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| nam_p |
Posted
on 11-Jan-03 07:58 AM
As VV promised, 'Guru of Love' has made it into the Times. Here's the URL of the review. (The print edition comes tomorrow).
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/books/review/12MEHTAT.html
Quite a long and sympatheric look at Samrat's work. I think it seals Samrat's reputation as a new, mature and nuanced voice from South Asia.
Niraj
(posting from a friend's computer-)
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| bhedo |
Posted
on 11-Jan-03 08:08 AM
Oh, so, "Guru of Love" is out huh? Well, I read "Arresting Gods in Ktm" and I must say that the guy is obviously not delineating a typical brahmin family. The book has a Western slant, if you know what I mean. I bet Guru of love is also about extramarital affairs. Having said that, let me now read the review.
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| paramendra |
Posted
on 11-Jan-03 09:31 AM
Just read the NYT review and the excerpt. Interesting.
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| sally |
Posted
on 12-Jan-03 09:00 AM
Very good review ... not just in the sense that it's says the book is good, but that it does capture the essential nature. Bhedo, you're right, the family isn't "typical" but it's written in a way that the reader suspends disbelief--and it's also not presented as if what happens is "typical."
My only quarrel with the review is that it notes that Samrat is "mercifully" lacking in vivid description of place. It's true that he's spare, and it's true that a whole lot of writing about S Asia falls into the irritating spice-and-servant boys category, but spare writing isn't inherently "better" than more descriptive writing ... descriptive can be terrific (check out Arundhati Roy). It depends on the writer's personal bent.
Also, I personally liked the inclusion of an epilogue.
And thank goodness the Times got a sensible writer to review the book. The San Francisco Chronicle review on the jacket cover is idiotic. (It claims the book is full of Buddhist philosophy.)
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