Book Review: ‘Goddess Complex’ by Sanjena Sathian

Book Title: Goddess Complex
Author: Sanjena Sathian
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Number of Pages: 252
ISBN: 978-9365693539
Date Published: May 16, 2025
Price: INR 369

Book Review

Sanjena Sathian’s “Goddess Complex” is a wild, witty, and unsettling plunge into the chaotic waters of identity, fertility, and female autonomy. At its center is Sanjena Satyananda, a 32-year-old PhD candidate in anthropology who’s hit the pause button on both her academic life and her marriage. While her peers parade through life’s typical milestones—babies, jobs, Instagrammable domesticity—Sanjena floats in a liminal haze. Then comes the twist: she stumbles upon a fertility retreat in India run by a woman who looks ‘exactly’ like her. Cue the suspense—and the deliciously eerie mind games.

The retreat, charmingly dubbed the “God Complex,” is no ordinary ashram. It’s part-spa, part-cult, and 100% surreal. As Sanjena recovers from a head injury, she’s pulled deeper into a bizarre world of mirror therapy, “womb regression” chambers, and the haunting possibility that her doppelgänger Sunny might have hijacked her identity—and her ex. The lines between fact and hallucination blur at every turn, and Sathian’s hypnotic prose makes you feel like you’re spiraling right along with her. Is Sanjena losing her grip on reality, or is she finally waking up to the unspoken truths of womanhood?

Even in its most chilling moments, “Goddess Complex” is laced with biting humor and sharp cultural commentary. Sathian pokes fun at the glossy absurdity of wellness influencers, prenatal luxury, and the strange rituals modern society wraps around motherhood. From color-coded wristbands to moon-bathing ceremonies, the retreat becomes a funhouse mirror for everything ridiculous—and alarmingly real—about how fertility is marketed to women. Sanjena, as the American-born daughter of Indian immigrants, also navigates the cultural push-pull of tradition versus independence with a voice that’s both hilarious and heartbreakingly honest.

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What makes this novel truly memorable is its refusal to deliver easy answers. “Goddess Complex” doesn’t romanticize motherhood or villainize ambivalence—it just stares it all straight in the face. Sanjena is no polished heroine; she’s confused, angry, funny, brilliant, and sometimes maddeningly passive. And that’s exactly what makes her unforgettable. Sathian blends gothic suspense with razor-sharp satire and emotional grit to create a novel that’s as thought-provoking as it is entertaining. This isn’t just a story—it’s a psychological trip with a feminist edge, and it lingers long after you’ve left the retreat.

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