This book used a clever device to tell a history of the modern country of India – and thanks to the way the story is told the writer has free reign to criticize and comment on significant events. There is a lot of great writing here, rich in Indian culture and history.
We are introduced to a boy telling the story of several generations of his family, and all the trials they go through. Importantly the boy himself is born at the exact moment of the birth of independent India as a nation, and we here about the growing pains of both. The boy’s growing pains are illustrated in detail, both comic and tragic, while India’s (and Pakistan’s) rest more heavily on the tragic.
I don’t know much about Indian culture but I learned a great deal reading this book – a lot of new vocabulary as well. I thought that the storytelling style was a little annoying, however. It doesn’t go smoothly from tale to tale, but abruptly shifts and then goes back, with shocking revelations about a character’s future even before we get to know them. There was also a fair amount of magical realism which was interesting when done in the name of comedy but sometimes left me wondering about the true message (that apparently I wasn’t getting).
This is a long book with a fairly slow start, but getting through the first third sets you up nicely for the rest, and I liked how the structure of the tale feels random at first and then slowly comes to light.
Next I’m reading Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone.
