The Vikram Seth fan club!

I've just discovered that there'll be a new book released soon. Something to look forward too!

http://theage.com.au/articles/2005/09/16/1126750086636.html

Oh, I have the feeling I may remain the solitary member of this club!

Reminds me of the time I attempted to start a Desmond Tutu fan club on Abuzz. Not ONE response to that one either. Couldn't figure it out - a wonderful man, Desmond.

And then... recently when I attempted to hold an A2K birthday celebration for Nelson Mandella, Amigo & I were the only ones dancing!

Guess I just choose the wrong folk to celebrate, hey?

OOh, me me me!!! <jumping up and down>

"A Suitable Boy" was the longest book I never wanted to end.

Re: The Vikram Seth fan club!



Well, there will be Gus for one.........







Yesterday's SYDNEY Morning Herald has a very long interview with the gent! I'll send you a copy if you can't locate it on-line or at your local library*....



*am I not nice, or what?

Now you folks have got me intrigued. I confess to never having heard of the bloke. Any particular you'd recommend?

But you read it, yes, soz?
I LOVED A Suitable Boy! As Long as it was, when it ended I just sat there stunned: No more? Oh no!

But, soz, the ending itself! Were you happy with Lata's choice of husband? Or did you feel some sadness & reservation?

Re: The Vikram Seth fan club!


You are indeed very nice to offer, Mr Stillwater. But I fear the SMH interview & the Age one (link above) are probably one & the same! (Fairfax does this sort of thing! )

Andrew

Vikram Seth is a very handsome & charming Indian man who writes wonderful books!

They include: The Golden Gate (written entirely in verse & guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, contemplate life, death & the whole damn thing.)

A Suitable Boy, which soz mentioned. An absolute delight. A love story set in post-Independence India. Not only that, you get an in depth look at the lives of Indians from many walks of life & learn of their joys, sadness, Indian politics, Indian religious beliefs & a whole lot more! It has 1349 pages!

An Equal Music: Love requited & unrequited. It is also a pretty heavy duty book about music, the love of music. And so much more. The choices one makes & why. Etc, etc.

Here's an interview with seth about An Equal Music:

http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0599/seth/interview.html

A Word of thanks (prior to reading A Suitable Boy)

To these I owe a debt past telling:
My several muses harsh & kind;
My folks, who stood my sulks & yelling,
And (in the long run) did not mind;
Dead legislators, whose orations
I've filched to mix my own potations;
Indeed, all those whose brains I've pressed,
Unmerciful because obsessed;
My own dumb soul, which on a pittance
Survived to weave this fiction spell;
And, gentle reader, you as well,
The fountain of all remittance.
Buy me before good sense insists
You'll strain your purse & sprain your wrists.

I read it, twice I think, and each time didn't want it to end -- especially the first time, when I'd had such fun being immersed in that world. Adored the brother who would spout verse at a moment's notice, (and who I assume was fairly autobiographical).

Almost had a section from "The Golden Gate" read at my wedding -- something about the husband and wife (father and mother in the tale) reading books at bedtime and sharing the books with each other, reading snippets aloud. Can probably find it. One of my favorite descriptions of a long-term relationship.

"A Suitable Boy" is a bona fide tour de force masterpiece; "Golden Gate" is silly and endearing, but more of a "can you believe it?" delight at his facility. "An Equal Music" is probably my least favorite of the three -- slighter than "A Suitable Boy", and Seth got some significant details off early on (forget what), that kept me from really engaging with the rest. (It's about a woman who loses her hearing, so you'd think I'd like it, but not QUITE right.)

Did anyone ever figure out the twinning of Seth and Rushdie riffing on Odysseus? ("An Equal Music" and "Ground Beneath her Feet" within a month or so I think.)

Looking forward to the next one, and "Shalimar" from Rushdie, too! (Rushdie has a lot to make up for, though -- "Fury" was a resounding disappointment.)

Oh and re: the ending of "A Suitable Boy", I think it was both disappointing and meant to be disappointing. I think it was truer to itself that way.

Please do find it if it's not too much trouble, soz.

I can understand that, but I can also understand why he might have got it wrong, soz. Probably from gaining his understanding from second hand accounts.
It was also my least favourite of his books ... probably because I'm not nearly so immersed in that type of music as Seth obviously is. He loves it. So much was about the music!

Well, I thought it was predictable considering the pressures of family & religion. She loved her family. But, but ... had Lata gone a different way & followed her heart she might have broken with the restrictions of the past. A fair more risky proposition, obviously, but she would have been looking to the future rather than being tied to the past.

Sure. I think that the power of the past/ tradition and frowning on typical Western pleasure principle/ do what feels good was part of the message of the book, though. I also think that it fit with the ambitions of the book -- this is a Lily Bart, Cathy [from Wuthering Heights], Scarlett O'Hara heroine, and they usually don't get happy endings.

Neither ending would have been "happy", really. A huge loss, either way.

True.

Have you read "Beastly Tales" by Vikram Seth? It's a collection of poems by vikram seth - aesop's fables and other children's stories and folk tales (some original, some are well-known) in beautiful verse. It's wonderful for adults too...funny and insightful.

No I haven't, chinmayee_s. SO.... It's wonderful for adults, too? I may just grab a copy!