New Delhi, May 16 -- Karan Mahajan's third novel The Complex is aptly titled, as it is set in a warren of apartments that belong to the Chopra family in Model Colony, north Delhi. The word "complex" itself denotes psychology (inferiority complex, god complex and the like), architecture (a building with added features), and of course everyday language (complicated). Mahajan's novel similarly works on all these different planes, reminding us of the intricacy of emotions in confined urban settings.

This is the story of an unwieldy Delhi khaandan living in a complex, where S.P. Chopra (one of the framers of India's Constitution and a former RBI governor) looms over his nine children squabbling for existence. The six sons and their heirs live...