What do you think?
Rate this book
The Smoke Is Rising
The future is here. India has just sent its first spacecraft to the moon, and the placid city of Mysore is gearing up for its own global recognition with the construction of HeritageLand - Asia’s largest theme park. From behind the formidable gates of Mahalakshmi Gardens to the shanty houses on the edge of town, the people of Mysore are abuzz as they watch their city prepare for a complete transformation. Susheela, an elderly widow, is forced into a secretive new life. Uma, trying to escape her painful past, learns the lasting power of local gossip. And Mala must finally confront the reality of her husband's troubling behaviour. Savagely funny and deeply poignant, The Smoke is Rising is a riveting portrait of a city hurtling toward an epic clash of modernity and tradition, and all the wandering souls - some hopeful, some broken, and a few somewhere in between - who find themselves caught in the middle. ‘A darkly comic novel . . . Rao veers between sharp, economic dialogue that can be both hilarious and disquieting, and set-piece extravaganzas crammed with colour.’ - Spectator ‘An auspicious debut - its comedy is dry and biting, its perceptiveness acute, and its picture of India ringingly truthful.’ - Neel Mukherjee ‘The medieval and the modern India are depicted here as co-existing, and Rao has succeeded in capturing this with delicacy and insight.’ - Times Literary Supplement ‘A subtle, tender and withering portrait of a society in confused transition. This is an exceptionally accomplished novel.’ - Siddartha Deb
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 20, 2014
16 people are currently reading
374 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 2, 2021
Readers may at first be daunted by the seemingly cast-of-thousands that Mahesh Rao introduces in one after another of the opening pages of The Smoke is Rising. But they should be reassured that the main players soon emerge solidly enough for familiar recognition. Rao’s novel is set in the city of Mysore in an India straining at the leash to become “something” in the twenty-first century, a competitive wannabe on the world stage. Symbolically, this effort is reflected in the construction of a theme park called “Heritageland,” a platform for social fun, cultural mixing and, inevitably, a fine display of technological wizardry and progress.
I quickly boiled down the aforementioned cast-of-thousands to the exquisitely-drawn relationships between three couples. Mala has compromised her life too easily to husband Girish by early surrender to heavy-handed guidance on a less-career-more-marriage strategy. On the surface, their partnership looks conventional: behind closed doors, Girish has not married Mala, but rather taken her on as an improvement project. However, his didacticism is a twisted form of instruction, often humiliating, frequently sinister and brutal. Is Mala’s tolerance infinite, or can she wring an exit strategy from this situation, given the particular dynamics of Indian marriages, not to mention stifling societal expectations?
There is also Uma, a servant girl who is introverted, noncommittal, directionless, and generally adrift on an ocean of the worst kind of loneliness—that of living in over-crowdedness. Meeting Shankar in a circumstance of urgency give focus to her actions, but it is an illicit, untenable outcome at best. While Mala and Uma are both young women, Susheela is a sixty-something widow, who is well-provided for, has raised two well-adjusted daughters, and has abundant social interaction with gossipy friends and membership in any number of community associations.
But Susheela’s contentment with life is something of a self-delusion, for she is thrilled at the sudden prospect of a satisfying romance that would mean happiness for her remaining days. Similar to Mala and Uma, does Susheela have the fortitude and the fierce independence to fashion her own happiness? At her age, is she in a position to please herself before anyone else? Or will societal expectations again be an irresistible force to be reckoned with? Author Mahesh Rao displays a sure and deft touch with female emotions—Mala, Uma, and Susheela are more memorable and credible than the collection of all males in the novel, even though there is plenty of stereotyping across both genders.
The latter two-thirds of The Smoke is Rising, while still a story unfolding in many parallel fragments, is more palatable. Rao’s well-crafted prose builds a reader-friendly rhythm as he converges on the separate fates of Mala, Uma, and Susheela. Nor does he lose sight of the organic, growth convulsions of the city of Mysore itself as different factions—poor farmers who stand to lose the land of their heritage, and a coalition of business and government who see only personal profit in Heritageland—prepare for inevitable conflict.
