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Sid Chattopadhyay
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The Empathy Engineer: A Colorless Love Story Kindle Edition

by Sid Chattopadhyay (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 83 ratings
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As featured in YAHOO NEWS: "The Empathy Engineer combines the social undertones of works by Jhumpa Lahiri and Khaled Hosseini with the dramatic tension of classic romance novels." (https://www.yahoo.com/now/novel-silicon-valley-author-highlights-170500967.html)

Abir is a young software engineering star in San Francisco from India. When he meets the woman of his dreams at a party, he gets infatuated with her. She too falls for his charm and enigma, and soon, they want to get married and settle down in San Francisco. But their fairytale love story gets tragically cut short when his Indian family rejects and humiliates her due to her dark skin color. Their love story falls apart, and she separates from him for failing to protect her against his prejudiced family.

Abir is devastated by the colorism and lack of empathy displayed by his family and how it affected his life. Shattered by his failure to protect the love of his life, he sets on a spiritual life journey to seek and spread the message of empathy. He takes an online identity as "the empathy engineer" and devotes his time on TED talks and writing blogs to spread his ideas on how empathy can abate most prejudices in society.

Four years later, on a visit to India, when he is finally thinking of settling down again by marrying a woman arranged by his family, he bumps into his ex-flame serendipitously. But this time, she is with another man. What will happen to his unfinished love story now? Will he get a final closure from his past relationship, or will he end up breaking multiple hearts instead?

A note from the author
My book is a testimonial to colorism faced by millions of dark-skinned Indian women who are given lower status in the Indian society. Irrespective of how an Indian woman carries herself, her education, or class, or talent, or beauty, the first thing that makes a woman 'acceptable' in the Indian society is her skin color. It's an undercurrent, often not-talked-about but subtle profiling which makes women with darker skin tone find it very hard to get the respect they deserve.

Some Reviews from Amazon Readers:
"The author boldly ventures into uncharted waters of subtle and systematic human bias/prejudice with skin color, and how even well educated people have their own deep biases based on other’s skin color."

“I love reading foreign authors because there is a different kind of poetry to the words. This author is a storyteller. The love story was beautiful and kept me turning the pages. Can this be a movie, please?”

"A well-written page turner that is soon to become a modern day classic."

“I loved this romance novel as it offers so much more than the genre usually does.”

"If Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri was the most relate able transcontinental treatise for the first generation immigrants, the empathy engineer arouses similar nostalgia for my generation."

"The US is a cultural melting pot and we need more positive stories like this about enduring love and acceptance."

"The Empathy Engineer is a love story as well as a story about treating all of the people that we meet with dignity."

"A beautiful love story which highlights the themes of overcoming prejudice, self-reflection, and attaining love and respect in the universe."

"I also believe that this book can be easily adopted for a screenplay for a movie, which would be a hit with the Indian audience, considering love, acceptance and east/west interplay are such a big theme of many Bollywood movies."

"Beautiful story that really brings out human emotions."

"A beautiful love story that touches on prejudice and judgment, and the need for compassion, kindness and acceptance. A warm and wonderful message!"
Previous page
  1. Print length
    271 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    December 4, 2019
  5. File size
    554 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B082BKX6FY
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 4, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 554 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 271 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1713299739
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 83 ratings

About the author

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Sid Chattopadhyay

Sid Chattopadhyay

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Sid likes to combine technology, arts, literature and music to create a unifying vision of his thoughts. He is a computer scientist and software engineering veteran by profession at Silicon Valley, having spent 15+ years working on cutting edge applications of AIML and Big Data. In his spare time, Sid is an author, thinker and creative artist. He holds a PhD in Computer Science, and a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
83 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kathy Eder
5.0 out of 5 stars I really loved the storytelling and “voice” in this beautiful story
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2020
Verified Purchase
I bought a physical copy of this book because I prefer reading books whose pages I can turn. I couldn't put this book down. I read it at the gym, before I fell asleep at night and on my exercise bicycle in the morning. From beginning to end, I couldn't wait to see how the conflict was resolved. I really loved the storytelling and “voice” in this beautiful story, The Empathy Engineer is a love story as well as a story about treating all of the people that we meet with dignity. Set in Silicon Valley, CA, in the U.S. as well as in India, this love story written by a man, is full of emotion and dialogue that makes the characters come alive. I highly recommend this book to both men and women.
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Amazon-a-holic
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Vivid
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2020
This was a sweet romance and a fairly easy read. Reading this is more like watching a movie, including a lot of vivid imagery. I know some people love that, but typically I'd rather just get to the meat of the story--however, I did enjoy most of it in this book because a large part of it takes place in India, so it was interesting to me.

