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A Beginner's Guide to Dying in India
Winner, IP Picks 09 Best Fiction Award
Part comedy, part tragedy, part henna-drawn thriller peppered with romance and intrigue, A Beginner’s Guide to Dying in India is a spiritual journey across the continents of the soul.
Commencing in Australia and traversing toward the climactic scene in the snowy mountains of Northern India, this novel crosses exotic external and internal terrains with humour, sharp wit and a resonance that expands with each chapter.
While confronted with mounting grief and loss in Australia, Levi is suddenly called to India by his brother and delves, though somewhat reluctantly, into the shifting sands of his own spirituality. In fulfilling his dying brother’s wishes, Levi embarks on a path intersecting with adventure, new found friends, a treasure trove of riches (and not just the material kind.
Josh Donellan is the winner of the 2009 IP Picks Best Fiction and was a finalist in The National Youth Week Writer’s competition in 2008.
He completed his first novel at seventeen, and independently published his second, What Rhymes with Chaos? in 2008. Josh has exhibited his poetry and installation work at Queensland’s prestigious Brisbane Powerhouse.
Joah is an author, poet, musician, installation artist, teacher and event manager. He was almost devoured by a tiger in the jungles of Malaysia, nearly died of a lung collapse in the Nepalese Himalayas, fended off a pack of rabid dogs with a guitar in the mountains of India and was sexually harassed by a half-naked man whilst standing next to Oscar Wilde’s grave in Paris.
He has an unnatural fondness for Scrabble and an irrational dislike of frangipanis.
Part comedy, part tragedy, part henna-drawn thriller peppered with romance and intrigue, A Beginner’s Guide to Dying in India is a spiritual journey across the continents of the soul.
Commencing in Australia and traversing toward the climactic scene in the snowy mountains of Northern India, this novel crosses exotic external and internal terrains with humour, sharp wit and a resonance that expands with each chapter.
While confronted with mounting grief and loss in Australia, Levi is suddenly called to India by his brother and delves, though somewhat reluctantly, into the shifting sands of his own spirituality. In fulfilling his dying brother’s wishes, Levi embarks on a path intersecting with adventure, new found friends, a treasure trove of riches (and not just the material kind.
Josh Donellan is the winner of the 2009 IP Picks Best Fiction and was a finalist in The National Youth Week Writer’s competition in 2008.
He completed his first novel at seventeen, and independently published his second, What Rhymes with Chaos? in 2008. Josh has exhibited his poetry and installation work at Queensland’s prestigious Brisbane Powerhouse.
Joah is an author, poet, musician, installation artist, teacher and event manager. He was almost devoured by a tiger in the jungles of Malaysia, nearly died of a lung collapse in the Nepalese Himalayas, fended off a pack of rabid dogs with a guitar in the mountains of India and was sexually harassed by a half-naked man whilst standing next to Oscar Wilde’s grave in Paris.
He has an unnatural fondness for Scrabble and an irrational dislike of frangipanis.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2009
55 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 7, 2010
I really loved this book. Maybe because I'm a fundamentally unspiritual dag who's happy to hide in her apartment, and enjoyed the trip from the view of her couch.
I felt great empathy for our catastrophic, humour-filled protagonist.
I felt great empathy for our catastrophic, humour-filled protagonist.
April 4, 2012
Sometimes tragic, sometimes comic, sometimes tragically comic. Really enjoyed this book which, thankfully, was not about "finding yourself". In fact, it's the complete opposite and quite unconventional. (My type of read!) And I identified with the main character despite him being male and a bit of a dag. I guess I identified with the dag bit :) Great read. Highly recommend it.
December 19, 2015
It's weird that goodreads lets you review your own books. I'm going to give it...five stars. Even though I hear the author is kind of a jerk.
November 21, 2011
Interesting travel story/mystical thriller.
June 9, 2020
A spiritual journey to atone for his brother’s sin morphs into a physically life threatening journey. Sad and humorous, light and dark. Quite a juxtaposition.
June 9, 2024
A book that makes you remember how crazy and amazing and unpredictable life can be.
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February 3, 2014abandoned this after a few pages. not interested.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews