I'm reading Manil Suri's The Age of Shiva. I've been reading literature about India and by Indian authors for quite a few years, and now, in preparation for my trip to India this coming winter, I'm reading everything Indian I can find.
I like Manil Suri's writing. It has a plain-spoken quality that I admire and the characters generally feel authentic. When I started the novel, it felt so much like I was reading a woman's voice that I kept checking the author photo to remind myself that he's male. But it's a disturbing book in many ways and, as I was reading, I sometimes felt reluctant to re-open it and get back to it.
Meera, the protagonist, is not a very likeable woman. She's alternately obstinate to the point of being self-destructive and then weak-willed to the point of being self-destructive. I found it difficult to reconcile these characteristics. Meera begins as a strong-willed young woman bent on self-preservation at all costs, but then makes such bizarrely bad choices that I felt real annoyance and impatience. I felt a bit like I was being manipulated by the author and it kept occurring. Just when it seems like something might actually go right for this woman, she sabotages herself again. Sure, people do this in real life, but somehow I wasn't quite convinced about Meera's motivation. I couldn't get my head around her wildly inconsistent personality. Still, I kept reading, which is a testament to the good writing.
The only thing I found distracting about the writing (and I never want to be distracted by the writing, even if it's beautiful) was the author's choice of second person voice for the second half of the book. It goes on far too long and there doesn't feel like there's a reason for it.
I'm not yet finished the book. As a mother of a son, it's seriously creeping me out. But I will read his first book, The Death of Vishnu, after this.