The subject matter is one we are all familiar with, racism, prejudice, traditional, albeit harsh customs, traditions, etc., and it was a good reminder to be aware of all that is going on around us, including the environment, and not just our own little self-constructed bubbles.
I found it a little repetitive at times and skipped over a few long winded sermons, but overall, I enjoyed it, and watching the emotional growth of Abir, who in the beginning seemed a bit hypocritical. (specifically, his anger and prejudice at certain people for being prejudice- lol)
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Manjishtha
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful love story- highly recommended
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2020
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Finished reading ‘The Empathy Engineer’, a beautiful narrative, by Siddhatha Chattopadhyay. It’s a compelling love tale, standing tall against the existing prejudices, of our society. The protagonist, Abir, professes a message of empathy, which is a perfect remedy to clear our cluttered minds and age old practices. The characters of this book are very well presented, and one can visualize the scenes, with this vivifying story telling. This story is our own lives, a tale of many, just with varying prejudices.

I would highly recommend this book to the readers. If you’re in for a serene, heart cleansing read, you must get a grip of this book!
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Saurabh Agarwal
5.0 out of 5 stars A well written and thought-provoking book!
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2020
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The author boldly ventures into uncharted waters of subtle and systematic human bias/prejudice with skin color, and how even well educated people have their own deep biases based on other’s skin color. A very well flowing love story interleaved with deep societal prejudices - with the author’s and protagonist’s search for a “colorless” and empathetic society - a story that personally touched me deeply - something that one can connect with.

For anyone who ever moved from India to US for studies or work - this book will also take you down that bitter-sweet memory lane!
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Dusty
4.0 out of 5 stars INSPIRATIONAL.
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2020
This was a heartwarming story about dignity, respect, love, and compassion. The romance storyline was enchanting and I looked forward to each chapter. San Francisco, like many large cities can be difficult to navigate, especially for someone from another country. I enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading more from this author. This was an ARC and I did not receive any type of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. While I receive novels from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review.
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Melanie Forde
3.0 out of 5 stars Nice insights into Indian culture
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2020
I was intrigued by the title and the Leitmotif of devaluing dark skin, with all the drama that creates for the novel’s featured romance. The author paints lovely word pictures of Indian culture, both in the subcontinent and in the diaspora, and effectively immerses the reader in the hustle and bustle, flora and fauna of Kolkata. Alas, too often, the dialogue comes across as an academic outline of the author’s theories -- more socratic dialogue than authentic conversation between fully realized characters. I occasionally wanted to slap Abir for his pretentious preachiness (it’s possible the author intended the reader to have that reaction) and shake Shyamola out of her dishrag victimhood. Fortunately, the latter also has some refreshing moments of clarity where she finds her backbone and gives Abir some well-deserved wakeup calls. Despite its imperfections (including the need for sharper editing), The Empathy Engineer is a believable tale of an on-again, off-again, approach-avoidance romance, familiar to many different cultures. Lots of drama. Lots of family interference. Lots of incentive for the reader to hang in there to see how it all turns out. There are a few characters you’ll love to hate, too, which is always fun.
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Diptish Datta
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved reading the book ...
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2020
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The author has touched a very sensitive thread in the fabric of Indian society that is so against people with dark skin specially women. I love the way he weaves the various characters and their personalities in the book around the main idea - Abir and Shyamoli’s love!!
Good read!!!
-
Sushmita Datta
One person found this helpful
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Sandeep
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book and an extremely easy read!
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2021
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Sid has touched some very important issues of the Indian society. The discrimination of color still exists in the society.
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Top reviews from other countries

Fencer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2020
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A wonderfully written book. Fast paced and true on many levels. The story line is intriguing - and has its bits of drama. A must read.
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Avishek
5.0 out of 5 stars Colorless - A society we strive towards!
Reviewed in India on July 11, 2020
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Its an exploration of the one of the oldest biases that has plagued the human social fabric. Colour. The author takes us through the journey of two individuals, who feel very strongly for the topic, and yet have their unique ways to handle it. This deep rooted classification transcends civil societies and economic strata and most importantly, time - which is why you need to read this book to comprehend the fight, some of us have to put up with every single day of our lives.
Trying not to give too much away at this point, of the main characters in this tale, one is an engineer - smart, ambitious and well-mannered who thinks deeply about the contributions his education and skills can bring upon the world, while the other protagonist - a charming, educated, socially aware and caring lady - wants the society to judge a person based on their qualities as a human being and not attach labels due to their physical appearance.
The book original title “The Empathy Engineer”, has a clever paradox, at least according to me. Engineers are typically identified by their analytical abilities, while empathy is an emotion that does not find much foot in the field of work they are in. However, this particular engineer in the book tries an interesting approach in applying empathy in his thoughts to situations he faces and that makes his decisions deeper in execution. I can continue writing, but that would just be unfair as i am sure, every reader of the book will emerge with a different understanding of the topic after having read it.
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CHITRALEKHA BANERJEE
5.0 out of 5 stars Unputdownable!
Reviewed in India on June 14, 2020
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Seldom do you come across such a story that is sweet, intriguing and yet questions the nuances of the society we live in. The Empathy Engineer does exactly so. Bringing forward the myriad hues of the society, the diasporic love story, if I may call it, highlights the prejudices that are still prevalent with reference to skin colour in our society. The 'colourless' and monotonous life of an on-site engineer is narrated by a third person. The narration makes it more like listening to a friend and the characters come alive as persons we all know or have seen.
And yes, empathy is something we really need today, than ever before! A good read!
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