Choice

by Neel Mukherjee
Choice cover
Good Books rating 3.81
Literary Fiction
Technical:
  • ID: 455
  • Added: 2025-09-11
  • Updated: 2025-09-18
  • ISBN: 9781324075028
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
  • Published: 2024-04-02
  • Formats: 12
  • Reviews: 4
Buy online
Waterstones
Paperback • £9.99 Hardback • £18.99

In "Choice," Neel Mukherjee delves into the complex question, "How ought one to live?" through the life of London-based publisher Ayush, who embarks on a radical experiment to scrutinize every act of consumption in his life and those around him. The novel weaves together multiple narratives, including those of Ayush's economist husband, their twins, and the authors he publishes, creating a tapestry of interconnected stories that probe the ethical and economic dimensions of contemporary existence. Among these narratives are a mysterious author’s tale of a young academic whose life is altered by a car accident and an economist’s account of a gift of a cow to a family on the West Bengal–Bangladesh border that leads to unexpected tragedy. Mukherjee’s work is a scathing yet compassionate examination of economics, race, appropriation, and the tangled ethics of modern life, challenging readers to reconsider the extent of their freedom to make choices.

Reviews
Publishers Weekly · 2025-09-12
ambivalent 3.00

The novel offers a nuanced but somewhat diffuse exploration of moral quandaries, with detailed character studies but a narrative that struggles to fully cohere.

Publishers Weekly describes 'Choice' as a novel that ambitiously tackles moral complexity through three loosely connected stories, each inhabited by characters facing difficult ethical decisions. While the detailed character work and thematic investigation are strengths, the review notes that the book’s structure and pacing sometimes bog down the narrative flow, making it less impactful than Mukherjee’s previous works. The critique points to a tension between the novel’s intellectual ambitions and its emotional engagement, suggesting it is a thoughtful but uneven read.

Quick quotes

    Mukherjee exhaustively explores the gray areas inhabited by his characters.

    Rote ruminations about the shortcomings of contemporary publishing and academia bog things down.

    The three narratives don’t quite hang together.

New Pages · Kevin Brown · 2025-09-12
thoughtful 4.00

The novel explores ethical dilemmas through three interconnected stories, focusing on how individuals confront choices related to climate change, immigration, and poverty.

Kevin Brown highlights how the novel’s triptych structure creates a layered exploration of choice, with each story dealing with complex moral questions. He notes the characters’ struggles with their personal and societal challenges, such as Ayush’s obsession with climate change affecting his family life, Emily’s encounter with an Eritrean immigrant, and Sabita’s family’s difficult experience with a poverty experiment. Brown appreciates the novel’s thematic depth and its engagement with contemporary issues, framing it as a profound meditation on how one should live in the 21st century.

Quick quotes

    Mukherjee's novel asks the question of how one should live in the twenty-first century.

    Ayush consistently repeats, as narrator, that one must change their life.

    Unlike the other respondents in the experiment, the situation does not go well.

Goodreads · 2024-04-02
compelling 4.25

The novel is an ambitious and compelling exploration of 21st-century ethical and political dilemmas, combining intellectual depth with emotional impact. It particularly appeals to literary fiction fans with its critique of commercialisation and diversity tokenism.

This review highlights the novel's structure of three interconnected stories, focusing on characters who grapple with complex issues such as economics, identity, and morality. The first narrative, centered on Ayush, is praised for its detailed portrayal of contemporary struggles in publishing and family life, especially the tension between commercial pressures and artistic values. The reviewer appreciates the literary references and the emotional resonance woven throughout the novel, making it a thoughtful and moving read for those interested in nuanced social commentary.

Quick quotes

    A truly ambitious and compelling fiction from an author at the height of his powers.

    Choice lays out three narratives exploring 21st-century ethical and political dilemmas.

    The novel is not only intellectually impressive, it is also immensely moving, and shot through with heart-breaking moments.

The New York Times · 2024-04-02
insightful 4.00

The novel skillfully examines how deferred choices become inevitable fates, with a tripartite structure that deepens themes of free will and truth. The first section, featuring Ayush, effectively portrays the pressures of identity and career within a racially charged publishing world.

This review emphasizes the novel’s exploration of truth-telling and the consequences of choices, drawing parallels to Mukherjee's earlier work. The tripartite narrative structure is noted as a strength, allowing a layered examination of characters' struggles with wealth, poverty, activism, and personal agency. Ayush’s story particularly stands out for its nuanced depiction of racial and professional challenges, capturing the complexity of modern identity politics and the illusion of control over one's destiny.

Quick quotes

    Mukherjee is brilliant at tracing the ways a choice deferred becomes a fate sealed.

    The author’s tripartite structure deepens themes of free will and truth.

    Ayush can’t shake off the feeling that he is their diversity box, ticked.

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