If readers can persevere through the first third of the novel, they will find the remainder of the book a worthwhile reward.
I quickly boiled down the aforementioned cast-of-thousands to the exquisitely-drawn relationships between three couples. Mala has compromised her life too easily to husband Girish by early surrender to heavy-handed guidance on a less-career-more-marriage strategy. On the surface, their partnership looks conventional: behind closed doors, Girish has not married Mala, but rather taken her on as an improvement project. However, his didacticism is a twisted form of instruction, often humiliating, frequently sinister and brutal. Is Mala’s tolerance infinite, or can she wring an exit strategy from this situation, given the particular dynamics of Indian marriages, not to mention stifling societal expectations?
There is also Uma, a servant girl who is introverted, noncommittal, directionless, and generally adrift on an ocean of the worst kind of loneliness—that of living in over-crowdedness. Meeting Shankar in a circumstance of urgency give focus to her actions, but it is an illicit, untenable outcome at best. While Mala and Uma are both young women, Susheela is a sixty-something widow, who is well-provided for, has raised two well-adjusted daughters, and has abundant social interaction with gossipy friends and membership in any number of community associations.
But Susheela’s contentment with life is something of a self-delusion, for she is thrilled at the sudden prospect of a satisfying romance that would mean happiness for her remaining days. Similar to Mala and Uma, does Susheela have the fortitude and the fierce independence to fashion her own happiness? At her age, is she in a position to please herself before anyone else? Or will societal expectations again be an irresistible force to be reckoned with? Author Mahesh Rao displays a sure and deft touch with female emotions—Mala, Uma, and Susheela are more memorable and credible than the collection of all males in the novel, even though there is plenty of stereotyping across both genders.
The latter two-thirds of The Smoke is Rising, while still a story unfolding in many parallel fragments, is more palatable. Rao’s well-crafted prose builds a reader-friendly rhythm as he converges on the separate fates of Mala, Uma, and Susheela. Nor does he lose sight of the organic, growth convulsions of the city of Mysore itself as different factions—poor farmers who stand to lose the land of their heritage, and a coalition of business and government who see only personal profit in Heritageland—prepare for inevitable conflict.
If readers can persevere through the first third of the novel, they will find the remainder of the book a worthwhile reward.
September 24, 2019
India has a space programme, including placing one lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, in October 2008. The country also has a lot of long-standing social problems in contrast with its technological advances. That contrast is a recurrent motif in this novel.
Mahesh Rao's satire is gentle; he is not taking a scalpel to Indian society in the manner of Aravind Adiga and Rohinton Mistry but revealing it in layers, as if unwrapping a dubious gift. There is affection and humour as well as criticism and the story is told at a slow, lingering pace which makes the instances of violence, inequality and injustice stand out clearly.
The novel follows several characters living in the city of Mysore over three seasons and covers all social strata and traditional and modern attitudes. Mysore has its own 'vanity projects', an international film festival and a proposed heritage theme park, but can't supply constant electricity. The main characters are four women, a young wife and an older widow who are neighbours and their two maids, and the changing and traditional roles and expectations for women reveal deeper levels of society.
This is an excellent novel and I hope I will be reading more by the author.
Mahesh Rao's satire is gentle; he is not taking a scalpel to Indian society in the manner of Aravind Adiga and Rohinton Mistry but revealing it in layers, as if unwrapping a dubious gift. There is affection and humour as well as criticism and the story is told at a slow, lingering pace which makes the instances of violence, inequality and injustice stand out clearly.
The novel follows several characters living in the city of Mysore over three seasons and covers all social strata and traditional and modern attitudes. Mysore has its own 'vanity projects', an international film festival and a proposed heritage theme park, but can't supply constant electricity. The main characters are four women, a young wife and an older widow who are neighbours and their two maids, and the changing and traditional roles and expectations for women reveal deeper levels of society.
This is an excellent novel and I hope I will be reading more by the author.
July 18, 2014
[On my list as part of the ‘Get to Know the Nation by Reading its Novels’ mission].
Promising.
