A grieving daughter and abuse survivor must summon the courage to run a feminist conference, trust a man she meets over the Internet, and escape a catfishing stalker to find her power.Ahana, a wealthy thirty-three-year-old New Delhi woman, flees the pain of her mother’s death, and her dark past, by accepting a huge project in New Orleans, where she’ll coordinate an annual conference to raise … to raise awareness of violence against women. Her half-Indian, half-Irish colleague and public relations guru, Rohan Brady, who helps Ahana develop her online presence, offends her prim sensibilities with his raunchy humor. She is convinced that he’s a womanizer.
Meanwhile, she seeks relief from her pain in an online support group, where she makes a good friend: the mercurial Jay Dubois, who is also grieving the loss of his mother. Louisiana Catch is an emotionally immersive novel about identity, shame, and who we project ourselves to be in the world. It’s a book about Ahana’s unreliable instincts and her ongoing battle to deter¬mine whom to place her trust in as she, Rohan, and Jay shed layers of their identities.
“Louisiana Catch is a triumph. In Ahana, Sweta Vikram has created an unforgettable character, strong, wise, and deeply human, who’ll inspire a new generation struggling to come to terms with their identity in a world of blurring identities.”
–KARAN BAJAJ, New York Times bestselling author, The Yoga of Max’s Discontent
“In Louisiana Catch, Sweta Vikram brings life to the complex human rights issue of violence against women. Through one woman’s journey to make sense of her past and ultimately heal, Vikram shows us that yoga can reconnect us to ourselves, and that by empowering others, we transform our own lives.”
–ZOË LEPAGE, Founder, Exhale to Inhale
“Louisiana Catch perfectly captures what it means to be human in a digital world, where support groups meet online, love interests flirt on Twitter, and people get confused with personas. Equal parts tender and playful, moving and hopeful, Vikram’s prose connects us with timeless truths about grief and redemption in a satisfyingly modern way.”
–STEPHANIE PATERIK, Managing Editor, Adweek
Learn more at www.SwetaVikram.com
From Modern History Press, www.ModernHistoryPress.com
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Remarkable and brilliant. 5 stars from this award winning and best selling author, Sweta Vikram.
A women’s spiritual and profound journey of healing, teaching, supporting and Empowerment that is emotional, raw and enchanting.
Ahana is a wealthy 33 year old women from New Delhi. She flees her home after the death of her mother and her dark past to take on a project in New Orleans, one where she will coordinate a huge conference to raise awareness of violence against women, her passion.
She meets a interesting co-worker with an irreverent sense of humor and he helps her build her online persona. Seeking relief from pain and grief she joins an online support group and meets Jason, also grieving the death of his mother.
This novel hits at the perfect time in our world where living in a digital world while we deal with human rights issues, violence against women, surviving abuse, forging friendships, love and living life where sometimes where personas get blurred on the waves of the online world.
We see Ahana struggle to find whom and where to trust. How to deal with shame and insecurities and rise and forge the journey to healing. Yoga is a big part of this healing, and we get some beautiful insight and magnificent perspective.
Intruguing and enchanting characters doesn’t begin to describe the people in Ahana’s world. The detail, the emotion and “all the feels” are in this novel. I’m blown away by it and I will be for some time. I will highly recommend this to friends, family, Book clubs, any groups of women seeking healing from grief, pain, abuse or just the need to feel supported (don’t we all). Sweta Vikram is and will continue to be a supportive voice for women.
5 stars.
Louisiana Catch is both an ode to women who have survived sexual abuse and a fierce examination of the meaning of personal freedom in modern society. All of this is accomplished through the voice of Ahana, a young divorcee whose strengths and weaknesses illuminate the complexity and resilience of the human spirit. Ahana takes responsibility for her choices in a refreshing and often humorous manner, striving to help others in the midst of her own heartbreak and confusion. She chooses love over bitterness and that is her triumph. This unique and beautifully written novel is a moving, believable, and suspenseful journey of self discovery.
My Rating:
3.5
Favorite Quotes:
Ms. Pamela signed off her tweets with “xoxo,” but I chose to read it as “I am a ho.”
Silence has the deepest voice.
Michael loved eating garlic naan with butter chicken. And he would sweat, like a hosepipe burst in his body, after eating raw green chilis with onions with all his Indian meals.
Life is too short to give another minute to anyone or anything that doesn’t make you happy.
My Review:
I struggled to get through this one. While the premise was topical and important to me, the reality of the blatantly perverse and oppressive patriarchal conditions for women living in third-world countries in this day and age was ever so disturbing. I am largely ignorant and totally unfamiliar with Indian culture and was shocked to realize the current apathetic and openly abusive societal conditions towards sexual harassment, rape, and women’s safety in general. I applaud the author for her efforts in bringing this issue into the light of day.
The storylines were relevant yet slowly developed and more than a bit bogged down with an overabundance of ancillary details and a huge cast of characters, yet I remained curious as to how the main character of Ahana’s many issues would hopefully be resolved. I had empathy for Ahana although I steadily lost patience with her, as she was exasperating and ridiculously juvenile for a woman in her thirties. She was also a clueless turd-magnet who was overly rigid and prone to self-sabotage. Rather than giving in to the urge to toss my beloved Kindle against the wall, I felt the need to put it down several times and walk away as I was finding Ahana’s moronic and immature behaviors increasingly tedious, although I shudder to think how annoying I would be if forced to endure such repressive conditions. Given my penchant for freethinking opinions and sassy mouth, I would most likely be swiftly dispatched to an early grave.
This was another guest book review on my blog, courtesy of my delightful co-reviewer, Sharon. Here are her thoughts:
Social media is a hot topic in today’s world – as is the importance of empowering women to share their strong voices in our modern world. Sweta captures the aforementioned topics with zest, passion, and insight that are rare finds in fiction today – let alone in one novel.
I’m going to give you the blurb on this one, because I think it’s important to understand what Sweta Vikram aimed at – and succeeded in – accomplishing with this fantastic book:
“Louisiana Catch, Vikram’s debut novel (she has 11 other books of poetry and non-fiction) is being published April 10, 2018 to coincide with Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The book draws from Sweta’s experience as a health counselor for abused women, where she employs yoga and mindful meditation as a means to heal.
It is a story about Ahana, a 33-year-old New Delhi woman who is facing the psychological consequences sustained from an abusive ex-husband, while also grieving the unexpected death of her mother. Ahana arrives in New Orleans to run a feminist conference where her instincts are put to the test. She meets a man in an online support group, must escape a catfishing stalker and open her heart to the possibilities of friendship and love. Louisiana Catch is an emotionally immersive novel about identity, shame, and who we project ourselves to be in the world. Ahana must make hard choices in her ongoing battle to determine whom to place her trust in.”
As an avid reader of self-help books, I would recommend this novel as an inspirational tale for women and for those who find themselves mired in a world of social media. It encompasses the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of a society that increasingly seems to only “talk” online – a venue that is imperfect for interpersonal communication not least because of the many opportunities for misinterpretation.
We are all more vulnerable because of the loss of privacy in our media lives. The #MeToo movement has brought to light the devastation that follows the victimization of women in our world. There truly is “NO EXCUSE” – a message that seems to become more important every day, with every new revelation. Vikram’s deeply humanistic story blatantly exposes the problems posed by identity shame and projected images, and does so in a writing style that is superbly readable and was thoroughly enjoyable, even when difficult to read.
I enjoyed this book immensely and am looking forward to previous and future books by this author.
My review copy of Louisiana Catch was provided by the author and her publicists. This provision in no way shaped my review.