It’s hard to get satire when you aren’t familiar the culture being lampooned. There were times in this book where I got it, I knew the hyperbolic statements weren’t the real truth of India. But then there were other times I wasn’t so sure; I know India isn’t Bollywood and yoga and religious ceremonies Westerners can steal to make themed 5ks. But I also don’t know enough to determine if rich people running over poor people and then getting their servants to confess to it […]
Joseph Conrad Meets Graham Greene
The Strangler Vine was long listed for the 2014 Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction and the description — historical fiction set in early 19th-century India featuring a green soldier, a wizened political operative and Thuggees — made it sound too good to pass up. Images of Indiana Jones came to mind, but Carter offers her readers so much more than that pulpy comic-booky fare. Trained as a journalist, she delivers a meticulously researched political novel that reminded me of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and […]
“Love is a one-way street. Love, like respect isn’t something you get; it’s something you give”
I am truly pleased that I have moved forward in 2015 with the intention of listening to more audio books, because I feel that I would not have been able to either get through or enjoy Shantaram to the level I did if I simply read the paper version. The paperback version of the book clocks in at nearly a thousand pages – heck the audio version is 43 hours long and took me two months to listen to (although I did take a break […]
Ten Minutes Only is Required
Vish Puri is India’s Most Private Investigator. He handles cases as simple as cheating spouses and background checks on potential husbands to murder, kidnapping, and the abduction of a famous moustache. Yes, really. One of Puri’s clients in this book is the man with the longest moustache. Someone breaks into his house and shaves off half of it. The man with the second longest moustache is accused, but it’s not so simple — he’s kidnapped and loses his moustache, too. Fortunately Vish Puri is on […]
In Our Family Portrait, We Look Pretty Happy
First things first: The Lives of Others is a very good book. It is skilfully written, the imagery is vivid and the portrayals are, as far as I can tell from my limited experience with Indian culture, realistic and poignant. It is also, at times, an infuriating and frustrating read. Make no mistake: this is not a story about a quirky but essentially kind-hearted Indian Addams Family. If you’re looking for something to cheer you up, look elsewhere. The Lives of Others focuses on the […]
For so long as fate keeps waiting, we live on…
Once in a blue moon, someone gives you a book that you would have never picked up on your own, and you can’t put it down. Shantaram is one of those books. Set in Mumbai, India in the late 70s and early 80s, Shantaram is the semi-autobiographical story of Lin, an escaped Australian convict. Lin was serving nineteen years for armed robbery when he escaped over the prison walls, hopped a few planes, and wound up in Mumbai. What follows is a sweeping story that […]
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