Here’s a touching, intimate panorama of criss-crossing lives in the modern Indian city (Mysore in this case – and I’ve been to Mysore, yuh). It touches on a range of recognisable contemporary themes: local corruption, building frenzies, vanity projects, divorce, domestic violence, gossip and taboo. Its centrepiece is ultimately the rather moving, tentative relationship of our widowed seniors, which is gradually given the space to evolve and reward (one of my few quarrels with the novel is the number of characters; at times I wanted more time with them and fewer scene changes).
At intervals too some pretty funny vignettes with minor characters, that capture that Indian talent for the quality put-down and grumble. There’s a line (to misquote horribly), where amid a commotion in the road, someone asks “Is this your father’s road?”. I also like the blokey conversations between male colleagues (something about satellites being like Gandhis and India putting out a new one every few years when one packs up). All told, strong first novel.
Promising.
Here’s a touching, intimate panorama of criss-crossing lives in the modern Indian city (Mysore in this case – and I’ve been to Mysore, yuh). It touches on a range of recognisable contemporary themes: local corruption, building frenzies, vanity projects, divorce, domestic violence, gossip and taboo. Its centrepiece is ultimately the rather moving, tentative relationship of our widowed seniors, which is gradually given the space to evolve and reward (one of my few quarrels with the novel is the number of characters; at times I wanted more time with them and fewer scene changes).
At intervals too some pretty funny vignettes with minor characters, that capture that Indian talent for the quality put-down and grumble. There’s a line (to misquote horribly), where amid a commotion in the road, someone asks “Is this your father’s road?”. I also like the blokey conversations between male colleagues (something about satellites being like Gandhis and India putting out a new one every few years when one packs up). All told, strong first novel.
September 18, 2014
Mahesh Rao is one to watch out for the future, and that's pretty much the best praise one can summon after reading his first novel. The smoke is rising is promises a lot with its characters and a city's (Mysore) conflict with embracing modernism on the face of historic traditionalism. But like most authors who delve into this subject, it falls well short of unearthing the complexities of its characters.
The language is good, his style of conjuring a physical location is notable and he builds a thought, but ultimately, the plot plummets and doesn't grip the readers' attention. The book has its moments, but I can't think of one chapter or page I would like to talk about or praise. But there is hope, should Mahesh work on his story telling capabilities.
Read it if you absolutely must, else there are other books to chose from.
The language is good, his style of conjuring a physical location is notable and he builds a thought, but ultimately, the plot plummets and doesn't grip the readers' attention. The book has its moments, but I can't think of one chapter or page I would like to talk about or praise. But there is hope, should Mahesh work on his story telling capabilities.
Read it if you absolutely must, else there are other books to chose from.
April 6, 2021
this book was horrible to say the least.
i met the author of this book at a literary festival in lahore,pakistan a couple of years ago.
it is based in an indian city which is called mysore.
india is progressing and is developing fast.
india has sent its first space craft to the moon and asias largest theme park has opened.
and every thing is going great for india.
there are actually three characters in the book.
one is susheela,uma and mala.
the tourist department of the city of mysore is not feeling well because the tourist are not coming and that is not a good sign for them.
mysore is indias 11nth largest city.
mala gets married to a man called girish.
it is about their life and their marriage.
they then decide to go to sri lanka for vacation.
the novel revolves around all this stuff.
uma then vanishes without a trace and then there are riots in the indian city of mysore and there is mayhem every where and that is how the novel end!.
what a horrible novel this was!.
i met the author of this book at a literary festival in lahore,pakistan a couple of years ago.
it is based in an indian city which is called mysore.
india is progressing and is developing fast.
india has sent its first space craft to the moon and asias largest theme park has opened.
and every thing is going great for india.
there are actually three characters in the book.
one is susheela,uma and mala.
the tourist department of the city of mysore is not feeling well because the tourist are not coming and that is not a good sign for them.
mysore is indias 11nth largest city.
mala gets married to a man called girish.
it is about their life and their marriage.
they then decide to go to sri lanka for vacation.
the novel revolves around all this stuff.
uma then vanishes without a trace and then there are riots in the indian city of mysore and there is mayhem every where and that is how the novel end!.
what a horrible novel this was!.
