Feb 17, 2017 01:58 AM
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An eloquent and beautifully poised novella comparing and contrasting the experiences of two English women in India. The unnamed narrator travels to India to investigate and tell the story of her father's first wife, a bored housewife who has an affair with a local prince. Their two stories are alternated and have many parallels, as well as contrasts between the colonial and Independent India. It is easy to see why this book won the Booker prize. In this novel India is once again depicted as a place that attracts those interested in its spirituality but the dropout Chid's distate for life as a mendicant shows just how silly it is for affluent outsiders to hanker for a life of poverty and hardship.
