The novel, Fusion of Reality by Ketan Varia, is a story of figurative rebirth. Our protagonist, Aman, leads two alternative lives, in the form of his work and private life, which conjoin and morph into one through various points of the story, tainting Aman’s life with artifice. The narrative grapples with Aman’s surfacing concern with validating his need to prove himself through results, as he internalises suffocating environmental expectations by himself. These various expectations direct Aman’s attention into clashing directions. As such, it forces him to make choices which thrust him into chaotic sequences of events in which he stumbles, recovers, and stumbles, from his mistakes and concerns, affecting his sense of self.
Fusion of Reality, as noted by the title, plays with ideas of dream and reality as a way to convey the dislocation between Aman’s unattainable image of a perfect self, with the reality of his own self-doubts and the imposition of life’s circumstances outside of his control. The latter in particular is symbolically established through Raff’s death, an omniscient fact which stays amongst Aman’s preoccupations throughout the narrative. The illusory presence of characters such as Aman’s grandfather (as a metaphor for familial expectations) and Raff (stability, which Aman yearns for), embodies Aman’s conflicted-ness.
As the narrative pushes forward, Aman’s experience of reality becomes warped, and this is particularly depicted through his increased surveillance and suspicion of individuals around him, such as Tina and George. This is effectively communicated through Aman’s description of minute details regarding time or objects around him, as well as his growing need to detail artworks that he sees. Despite this self-asphyxiation, Aman also remains grounded due to his earnestness (exemplified by his attentive attitude toward characters such as Edith and Annetta), which makes him a familiar and likeable figure to the reader. Moreover, this duality reflects the narrative’s focus on self-growth in which the individuals are multi-faceted individuals rather than caricatures.
Additionally, the story has an enthralling ability to establish a simple premise about these characters, and their relationship to Aman, whilst then subverting Aman’s (and by extension the reader’s) expectations and understanding to why the characters act in the way that they do.
The story’s greatest revelations occur within ongoing moments of tension, from which cathartic moments of relief are offered through a shift in perspective. Characters such as the elderly lady, Edith, and even Lekh’s become a trigger for Aman’s self-liberation. Ultimately, Fusion of Reality is a story that has beauty in the idea that a person’s worth is not tied to their achievements, nor capabilities, and that there is more importance in finding harmony within oneself.
Lily Bushell