May 28, 2017
In the end what is supposed to be implicit, made with clues and insinuations, is all too banal and blandly expected to be riveting. Even the terrible seems innocuous. Infidelity, domestic abuse, the grief of a relationship that has to end, and the violent end to a public parade. I read because I want to feel things about things like that. I want the author guide me and make me care deeply about her characters. None of that happened here. It's an easy engrossing read nonetheless and full of rich description of busy Mysore. There's something a little imperfect about the structure and timing of it all. Perhaps that's why I didn't feel the tragedy of it. Or maybe I just didn't like the people in this novel that much.
March 1, 2018
I tried to enjoy this book but after reading about 200 pages, found it impossible to read anymore. The writer has a flair for big words but needs to work on story telling. Disappointed.
December 5, 2023
A thoroughly enjoyable novel that I picked up in a delightfully serendipitous fashion, during a recent trip to London. I was visiting my daughter, who took me to the gorgeous Daunts bookstore in Marylebone. Whilst we were browsing bookshelves in the excellent Indian section in the basement (both fiction and non-fiction - highly recommended) a lovely Indian lady overheard us talking in Spanish. It turned out that she used to live in Spain, in the Canary Islands, to where her parents had fled from Punjab after Partition. We recommended books to each other, and she introduced me to Mahesh Rao, a writer I had not heard of. This book, The Smoke Is Rising, was his debut novel and it was actually published by Daunt Books – the publishing arm of the bookstore.
The protagonist of the novel is the city of Mysore, and the context is the upheaval of an ancient traditional community being dragged into the modernity of 21st century India. The narrative follows the lives of three women of different ages and backgrounds. The story takes a while to really take off, but the prose is so engaging, so enjoyable, that I was more than happy to wait.
The plot, which loosely connects the three women and a host of other wonderful characters, centres on the mounting protests against the development of a new HeritageLand project - a theme park, based on the history of Mysore, which will necessitate the expropriation of land that has been hitherto farmed by and provided a livelihood to generations of local rural families.
I am so pleased to have discovered the author, and would strongly recommend the novel. I should add that it won the Tata First Book Award for Fiction, and was shortlisted for other literary prizes. I hope that my Indian friend, who I met in the bookstore, was equally impressed by my recommendations of Neel Mukherjee!
The protagonist of the novel is the city of Mysore, and the context is the upheaval of an ancient traditional community being dragged into the modernity of 21st century India. The narrative follows the lives of three women of different ages and backgrounds. The story takes a while to really take off, but the prose is so engaging, so enjoyable, that I was more than happy to wait.
The plot, which loosely connects the three women and a host of other wonderful characters, centres on the mounting protests against the development of a new HeritageLand project - a theme park, based on the history of Mysore, which will necessitate the expropriation of land that has been hitherto farmed by and provided a livelihood to generations of local rural families.
I am so pleased to have discovered the author, and would strongly recommend the novel. I should add that it won the Tata First Book Award for Fiction, and was shortlisted for other literary prizes. I hope that my Indian friend, who I met in the bookstore, was equally impressed by my recommendations of Neel Mukherjee!
March 12, 2022
The Smoke is Rising is a book that's filled with social commentaries set against the backdrop of the up-and-rising city of Mysore, and it focused on the lives of three women in particular. Susheela is a widow in her late-blooming years who was given a second chance at love when she met a man she clicked with; Uma is her servant girl who drifts through life without drama and repercussions until she did the unthinkable; and Mala is a wife who faces abuse from her husband. There's also some underlying plot going on behind the scenes that affect the characters peripherally, which contains some satire for how government works in this case.
While I liked the slow-paced exploration of these characters' conundrums and I loved the way Rao writes, something did not quite click in the way he tried to connect these different threads of plotlines. Ultimately, I liked this read but I wish the book had flown more cohesively together.
While I liked the slow-paced exploration of these characters' conundrums and I loved the way Rao writes, something did not quite click in the way he tried to connect these different threads of plotlines. Ultimately, I liked this read but I wish the book had flown more cohesively together.
