Sidney Sheldon - The Bloodline

A true testament of popularity of a book in India is the fact you can pick up the book in a railway station. Indian Railways has been one of the factors in making me a reader. No author was and still probably the most sought out on a railway platform as Sidney Sheldon. When my father bought this book home from one of his travel I was eleven. Granted I was already a reader by this time. I had read nay devoured Nancy Drew's , Hardy Boys and Enid Blyton books from my school library, but Bloodline was my first novel I have ever read. 

Bloodline is story of  Elizabeth Roffe, a billionaire heiress who inherits her father's business after his accidental death. Elizabeth's investigation into the company shows internal sabotage and even murder. Someone out there is set to destroy Roffe and Sons. Every person on the board aka Elizabeth's own family has motive and opportunity now are plotting to kill her and reap profits.

The Genre which I can loosely associate it with is that of a Whudunnit meets Soap Opera. It was clearly written to be made in to a movie (It apparently was made into one into one with Audrey Hepburn, needless to say it was not a successful one considering no one ever actually heard of it). 

 

When I first read Bloodline, I couldn't put down.  I just ploughed through it overnight. Over the years I have even reread it couple of times, and every time I finished it in one go. I love that I could do that - then and now. However, Over time my relationship with the book has evolved and changed. 

When I first read it, it was new, refreshing and could introduce me to a complex world and themes. On rereading I just realised how much of it was just fluff and it barely grazed through these complex concepts without actually challenging the status quo. It just did it to check the shock and awe boxes for masses. 

My rereading of this book also drastically changed the way I viewed the lead character - Elizabeth Roffe. What I thought was a strong lead, just morphed into a bumbling idiot. I hate that about a character where when someone sets out to be a strong and smart in the start, ends up a simpering idiot in the end.  

Still I count Bloodline as a life changing book for me. Not because it was so good by any standards. But it could spark curiosity and somehow also taught a naive 11 year old to view the world differently. It taught me to be okay to have a different outlook in life and challenge traditional thinking. To be very honest, I don't think this book was intentioned to be all that. It was simple, masala entertainer doing enough to titillate the audience and keep them entertained.  

I am sure never in his life Sidney Sheldon thought that this book could normalize mature and progressive topics to a child. But this is what I took away from it at that point. This is what I love about reading. The interpretation of it so much in the head of the reader. In my opinion no book can be interpreted and understood in the same way by different people. In my case, the same book can be interpreted and understood differently by the same person at different points of life. That ultimately showed me that I am evolving as a person and still a Work In Progress.