Sacred Games: A Novel (P.S.)
by Vikram Chandra
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.58 You Save: $13.37 (79%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Sacred Games: A Novel (P.S.)
Book Review: A classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Those of us who have never been to India usually get a rather fragmented view of it as we peruse the daily paper: a story about border problems, another about the latest terrorist attack, or yet another about food inflation. A good novel often attempts to put all the elements of a society together and thus give us a feel for a time and place; Sacred Games is a very appealing effort to give us a comprehensive view of a complex country as seen from Mumbai. One has to admire the audacity of publishing a nearly 1,000-page book in an era of soundbites and Twitter, but its length is an essential part of the portrait of this multi-faceted, dense, and enormous society. You can find just about everything in it: the India-Pakistan conflict, the 1947 Partition, gurus, Sikhs, Bollywood, the criminal underclass, street urchins, prostitutes, Indian food, the war with China, Nehru, elections, the caste system, and so much more. We almost expect a chapter on the Taj Mahal Hotel attack except that it happened after the book was published. It even touches on nuclear terrorism, the topic that President Obama considers of paramount importance these days.
The main characters stand out: the chapters involving Ganesh Gaitonde, the mafia don or bhai, have him telling his story in the first person; although powerful enough to be able to rig elections, he is unable, for instance, to have a protegée marry beneath her caste since it would make it impossible for her sisters to ever find a husband. Interspersed throughout the novel are the chapters about the hero, Sartaj Singh, a moderatly corrupt policeman; his story, told in the third person, begins at the time Gaitonde dies. Although this is a gripping detective novel, it's not as much a whodunit as a why-did-he-do-it. Three chapters at the end tie up some loose ends quite succesfully.
Book Review: Trying too hard to be Salman Rushdie
Summary: 3 Stars
About a 100 pages into the book, I had the disturbing feeling that Vikram Chandra sounded like someone who I had read before. It soon dawned on me ... this book sounded like The Satanic Verses in some parts, and even the name of the book somewhat hinted at the same theme. The difference is that Salman Rushdie is who he is without any imitation; Vikram Chandra can only capture about half His Master's Voice.
For all that, it's not a bad read, just an awfully long one. At least 300 pages are completely pointless. The book is principally about Mumbai and an immense cast of characters who manage to live and thrive (only God knows how!) within it. And yet, Chandra wants to venture out of Mumbai, doing so in long, baffling excursions to pre-Partition Pakistan and Naxalite-infested Bihar - both are places with incredible stories to tell, but are completely un-needed in a work that has gives the reader enough to grapple with just with its core subject.
The parts about Mumbai are fabulous. I hope those parts are accurate (I am not a Mumbaikar). There's no question that Chandra loves his subject, and there is much to love and be impressed by in his Mumbai, corrupt and gang-ridden as it is, and yet vibrant and cosmopolitan. It's when the book tries to get beyond Bombay to the rest of India that it seems a bit contrived, with pointless mini-books being created within the overall edifice that do not really support the main structure.
The story, so long as it stays within Mumbai, flows beautifully and is a great read. A really good director (a la Scorsese) should pick this up and turn it into a movie ("Gangs of Mumbai").
Ramdas
Book Review: A good read
Summary: 3 Stars
Being in the habit of reading books literally from cover to cover, including the recommendations, I find that Sacred Games does not live up to the exuberant praise lavished on it by its literary critics. Vikram Chandra certainly has the gift of storytelling, and his interweaving of different storylines that seem unconnected at first but then come together in odd places and moments is very skillfully done. The plot is captivating enough to make one wish to read on an on to see the story unfold (though the end is a little disappointing), and therefore the novel's 936 pages don't make it too long. Yet, much as I admire Indian novelists writing about life in what is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating places in the world, I don't consider this novel about criminals, actresses, policemen and gurus in Mumbai a literary work on the level of, for example, Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy.
One of the main reasons is that the novel fails (in me, at least) to stir up emotions, as an outstanding novel should (and Seth's did). Also, Sacred Games contains, apart from a lot of swearing and street slang that doesn't elevate the text, an overly generous sprinkling of words and phrases in Hindi, as well as numerous references to things cultural - expressions, places, people, songs, movies etc. - that are only understandable to Indians, so that non-Indian readers can't help but miss out on these bits and pieces. Clearly this book, though written in English, is meant for an Indian and not a foreign readership. Too bad. These flaws notwithstanding, Sacred Games is a good read if you like crime novels, but not one that should be extolled as a great literary work.
Book Review: Long, but worth it.
Summary: 4 Stars
A long, sprawling, complicated story that I'd highly recommend.
At 800 pages (and because I didn't want to haul a book of this size on a 10-day trip to Europe) this took me two months to finish. And I felt like I lost a few details of the story from taking a 10-day break, so I actually want to read it again to see what I missed.
The author is an incredible storyteller; the characters -- even very minor ones -- are vividly written. I really got sucked into this story, and as a bonus I learned a lot of Hindi cursewords (there's a glossary in the back to help with some of the non-English words and phrases sprinkled throughout the dialogue).
Pay attention while reading; seemingly meaningless details and minor characters show up later in the story and almost everyone ends up being connected in some way. I'm not usually a fan of cop/gangster stories, but this book is a lot more than just a bad guy-good guy chase story.
Some familiarity with Indian history and culture (Bollywood stars/major films, Partition, the caste system and the many religions of India) may give you a deeper understanding of what's going on, but is not necessary. (I guess what I'm saying is, it may help you but don't let a lack of knowledge stop you from reading this book.)
Note to the faint of heart: the book does contain some graphic descriptions of violence and sex, but it's about cops and gangsters, so what do you expect?!
Book Review: An all-time favorite
Summary: 5 Stars
I've just finished the book, but I would already place it on my all-time favorites list. It's one of the few contemporary novels that deserves the adjective "Dickensian"--for its epic sweep, for its huge cast of characters, for its deep social concerns, and most of all for the undisguised affection the author has for his characters.
I had read WHITE TIGER recently and enjoyed it, but this gave me even more insight into life in Bombay/Mumbai, and the interplay of cultures, religions, and castes that makes modern India so complex. The novel is huge, but never bogs down in explanations. Instead you go right into the deep end with words in a handful of different Indian languages stirred into the English prose--slang, names of foods, epithets, geographical locations, on and on. When I came out the other end, I felt I'd experienced Mumbai and not just read about it.
And speaking of English prose, I found the writing evocative, often lyrical, and always powerfully moving.
The book cast a spell over me, and I don't expect to ever be entirely free of it.