The Weekenders: Adventures in Calcutta

by Andrew O'Hagan (Editor), Monica Ali, Colm Tóibín

Dopo l'esperienza africana di Weekenders, ancora una volta il Daily Telegraph ha riunito lrvine Welsh, Monica Ali, Michel Atherton, Bella Bathurst, Jenny Colgan, Simon Garfield, W. F. Deedes, Tony Hawks, Victoria Glendinning, Sam Millet e Colm Toibin per catapultarli a Calcutta: dal confort e dalla modernità delle loro occidentalissime città, Londra e Edimburgo, a un luogo dove il passato parla ancora e il futuro chiama più forte che mai. Da quell'esperienza sono nati i racconti compresi in questa antologia che, mescolando la fiction al reportage di viaggio, riflettono modi diversi di vedere una metropoli che è nel mondo simbolo di povertà e miseria e che i suoi abitanti chiamano la Città della Gioia.

Genres: Travel, India, Short Stories, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

About the author

Andrew O'Hagan, FRSL (born 1968) is a Scottish novelist and non-fiction author.

He is the author of the novels Our Fathers, Personality, and Be Near Me, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The Guardian (UK). In 2003, O’Hagan was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. He lives in London, England.

Reviews

[Stuart Crowther · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew I was buying a book about several authors experience of breaks in Calcutta. I did expect more from O’Hagan, but appreciate he was the editor. Was drawn to the book by the names of Welsh and Hawkes - the latters section was the best. A great concept but whether the output then resonates with the reader is pure chance. And in my case, the stories did not appeal to me.

[Tito Quiling, Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collection has a strong buildup, and there were some chapters which to me, read like fiction as opposed to a non-fiction piece. While the tone feels a bit alienating at times, because some of them tend to be frame the events in a colonial context and less of Kolkata's sense of place, no matter how "less polished" it is. I guess, what is a nice touch in these cases are the historical facts interspersed with the writer's experience and perception as he/she goes through the narrative. The ending could be a switched with another of the chapters, since I felt that the last sentence was a bad pun.

[Ac · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book for the most part, although I was somewhat annoyed by some of the stories desire to dwell on (predicatably) Kolkata's various problems with overpopulation, poverty, corruption, and pollution. Since all of these writers are British, some of them have a very colonialist attitude which some readers of South Asian persuasion may pick up on. That being said, I did enjoy stories like 'Mercy', 'Knife', 'Reality Orientation', as I think they tried to understand the soul of Kolkata outside of all the obvious stereotypes.

[Cagne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I bought this because Welsh partecipated. Informative, various level of engagement.