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Come Up & Be Dead: A Novel
Sahitya Academy award winning novelist. She lives in Bangalore. 2003 2nd edition. Author's unadorned style directs the reader's attention to the inner lives of her characters. In this psychological thriller Shashi Deshpande demonstrates the versatility of her award winning literary skills.
265 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1983
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About the author
Shashi Deshpande
42 books164 followersNovelist and short story writer, Shashi Deshpande began her career with short stories and has by now authored nine short story collections, twelve novels and four books for children. Three of her novels have received awards, including the Sahitya Akademi award for `That Long Silence'. Some of her other novels are `The Dark Holds No Terrors', `A Matter of Time', `Small Remedies', `Moving On', `In The Country of Deceit' and `Ships that Pass'. Her latest novel is `Shadow Play'.Many of her short stories and novels have been translated into a number of Indian as well as European languages. She has translated two plays by her father, Adya Rangacharya, (Shriranga), as well as his memoirs, from Kannada into English, and a novel by Gauri Deshpande from Marathi into English.
Apart from fiction, she has written a number of articles on various subjects - literature, language, Indian writing in English, feminism and women's writing - which have now been put together in a collection `Writing from the Margin.' She has been invited to participate in various literary conferences and festivals, as well as to lecture in Universities, both in India and abroad.
She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2008.
List of books by Shashi Deshpande
Dark Holds No Terrors (1982)
That Long Silence (1989)
A Matter of Time
Moving On
Small Remedies
Shadow Play (2013)
The Narayanpur Incident
If I Die Today
In the Country of Deceit
The Binding Vine
Ships That Pass (2012)
The Intrusion And Other Stories
3 Novels : A Summer Adventure, The Hidden Treasure, The Only Witness
Come Up & Be Dead
Collected Stories (Volume - 1)
Collected Stories (Volume - 2)
Writing from the Margin: And Other Essays
Apart from fiction, she has written a number of articles on various subjects - literature, language, Indian writing in English, feminism and women's writing - which have now been put together in a collection `Writing from the Margin.' She has been invited to participate in various literary conferences and festivals, as well as to lecture in Universities, both in India and abroad.
She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2008.
List of books by Shashi Deshpande
Dark Holds No Terrors (1982)
That Long Silence (1989)
A Matter of Time
Moving On
Small Remedies
Shadow Play (2013)
The Narayanpur Incident
If I Die Today
In the Country of Deceit
The Binding Vine
Ships That Pass (2012)
The Intrusion And Other Stories
3 Novels : A Summer Adventure, The Hidden Treasure, The Only Witness
Come Up & Be Dead
Collected Stories (Volume - 1)
Collected Stories (Volume - 2)
Writing from the Margin: And Other Essays
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 22, 2012
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When I picked up this book by Shashi Deshpande, I felt she would be like the usual Indian authors. Strong emotions, usage of local slang, vivid descriptions would probably be abounding in the book. Thankfully her book was a pleasant and surprising change from all that I had expected. Her writing reminded me so much of DM, my favourite Bengali teacher. I have been very fond of all my Bengali teachers but DM was different. DM had the wonderful knack of expressing things simply and beautifully. It used to be very helpful for a student like me who was already rather flustered by the grandiose writing style of her previous Bengali teachers. And that is also where Shashi Deshpande scores over other authors by proving the oft forgotten fact that simplicity is attractive as well.
"Come Up and Be Dead" is a mystery thriller though the simplistic narrative makes you wonder many times whether it is one at all. One is almost influenced into thinking that the protagonist of the story would be Kshama, the new headmistress of the girls’ school. She is young, competent and also incorporates the usual conceived traits of successful women which include being reserved, aloof to the point of cruelty. One realizes the extent of her insensitiveness when she doesn’t flinch from asking her psychologically ill brother to leave the school and thus save her career as the headmistress. However, the main story teller is Devi, her cousin sister who is invited to come and look after Kshama’s house and brother, which she does rather successfully. She also manages to befriend Kshama’s brother Pratap and realize that he probably is not as mentally weak as portrayed.
An interesting part of the story is how part of the mysterious events have begun even before the reader has settled through the first chapters. It almost feels like when we are late in entering the cinema theatre for a movie screening and miss the first few scenes but have no trouble in catching the flow of the story.
