A Delhi Obsession

by M.G. Vassanji

Two-time Giller Prize winner M.G. Vassanji returns with a powerful new novel about grief and second chances, tradition and rebellion, set in vibrant present-day Delhi. Munir Khan, a recent widower from Toronto, on a whim decides to visit Delhi, the city of his forbears. Born in Kenya, he has lost all family connections, and has never visited India before. While sitting in the bar of the Delhi Recreational Club where he's staying, an attractive woman joins his table to await her husband. A sparring match ensues. The two are from different worlds: Munir is a westernized agnostic of Muslim origin; Mohini, a modern Hindu woman. Utterly witty and charming, she's religiously traditional, but also a liberal and provocative newspaper columnist. Against her better judgment, Mohini agrees to show Munir around the city. As they explore the thriving markets and historical buildings of Old Delhi, an inexplicable attraction begins. What follows is a passionate love affair--uncontrollable yet impossible. This is a period of rising Indian nationalism in modern India that at times finds outlet in senseless violence. Constantly lurking at Munir's Club is the menacing and foreboding presence of a fanatical nationalist group. To them Munir Khan is simply a Muslim "love-jihadi" who has led the pride of Hindu womanhood, Mohini Singh, astray. At what cost, their passion?

Genres: Fiction, India, Canada, Canadian Literature, Romance, Literary Fiction, International

288 pages, Hardcover

Published September 10, 2019

About the author

Moyez G. Vassanji was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania. Before coming to Canada in 1978, he attended MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, where he specialized in theoretical nuclear physics. From 1978-1980 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Atomic Energy of Canada, and from 1980 to 1989 he was a research associate at the University of Toronto. During this period he developed a keen interest in medieval Indian literature and history, co-founded and edited a literary magazine (The Toronto South Asian Review, later renamed The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad), and began writing stories and a novel. In 1989, with the publication of his first novel, The Gunny Sack, he was invited to spend a season at the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. That year ended his active career in nuclear physics. His contributions there he considers modest, in algebraic models and high spin states. The fact that he was never tenured he considers a blessing for it freed him to pursue his literary career.

Vassanji is the author of six novels and two collections of short stories. His work has appeared in various countries and several languages. His most recent novel, The Assassin's Song, was short-listed for both the Giller Prize and the Governor-General's Prize for best novel in Canada. It has appeared in the US (Knopf) and India (Penguin) and is scheduled to appear in the UK (Canongate).

His wife, Nurjehan, was born in Tanzania. They have two sons, Anil, and Kabir. He lives in Toronto, and visits Africa and India often.

Awards: Giller Prize, twice; Harbourfront Festival Prize; Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa); Bressani Prize. Order of Canada.

Reviews

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I've enjoyed other books by Vassangi, I nearly quit listening to this novel several times because I never became wholey engaged. Here is a quote from Maheen, another reader who gave it only two stars who says it better than my brain can:
"A simple love story complicated by circumstances prevailing in India. Relevant for our times now as India is in the grip of fanatics, led by the PM, Modi. From the lockdown in Kashmir to the controversial citizenship law, Muslims are the target of hatred and violence and persecution. Interfaith relationships and even platonic friendships are in danger. Set against this background, A Delhi Obsession seems like a very mild story, except for the ending. The whole novel meanders slowly, not really getting anywhere, more like a tourist guide than a novel actually. And then the ending is very sudden and unexpected, so it feels forced."

[Chrisreadsbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. If you want to know more about India there are lots of descriptions of the country in this. The main focus is the relationship between an Indian/Canadian writer and a woman he meets, who lives in New Delhi suffering in an unhappy marriage. It's a slow burn to the ending, which was unexpected to say the least.

[Kappy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow - learned so much -enjoyed the history, enjoyed the love story, enjoyed the culture, but .... abrupt ending. As someone said - should have seen it coming, but maybe not in the last three sentences.

[Hana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely abrupt ending. Wasn’t ready for that.