June 20, 2019
This book had so much promise, but somehow by the time it ended, I felt it become insipid and boring. The prose was beautiful, mind you. But I didn't quite enjoy the narrative style - there are multiple stories interwoven narratively, but not plot-wise. So in many places it became an irritant, that just when you're settling down with one story (and characters), in the immediate next paragraph the focus shifts to a completely different story and character. This would've still worked had the stories been tied up together in some way (which was honestly what I expected), but no - you could've taken out the interwoven bits, laid them up together in a self-contained story, and it would've made a beautiful collection of short stories. IMO, that would've been way better than what has been done here. Disappointed. :-(
But I'd love to read the author again. Maybe this book wasn't right for me.
But I'd love to read the author again. Maybe this book wasn't right for me.
January 24, 2021
This novel’s biggest strength is its rootedness in time and place. It’s a novel about the city of Mysore, a place I’d like to visit at some point because my yoga practice originates from there. The proliferating cycle of foreign yoga students does get a (somewhat denigrating) mention in the book, and anyone for whom Mysore means nothing beyond that soon gets schooled in the richness and diverse tensions that make up the place. The cast of characters is vast, some might say a bit too vast to keep track of, and the writing is needlessly dense at points. The overall effect, though, is that it gives the reader a multifaceted understanding of the city, of its inhabitants and their lives, and of the struggle that rapid urbanisation and commercialisation is bringing to so many South Indian cities in particular. A final thing I liked - it’s so nice to see a male novelist demonstrate an ability to write fully realised female protagonists.
March 8, 2022
It is the author's first book and definitely reads like one. Having said that, can see how Mahesh Rao went from this to Polite Society.
The characters take a while to get used to, but you eventually do and start rooting for them, or despising them.
The small town vibe of Mysore is where the problem is. There is too much investment done to bring it out, which ends up grating as you read. You can only read so much about the furniture arrangements in different hotels and events. And this is what lets the book down. It could've been a better book at 150-160 pages, letting the town talk through his characters.
The characters take a while to get used to, but you eventually do and start rooting for them, or despising them.
The small town vibe of Mysore is where the problem is. There is too much investment done to bring it out, which ends up grating as you read. You can only read so much about the furniture arrangements in different hotels and events. And this is what lets the book down. It could've been a better book at 150-160 pages, letting the town talk through his characters.
February 9, 2020
The author has a great style of writing and has done well to describe the varying lifestyles of the main female characters in their various social classes, but one can't deny that there really is no plot that would keep a reader interested for long. Whilst I wouldn't expect a pace akin to those of thriller novels, there really is a big contrast between how fast India is developing in this story versus how slow the actual novel is being told.
July 26, 2018
Mahesh Rao writes skilfully, and I thought the book started out with promise, but I lost my way in the different plot-lines. In the end, I didn't care enough about any of the characters or the undercurrent of doom. Yes, there is a lot we need to do and much of India lives in squalor. But a little bit of hope, some talk of the aspirations that accompany the despair, wouldn't have hurt.
April 2, 2022
I struggled with this. I would have preferred if he concentrated on the couples and the differences in their relationships and how that unfolded because that was actually interesting. All the intersecting parts about the farmers and the festival was unbelievable dull.
April 21, 2019
Familiar, if often bleak, vignettes of Karnataka life. Rather meandering and slow paced to hold one's interest tightly.
October 21, 2025
very close to abandoning.. what is the meaning of these thousands of characters, is it worth hanging on?
July 22, 2018
The book features a group of loosely connected characters, not all of whom actually meet during the plot's course. It is a somewhat scatter gun plot bringing out aspects of modern India, with a running theme of farmers being dispossessed to make way for some ghastly theme park.
Matters get strikingly violent at times, characters being targeted because they are threatening vested interests, or just being violent because they are over-privileged scum. The narration tone is gentle, almost soothing, and when violence happens it feels jarringly sudden.
The poor really get it bad in this book. In one of the world's most advanced countries and a regional super-power, the poverty is just grinding. People's welfare is second to money in a very overt way. Housing floods as soon as the monsoon comes, because it's been built in breach of the most basic regulations.