A young schoolgirl’s suicide shakes the school out of its usual reverie and the rumours abuzz seem to be rather cruel. Some precocious schoolgirls seem to know all about it but then it’s natural to ignore their knowledge. While Kshama tries to ignore the ongoing scandals as inconsequential, Devi realizes that Pratap is probably directly or indirectly involved in the girl’s death. Before she can even get to know the truth, Pratap is dead and Devi alone feels that he has been killed. While Devi never attempts to take an active stance in investigation, she comes to know different facts naturally from the different characters who flit around- school teacher Sapna, the dead girl’s friend Sona and of course the doctor Girish. In course she also unwittingly offers herself to come up and be dead.
Shashi Deshpande is an extremely competent author. Most thriller stories are extremely difficult to attract one, with unnecessary complicated plots, a love story on the sidelines and of course unwanted characters to add to the mystery. She manages to hold the author’s attention very deftly. The characters in the story are all needed in some part or the other. The small stories about the characters help to describe them and their emotions better but they never meander into a story within another story. Of course the characters and their stories sound very familiar but probably they can be excused for remaining settled in a simple story. Finally, the mystery and the climax still manages to keep one’s nerves quite taut even though the entire storyline is simple and the characters seem to flow from every day life. Not an Agatha Christie, but when did she pretend to be one?
A pleasing read and highly recommended.
When I picked up this book by Shashi Deshpande, I felt she would be like the usual Indian authors. Strong emotions, usage of local slang, vivid descriptions would probably be abounding in the book. Thankfully her book was a pleasant and surprising change from all that I had expected. Her writing reminded me so much of DM, my favourite Bengali teacher. I have been very fond of all my Bengali teachers but DM was different. DM had the wonderful knack of expressing things simply and beautifully. It used to be very helpful for a student like me who was already rather flustered by the grandiose writing style of her previous Bengali teachers. And that is also where Shashi Deshpande scores over other authors by proving the oft forgotten fact that simplicity is attractive as well.
"Come Up and Be Dead" is a mystery thriller though the simplistic narrative makes you wonder many times whether it is one at all. One is almost influenced into thinking that the protagonist of the story would be Kshama, the new headmistress of the girls’ school. She is young, competent and also incorporates the usual conceived traits of successful women which include being reserved, aloof to the point of cruelty. One realizes the extent of her insensitiveness when she doesn’t flinch from asking her psychologically ill brother to leave the school and thus save her career as the headmistress. However, the main story teller is Devi, her cousin sister who is invited to come and look after Kshama’s house and brother, which she does rather successfully. She also manages to befriend Kshama’s brother Pratap and realize that he probably is not as mentally weak as portrayed.
An interesting part of the story is how part of the mysterious events have begun even before the reader has settled through the first chapters. It almost feels like when we are late in entering the cinema theatre for a movie screening and miss the first few scenes but have no trouble in catching the flow of the story.
A young schoolgirl’s suicide shakes the school out of its usual reverie and the rumours abuzz seem to be rather cruel. Some precocious schoolgirls seem to know all about it but then it’s natural to ignore their knowledge. While Kshama tries to ignore the ongoing scandals as inconsequential, Devi realizes that Pratap is probably directly or indirectly involved in the girl’s death. Before she can even get to know the truth, Pratap is dead and Devi alone feels that he has been killed. While Devi never attempts to take an active stance in investigation, she comes to know different facts naturally from the different characters who flit around- school teacher Sapna, the dead girl’s friend Sona and of course the doctor Girish. In course she also unwittingly offers herself to come up and be dead.
Shashi Deshpande is an extremely competent author. Most thriller stories are extremely difficult to attract one, with unnecessary complicated plots, a love story on the sidelines and of course unwanted characters to add to the mystery. She manages to hold the author’s attention very deftly. The characters in the story are all needed in some part or the other. The small stories about the characters help to describe them and their emotions better but they never meander into a story within another story. Of course the characters and their stories sound very familiar but probably they can be excused for remaining settled in a simple story. Finally, the mystery and the climax still manages to keep one’s nerves quite taut even though the entire storyline is simple and the characters seem to flow from every day life. Not an Agatha Christie, but when did she pretend to be one?
A pleasing read and highly recommended.
January 24, 2015
i like this book
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews