The prognosis was inevitable. Coming after Lajja, the controversial novel that had brought its Bengali author under so much censure, Taslima Nasrin's, second novel French lover was bound to draw attention; albeit undue, by a wide margin. Or did the author who is no more welcome in her own land, really believe that for a novel to be read and read widely, means giving it a 'reputation'?

Much as the pundits may have drawn censure on Lajja, there is no denying the fact that it became a bestseller. If French lover comes even within calling distance of that status, the bait would have been won. However the hype it has drawn to date, is, uncalled for.

Opening on a direly racist note at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, as newly wed Nilanjana is given the rough ride due all third world citizens entering the hallowed portals of the west, French lover smacks of an extended racism all along. Only this time round, it is author Taslima Nasrin who capitalizes on the sexuality of racism, exposing all its gory details through the practices and perceptions of her heroine.

Nilanjana, the young Bengali woman from Kolkata has a reason for moving to Paris. She did not want to waste time waiting for a suitable match in her hometown. So Kishanlal the rich restaurateur from Paris is the one whom she weds. Once in Paris, living with Kishanlal who is in any case a better businessman than husband, Nilanjana sees herself encaged in a gilded cage, friendless and unfulfilled.

Instead of spending daylight hours exploring the streets of Paris, she is left to housekeep and fulfil the role of wife; until, she makes friends with the telephone directory. Eventually she learns to let herself out of the door and then begins the journey of discovery. In a rather 'couldn't care less' state of mind she weaves a dizzy pattern of life, in the belief that this was how she could keep boredom and depression at bay.

The real game begins when she meets Benoir Dupont, the blue-eyed Frenchman who sweeps her off her feet...the lust notwithstanding. Here is a side to life she would never know with her husband. In between, Nilanjana also has a lesbian relationship with a Frenchwoman; but this might as well be read as the author's intent to shock in greater measure.

Taslima Nasrin obviously believes in delineating the entire gamut! Between the shenanigans, Nilanjana manages to unravel, at a personal, human level, the streets, the cafes and art galleries of Paris. That she manages all this in spite of being totally alien to the culture and language is the highwater mark in a work of fiction that could enthral just about anybody out for a dose of soft porn.

Yet apart from all this, it would be unfair to underrate the author as a non developer of character. Yes, Nilanjana does develop, for in between painting the town red and discovering her own sexuality, Nilanjana realizes that Benoir's love is merely a more refined version of Kishanlal's sexual demands.

The result is a mature introspection; whereby Nilanjana discovers that her own need for Benoir has ended as well. The novel ends at this point leaving the reader wondering if this was all that the author of Lajja could manage. Or has Taslima decided to hit the beaten path instead of looking for the path not taken?

In spite of all the hype about the world having become a global village, the western reader is still hooked on to the oriental mystique. Give it the golden aura of a Bengali landscape - red saris, gold jewellery, the bindia on the forehead - and you have them all in tow. Nasrin capitalizes on the western fancy by combining the oriental mystique with the brazen sexuality of a skin 'not quite white'.

There after, it becomes easy to seduce readers who thrive on exploring the unknown armed with their own perspectives of what it is that makes for a sizzling sexual relationship. There is a definite feel all along the reading that Taslima's heroine Nilanjana was conceived as a marketing gimmick. Unaesthetic, but quite the right recipe for a populist following, even though the oriental mystique has been drained by writers from across the world.