On the flip side, the upper middle class are so up themselves, just like they are here in my experience. [Plot spoiler alert] This to the extent that a widow in her 60s in good health is sanctioned for starting a new relationship: who the f*** thinks it's their business?
One problem for the author is, will anyone in Britain care about what it's like in India? I am interested because the book's like an update to Salman Rushdie's 'Midnight's Children', which I read many years ago and because I'm interested in international development, but how many people are like that?
However, most of the characters are deeply sympathetic and even the evil ones are drawn realistically. This is a finely crafted piece of work and I'm very glad I read it, being close to sad when it was finished. Well worth the effort for something that is genuinely a bit different and might mean some people will take stuff a bit less for granted.
Matters get strikingly violent at times, characters being targeted because they are threatening vested interests, or just being violent because they are over-privileged scum. The narration tone is gentle, almost soothing, and when violence happens it feels jarringly sudden.
The poor really get it bad in this book. In one of the world's most advanced countries and a regional super-power, the poverty is just grinding. People's welfare is second to money in a very overt way. Housing floods as soon as the monsoon comes, because it's been built in breach of the most basic regulations.
On the flip side, the upper middle class are so up themselves, just like they are here in my experience. [Plot spoiler alert] This to the extent that a widow in her 60s in good health is sanctioned for starting a new relationship: who the f*** thinks it's their business?
One problem for the author is, will anyone in Britain care about what it's like in India? I am interested because the book's like an update to Salman Rushdie's 'Midnight's Children', which I read many years ago and because I'm interested in international development, but how many people are like that?
However, most of the characters are deeply sympathetic and even the evil ones are drawn realistically. This is a finely crafted piece of work and I'm very glad I read it, being close to sad when it was finished. Well worth the effort for something that is genuinely a bit different and might mean some people will take stuff a bit less for granted.
March 18, 2016
The characters in Mahesh Rao’s novel set in Mysore represent different strata of Indian society. Through the glimpses into their lives that the author offers, the reader comes away feeling that only the super rich - more exactly the nouveau super rich – have some control over their destiny.
Despite the inroads of modernity in the form of India’s first rocket launch to the moon, theme parks, luxury malls, an international film festival, dieting clubs, lifestyle fads, ubiquitous advertising of “entire ranges of products that the middle classes were completely unaware that they required” and an effort to make over the city’s image into the “Geneva of the East”, everyone else is to a greater or lesser extent oppressed by the traditional evils that still plague India : the cast system, extreme poverty, sub-human living conditions, environmentalf degradation, an erratic electricity and drinking water supply, spousal abuse, etc. As if all that were not enough, Rao’s characters are suffocating under the pressure exercised by society, their own families and friends to conform to some rigid ideal of propriety. Envy, vicious slander and humiliation destroy even the most innocent attempts at happiness.
This is an intelligent, very well written novel which despite the seriousness of the subject matter is not strident and often very funny.
Despite the inroads of modernity in the form of India’s first rocket launch to the moon, theme parks, luxury malls, an international film festival, dieting clubs, lifestyle fads, ubiquitous advertising of “entire ranges of products that the middle classes were completely unaware that they required” and an effort to make over the city’s image into the “Geneva of the East”, everyone else is to a greater or lesser extent oppressed by the traditional evils that still plague India : the cast system, extreme poverty, sub-human living conditions, environmentalf degradation, an erratic electricity and drinking water supply, spousal abuse, etc. As if all that were not enough, Rao’s characters are suffocating under the pressure exercised by society, their own families and friends to conform to some rigid ideal of propriety. Envy, vicious slander and humiliation destroy even the most innocent attempts at happiness.
This is an intelligent, very well written novel which despite the seriousness of the subject matter is not strident and often very funny.
April 13, 2014
The capacity to scrutinize ordinariness is a kind of labour that doesn't come easy to creative minds.
