in the novel is mostly driven by the exchanges between the narrator and Em, as he gets her to share stories from her youth, as well as Em’s complete lack of a filter in everything she says. She is not a character you are likely to forget soon. Despite all their challenges, this is a family that is bound together by love and their shared burden. I absolutely adored it.