May 10, 2010 09:11 PM
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I picked up this book because of no particular reason and because I had never heard about either the title or the author. A decent book that one could read if one has run out of classics. Genuine attempt to bring in new ideas, written well in parts, especially the dark humor pieces, while the story races along tracking the rise of a quintessential loser (Verghese) to dizzy heights. Let me take you through some of my thoughts about this book.
How would one feel when one starts reading a "first novel" by an author not very well known and encounters profanities in Hindi within the first couple of pages - how ever contextual they may appear? I just put down the book and it took a bout of fever for me to reach out for the book since I had nothing better to do. I thought it was a bad idea to have profanities right at the beginning and perhaps an overdose of the same right thru the book which may not go down well with all.
Larger part of the book is dedicated to the life in the BigCity of Mumbai. By now we know about Mumbai, the "maya nagari" it is, it's under belly (Under world and dance bars), slums (we have an oscar because of a whole movie dedicated to the subject) and the economic disparity one gets to see here (Who can forget the all time classic song Ae dil he mushkil jeena yahan). Given the overdose of Mumbai and its life we have been getting from movies the setting could have been possibly different....or could it have? Some how bulk of the book repeated all the above which bored me quite a bit...
Having said that Mathew does a fair job of capturing the life in Mumbai, admirably tracing the life of Verghese who rises from the slums of Mumbai to become one of the most sought after God men. Fast paced, fluid writing, fairly detailed settings, good characterization of the protagonists and the side kicks. The humor come out pretty well in most places and does draw a smile. If I do have to compare this book with some of the other first books I have read from India authors I would dare say this book hardly makes an impact....one could read this for have a good fast paced reading and then forget about it.
Would I recommend this book? Well...as I said before, if you have run out of classics and are stuck somewhere with only this book go ahead and take the plunge, it will keep you occupied.
Cheers
Vinod