I have always liked persuasive descriptions and writing that has flair to assimilate the fecundity in common people’s lives they have no idea of. Mahesh Rao, without a doubt, has that eye, a rare ability to stick the stagnant out with a new meaning. This is a highly readable book that seeks to examine the perils of rapid, unplanned urbanization of spaces belonging to the poor and impressionable. Reminded me of ‘India Becoming’ by Akash Kapur, which has a similar premise, and is set in peninsular India too.
As a reader, I thought, the narrative slowed down for my attention span to be washed over a few times.
Overall, a good first book.
I have always liked persuasive descriptions and writing that has flair to assimilate the fecundity in common people’s lives they have no idea of. Mahesh Rao, without a doubt, has that eye, a rare ability to stick the stagnant out with a new meaning. This is a highly readable book that seeks to examine the perils of rapid, unplanned urbanization of spaces belonging to the poor and impressionable. Reminded me of ‘India Becoming’ by Akash Kapur, which has a similar premise, and is set in peninsular India too.
As a reader, I thought, the narrative slowed down for my attention span to be washed over a few times.
Overall, a good first book.
August 1, 2014
This is one of the best books I read in awhile. You get to know Mysore through the eyes and lives of the characters. The most prominent characters are female, all very different, all very believable but they share a common characteristic, they are lonely. And I guess loneliness is a universal thing, it doesn't happen only in Mysore. The stories flow from tragic to comic, you go from laugh to tears in a matter of a few pages but for me the balance was perfect. I liked the characters so much that I hope eventually some of them will show up unannounced in another of Rao's books.
September 12, 2014
After a slow start I really enjoyed this book. I thought that the writing was excellent - in particular "In Mysore, Justice took on the guise of an irritated matron who really did not wish to be harangued by the petty squabbles of an ungrateful rabble" made me smile.
I could have done without the two clerks in the restaurant, but other than that, I thought that the multiple characters and the background details of the characters who were important to them added to the sense of a bustling city.
I will be looking out for Manesh Rao in the future.
I could have done without the two clerks in the restaurant, but other than that, I thought that the multiple characters and the background details of the characters who were important to them added to the sense of a bustling city.
I will be looking out for Manesh Rao in the future.
May 9, 2014
Yet another debut novel with vivid imagery and splendid narration. And with the right amount of romanticising, Mahesh Rao's book is loaded with adjectives and metaphors that do not weigh the reader down. They make him enjoy the journey with the writer, together. Also one of my best reads for this year.
November 14, 2014
Review: http://wp.me/p2J8yh-2F7
What works:
Narration, which makes the story easy to visualize
Gently delivered satire
Realistic characters and their realistic worlds
Aspects of society we want to see, but not always see
What doesn’t:
Focus to details makes the read tedious
The story and plot works for me. It’s re-readable. A strong debut work.
What works:
Narration, which makes the story easy to visualize
Gently delivered satire
Realistic characters and their realistic worlds
Aspects of society we want to see, but not always see
What doesn’t:
Focus to details makes the read tedious
The story and plot works for me. It’s re-readable. A strong debut work.
Read
June 16, 2014The writing is very original, capturing the minutest details of daily life of the main and minor characters in an interesting way and that creates a very real and vivid imagery.
Read the full review on my blog: http://tarangsinha.blogspot.in/2014/0...
Read the full review on my blog: http://tarangsinha.blogspot.in/2014/0...
June 20, 2014
Mysore always holds a special place in my heart , being born and raised in this beautiful quiet city . And this is the reason why I picked up this book. A simple fresh and beautiful narration of a society's confused transition.
February 16, 2015
I was disappointed with this. I didn't think this hung together as a novel. The parts telling the story of a few main characters were fragmented, but well written. However the parts that were involved with the local 'politics' were tedious.
November 14, 2015
Dette er egentlig ikke noen roman, men skisser av livene til en rekke personer i Mysore uten noen klar rammefortelling. Boka er usedvanlig velformulert, fylt av treffsikre observasjoner og detaljer, som likevel gjør den til en fest å lese.
September 14, 2014
An evocative story, beautifully written, but sometimes baffled by the subplots! Great vignettes of Indian culture and custom.
August 31, 2014
A portrait of modern India through the eyes of interconnected characters . Women characters are very sympathetically drawn
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews