The Strike

by Anand Mahadevan

Twelve-year-old Hari tries to make sense of his tumultuous and complex world in 1980's India. His experiment at eating fish leads to the accidental death of his grandmother; his preference for Hindi over his mother toungue Tamil leads to slanderous graffiti against his family in Madras; and his friendship with the family maid lands him in trouble with a militant Tamil film fan and political functonary called Vishu. Matters come to a head when MGR, a film star turned politician dies and his supporters led by Vishu declare a railway strike, trapping Hari and his mother in a train bound for Madras...

"Anand Mahadevan engages all the reader's senses with writing that is visid and exotic, very often erotic, and touched throughout with gentle humour." - Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2006

Reviews

[Sadayappan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice and quick read. Was able to relate to the content.

[Sandhya · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the most striking aspects about Strike is that it has this delightful vein of humour that runs throughout the book. So even when sad events occur, they happen in such a comical manner that one fights hard to supress a smile.


This tragic-comedy form is true for both the beginning and the end of Anand Mahadevan's proficient debut novel. Set in the late 80s, Strike revolves around the quotidian life of a Tam Bram (Tamilian Brahmin) nuclear family in Nagpur. The novel follows the life of 12-year-old Hari and his somewhat painful initiation into adulthood. Much of this is evocative of R K Narayan's splendid novel, Bachelor Of Arts and its teenage protagonist Chandran, who tries to broaden his horizons and look beyond the comforting but conservative setting of his Tamilian upbringing. Much like in Bachelor Of Arts, in Strike too, Hari, on one occasion, teams up conspiratorially with his buddy, Mohan to see an adult film - Ram Teri Ganga Maili .
A quick word about Mohan– an impish, irreverent character who shrugs off the caning he gets at their convent school saying that the 'Sister' probably has a thing for his bum! Truly laugh out loud moment this!

Early on, Hari has to fight his urge to try out the 'much-vilified' non-vegetarian food when his Bengali neighbour serves him with crisply made fish. He eats it, only to see his mother raise hell and make him vomit it all out. His grandmother steps on it accidentally, falls on the hard ground and dies. So the family - along with their Kollu tatha (great grandfather) - embark on a train journey to immerse the ashes in the Ganges.

Bit long so follow the link
http://sandyi.blogspot.com/2009/06/st...

[Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The boy Hari sees unfortunate coincidences in his own life and, through magical thinking, he finds himself at fault. The hijra character Radha – who is blogged about on Disruptive Dissertation – shares a coincidence from her own life, perhaps giving him some perspective. Kindle Unlimited subscribers can read it for free.

[George Ilsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple yet complicated. I always wonder how authors who write about India can manage to convey the complexities without confusing the readers. The culture, the castes, the historical resentments, the individual nicknames, the titles and nicknames: it all can be a confusing admixture of details. Here, the viewpoint of the child Hari provides the focus for uneducated readers such as myself.

[Sanjay · Rating 2 out of 5]

While many portions of this coming-of-age-in-80s-India saga are winsome and engaging, there are too many structural oddities and too many concessions to the Western reader that make it less than striking.

[Nikhilesh Menon · Rating 3 out of 5]

a decent debut..a comin of age story ....recommended

[Kate Mildew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Had the pleasure of seeing this author read from this book. Fantastic stories throughout, will surprise you.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sensitively written but the book bogged down too much around the pivotal train incident