“Tasting Our Words” | “Linguistic Accountability”
Expensive Emotions Ever
Authored by Ms. Swarna Rekha | II MA English
Book Review
Swarna Rekha’s first publication titled, Expensive Emotions Ever makes a very engaging and unputdownable read for any many reasons.
Firstly, the book doubles up as a moral compass and an ethical guide for modern society, by diagnosing the ‘ethical shortcomings’ of our society - especially in the digital age - and suggests that the remedies for these shortcomings can be found only in our traditional values.
Secondly, the author highlights the ‘normalisation of cruelty’ in modern internet culture. In her chapter titled, “Kindness,” she points to “memes, reels, trolls, and trends” as platforms where people routinely exploit the insecurities of others for their cheap entertainment.
Moreover, she vehemently condemns the modern habit of “spilling the tea” (gossiping) and urges readers to refuse to sit at tables where people are being judged without empathy.
Thirdly, the book provides a sharp critique of contemporary dating cultures. Swarna argues that modern love has become a “trend” characterised by competition, comparison, and materialism. She further notes that “Gen Z considers love to be materialistic and lustful,” lacking true emotional connection.
As a corrective measure, she offers a possible solution from her own standpoint, stating that, a return to a pre-Gen Z standard of love is the need of the hour, a love that requires non-materialistic effort, healthy communication, and the willingness to support a partner through imperfections rather than demanding perfection.
Fourthly, Swarna highlights the harmful consequences of embracing a ‘throwaway culture’. She observes that, the modern era has somehow embraced the throwaway culture - a tendency to abandon difficult situations or relationships rather than work through them.
The chapter titled, “Don’t replace; instead, repair,” directly tackles this ‘throwaway culture’ mentality, by beseeching the reader to look out for effortless replacements when a relationship faces friction. The author argues that constantly replacing people leads to a loss of loyalty and recurring guilt. Instead, she positions the effort to “repair and reunite” as an essential ethical duty that builds stronger, more permanent human bonds.
Fifthly, a strong “ethical orientation” forms the golden thread that weaves the book together into a harmonious whole. A significant portion of the book is dedicated to outlining core human values like honesty, respect, compassion, responsibility, and perseverance. In addition, she also ensures that these are not treated as obscure or idealistic theories, but as practical, daily requirements.
Sixthly, one particular concept that I personally liked very much was her emphasis on linguistic accountability. The book holds her readers strictly accountable for their communication. Hence, the author urges her readers to “Taste your words before you spill them out,” thereby addressing the impulsive tendency for reactive, careless speech. She also emphasises that negative words can cause deep psychological harm and hence insists that any verbal promises must be consistently backed by tangible actions, asserting that this alignment of word and deed reflects the “truest version of yourself”.
Seventhly, the book abounds with a lot of engaging Acronym-based definitions, to define standard emotions. For example, she frames LOVE as “Longing for Opportunities where Venture meets Empathy” and FEAR is characterised as a “Furious Enemy who Admits Risk to Your Confidence”. Again, she personifies Anger as an ‘Alien Invader’, by defining it as “an Alien that Nurtures your Grudge”, thereby foregrounding the fact that, these negative emotions are not a natural biological response, but a parasitic force that needs to be nipped in the bud.
Eighthly, the author has employed a lot of highly engaging literary devices to convey her message across to her readers. For example, in the piece titled, ‘Flowers are personified’, the author uses a garden as an allegory for the human psyche. By assigning specific emotional states to flora - daffodils for happiness, tulips for sadness, daisies for envy - the author creates a microcosm where emotions must learn to coexist.
Again, in her poem titled, ‘Emptiness into Fulfillment’, the internal struggle so beautifully connects with physical sensation. Phrases like “the darkest room without a light” and “wet, cold hands that shivered” effectively foreground the isolating nature of grief, which finally transitions to fulfilling joy when there is a focus on the self! (self-focus).
Finally, to conclude - in an age where human connection is frequently ‘replaced’ rather than ‘repaired’, our deepest emotions remain the most luxurious jewels that we possess! In this regard, Swarna Rekha’s book beautifully reminds us that our deepest emotions are not enemies to be feared, but a delicate garden to be cultivated and celebrated!
The vibrant cover design my Ms. Rakshaya (Ms. Swarna’s classmate) deserves special appreciation. One interesting feature that I observed about the cover design is the central heart, which is represented - not as a solid shape, but constructed from three distinct, petal-like forms, thereby visually representing how different emotions blend to create complex emotions aka expensive emotions.
In that way, the design of the cover beautifully mirrors the content of the book!
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.png)
.png)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