[Janis Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully evocative of India in every way, both cruel and magnificent, tender and ugly. The conclusion was too predictable for me, however. It felt too pat; I was hoping for more nuance. But I know India quite well; perhaps for others the ending was startling. In any case, it rang true for me. What didn’t ring true was the crushing naïveté of the main characters. All in all, a book to be a little obsessed with, pleasurably, for a time. I believe the taste of it shall linger…

[Nancy Croth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I might have rated this book a 4 star for the thematic threads that ran throughout the story. However, I felt that it meandered a bit and I lost my focus thereby making it hard to figure out some of the who's and when's of the family histories of both Munir and Mohini.
I will say that I have a somewhat clearer understanding of the back story on the Hindu/Muslim divide that became even more pronounced during and as a result of partition.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I normally enjoy reading about the history/culture/religion of places in the world I found the history in this book very hard to follow. There has to be an easier/better way to educate us about the Hindu/Muslim history in India other than taking us to monument after monument after monument. I found that this telling of history made the book drag and I almost gave up on it. I'm glad I stuck it out though.

[Patsey]

Fascinating. A simple love story complicated by religion, culture, traditional, racism. Will this ever end? This is the first book I’ve read by Mr. Vassanji and I will be reading more! I enjoyed his writing style. A two-time Giller Prize winner...I’m looking forward to reading more.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this novel twice in a row, as I have to write a short report on it for a course, and I enjoyed it more the second time. The themes and conflict were well done, and the way the author depicts Delhi makes it the third central character, alongside Munir and Mohini. He shows its many facets--its history and newness, its nationalists and liberals, the sweltering crowds and poverty and the cool mountain areas where scholars live and learn. The writing style was simple yet jammed with significance, especially foreshadowing. The structure nicely emphasizes and highlights the themes, and though the end seemed inevitable, the way it's presented was like a gut punch.

What didn't work were some inconsistencies of style and tense. The dialogue is very light on tags, and italics are not used for thoughts but integrated into the narration, so at times it can be a bit disorienting. There are also two places where the tense shifts from past to present, and I'm still thinking over the reason for that.

But those are small quibbles, compared to my biggest issue: Munir. Mohini deserved better. Munir often comes across as juvenile, as he so aptly notes himself, and selfish. It takes him much too long to realize the issues that his affair with Mohini create for her, since she's, you know, married. He also gets offended easily and makes things about himself. For instance, when Mohini complains that she had to cancel a lecture to see him, he tells her that's a small thing compared to him coming from Canada. He doesn't realize she risks more than simply her reputation and marriage, stuck as he is in his belief that religion and traditions shouldn't matter, at odds with how the Indian society around him thinks. Then there's the time he fears Mohini's pulling away, so he goes to Shimla early in a sulk. I won't even get into his relationship with his daughter and how hurt he feels whenever she tries to live her own life.

Despite my opinion of Munir, the novel as a whole is a good read that has me thinking deeper about identity, tradition, and social pressure.

[Danielle Lemon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never been anywhere so DIFFERENT from my own life as Delhi. I find it hard to articulate how out of place and foreign I felt when I visited in November 2019. With some distance, I now feel very nostalgic for that visit and want to someday dive back into the delightful, terrible, awesome bedlam of Delhi. In this book M.G. Vassanji perfectly describes how the “crowded, jostling, cluttered and infinitely noisy” Delhi overwhelms with its millennia of history, labyrinthine neighbourhoods and masses of people. Vassanji shows us the city through the eyes of a Muslim Indo-Canadian writer, who desires to belong but can never shake off his foreignness.


I was very interested in Vassanji’s exploration of the Hindu/Muslim schism that I had no idea was still so prevalent in India until I visited. In my experience, it varies by intensity, from a benign observation of difference to a justification for violence and oppression, depending on where you are and what is happening. Just in the month I was there, our trip was re-routed at one point to avoid Muslim riots, and the Hindu government shut down the internet for several days during our trip to try to dispel unrest after an Indian court awarded ownership of a site sacred to both Hindus and Muslims to the Hindu community, after years of legal challenges - both of these events was shrugged off my our guides as normal.


I am not sure India can ever be (or ever wants to be) a completely secular society where these cultural and religious identifiers don’t matter, and this is the central conflict of the book, both in terms of the plot, the internal struggles the protagonist Munir has to understand who he is and where he belongs, and between Munir and his lover, Mohini. Beautifully written, heartbreaking and though-provoking. I loved this book.

[Joan Chadwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a sale table at a local bookstore and was obsessed almost as soon as I opened it. As we were suffering through a heatwave where I live it was the perfect story to get lost in on afternoons when it was too hot to go outside. I am familiar with Delhi after numerous visits, and could imagine many of the locations, as well as the Indian Nationalist Hindu sentiment which is so prevalent in India now, and the general hatred of Muslims, personified by the lockdowns in Kashmir and the recent Citizenship act, which persecutes Muslims. The Hindu extremist Jethu Lal character and his acolytes were a chilling reminder of the tribal violence which lies just below the surface in India. As I neared the end of the book I was concerned about how this forbidden romance between the Kenyan/Indian/Canadian character Munir Khan, who although ethnically Muslim, had no real religious affiliation, and Mohini, the wife of a Hindu nationalist, would end. I knew it would probably end badly, and had a foreboding feeling, but I was not prepared for such an abrupt end to their relationship. A beautifully written book. I had read one other book by the author, No New Land, which is set in Toronto, which I also enjoyed.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really liking this book until the end. That was abrupt and kind of ruined the book.

Up till the last page.. I identified a lot with Munir, not so much with Mohini. I wanted Munir to wake up and see he had connections where he was, not just with Mohini in India - admittedly she was his wakeup call and encouraged him to reach out. The casual, and not so casual racism of Aileen hurt. The conversations Munir had with her, at the grave, were some of the most open he was. I was saddened that she didn't let him into her family and he only met her brother after death.
It helped that I had some background for the Partition and the divides it caused and is still causing in India and Pakistan. I wish the author had gone more in depth as to what happened

The book felt very quiet through out. There wasn't an emotional feeling of danger even though the political and religious divide in Delhi was obvious. It was clear Mohini was baiting her husband and yet I was still stunned by the ending. I wanted more.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

M.G. Vassanji is very masterful at writing subtle stories that pack a punch. A Delhi Obsession is a perfect example of this. Set mostly in Delhi, partly in Toronto, he portrays Delhi almost as a character in the novel. I found his descriptions of the locations, history, culture and politics of India, Delhi in particular, to be really fascinating.

The story revolves around the relationship between a Canadian writer exploring his Indian roots and the Indian woman he meets at a social club in Delhi. I enjoyed the slow development of their characters and their story and their alternating points of view. It was the perfect foil to the ending which was shocking but not surprising. Vassanji foreshadowed this conclusion many times throughout the novel.

[Rosemina Nazarali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading from the perspective of someone who has a similar background to mine, with ties to Canada, Kenya and India. The history and love story were fascinating, but the focus on the Hindu and Muslim divide in India felt incomplete. I would have liked to hear from characters that were practicing Muslims in India to learn more from their POV. As many others have noted, the ending was far too abrupt. I would have liked more detail on those events and the aftermath.

I also could have done without the blatantly misogynistic commentary on women's looks, especially the judgement of the way women look as they age.

[Drillon Kincaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had the ending been less postscript, less an afterthought I'd gave given this book 5 stars. I understand why it ended as it did, as suddenly and abruptly as it did, but that ending comes across as more gimmick, more shock value than considered. It couldn't have ended any other way, but it could have been handled better.

Other than that slap-in-the-face or sucker punch, the book rates highly. Informative (historically, culturally) without becoming a text book. Characters are relatively well developed (some more than others). The pace is excellent. Highly entertaining, well-written and largely well-managed. Ending is inevitable, yet too pat, too abrupt, too much obvious shock value.

[Ola S · Rating 3 out of 5]

“A Delhi Obsession” by MG Vassanji explores a forbidden love affair between Munir, a Muslim writer from Canada, and Mohini, a married Hindu woman living in Delhi. Set against the rich backdrop of Delhi’s prominent landmarks and cultural layers, the novel delves deep into the complexities of religion, tradition, and identity. Vassanji offers a strong sense of place, immersing readers in the city’s beauty and tensions alike. Told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of the two protagonists, the narrative unfolds slowly. While the pace may feel deliberate, the novel’s themes of love, division, and cultural collision resonate powerfully, making it a thoughtful and layered read.

[Andre Lepine · Rating 4 out of 5]

As others have noted, the tragic ending is abrupt, yet not altogether surprising in retrospect given the circumstances surrounding Munir and Mohini's relationship. The plot sometimes took some puzzlingly meandering turns, such as the man in the cemetery at Munir's wife's grave, who is never mentioned again after that one incident. I also found the writing to be rather lackluster at times. Nonetheless, as someone interested in the history of India, this was a great story and was highly enjoyable to read.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although well written, I don't know what to think about M G Vassanji's Delhi Obsession. I thought it bogged down with lengthy descriptions of history and the love story lacked passion, particularly in light of the apparent risk. I had to make myself read it, it didn't call me back. The caste system and attitudes about identity seemed to be the main purpose of the story but I just didn't care about the characters enough. And the end was so unexpected and abrupt; but maybe keeping the reader in the dark was a reflection of the naivety of the main character Munir. Anyone else read it?

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting love story set mostly in Delhi involving a widow and a married women. The number of historical references to people and events were initially overwhelming, however once I decided to not worry about their significance and just concentrate on the present day characters, the novel became more enjoyable. With only a number of pages left, I wondered how this story would end. The end was abrupt; a bit of a shock, yet not unexpected when I thought about it.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Delhi Obsession is rich in Indian culture and may be best enjoyed if you have a handy internet connection so you can view the temples and other scenes visited throughout the story. A Canadian author whose family roots are in India decides to visit that country for the first time. The book then becomes an impossible love story which gives you even more insight into family life in India. There is lots to learn along the way.

[Juanita · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read about a man going to Delhi to discover more about his roots. He falls in love with a married Hindu woman, and this book chronicles both perspectives on Delhi and bumping into the many conversational landmines between a Canadian and Delhi "an?/ite?". A brief introduction into the politics of religion in India.

[Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

MG Vassanji is an expert storyteller who writes with elegance. I admire his prose, his turns of phrase, and his ability to weave several strands of storyline and timeline.

This novel was a delight to read, on many levels, especially its setting in postmodern Delhi. The subject matter--love jihad in a Hindu/Muslim context-- is subtly and thoughtfully presented.

[Noella Allisen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure why I picked this book up. Not happy that I did. What a hopeless situation that couldn't possibly have a happy ending. So many prejudisms, cultural taboos. Hard for me to understand. Hard to rate it higher than three stars.

[Bill Berger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant intellectual romance novel written by one of Canada’s greatest writers.
The novel takes place in New Delhi between a Hindu and a Moslem and the problems that arise because of this affair. India is always India.

[Mariam Mazhar · Rating 3 out of 5]

A picked this book because I wanted to read about Delhi and it’s recent life. I was not disappointed. It also throws light on Delhi’s past and the partition. However the book was average, the love story and the theme of religion too.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

My true rating is 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the richly drawn characters and learning so much about their lives and Delhi, past and present. Can’t say more about why I’m not giving a higher rating without spoiler

[Lisa P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audible. First book I've read by the canadian author Vassanji. I liked the back and forth between Canada and India. A neat story of discovering one's roots. Low key. Not a "happy ending" book but well worth the read.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vassanji books are always a good read. This story centers on a man from Kenya living in Toronto who feels the pull to India to discover the place of his parents' birth. There he explores India's history and a new found and impossible love.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Came about this book through the library and picked it up - cover and title was intriguing. Enjoyed the book and it is one of those reads that stays with for life.

[Raj · Rating 3 out of 5]

About an affair between a married Indian woman and a widowed Canadian man. The book explores religion and fanaticism in a subtle way. I found it to be a slow read.