Authors of Indian Origin fan club

Oh yay!

(Do a search for my name + Indian + novel and you'll get, er, a lot of hits!!)

As we started to talk about on msolga's thread about Vikram Seth, I agree with most of what you've said so far. I adore Rushdie (adore him adore him), was deeply irritated by "Fury," like "Midnight's Children" the best, "Ground Beneath Her Feet" next probably, then "Satanic Verses." Something like that.

I did read "Haroun and the Sea of Stories," loved it for itself and that it was the first book he wrote after the fatwa -- so gentle and humorous rather than the kind of anger one might expect.

I didn't like "Mistress of Spices." It struck me as too formulaic, and a bit too chick lit.

"God of Small Things" is up there in my favorites, too. (Peering at my collection...)

I recently finished "Family Matters" and it was the most impressive of Mistry's books, to me, a certain subtlety that he sometimes was lacking in previous books.

Oh dear I could go on and on, I'll leave it at that for now.

Thanks for starting this!

Naipaul, don't forget Naipaul.

And a friend of mine, Rohit Gupta (Play-on Edward)

God of Small Things was fantastic, too.

I have a poster of Chitra Divakaruni above my shotgun rack.

Naipaul, is he in this group? That's an interesting question, itself.

I consider the granddaddy of this genre to be Rushdie -- I don't know if anyone older than him (in terms of when they published) are actually included.

Naipaul is good, I like him, but he's also so... what... British? Something.

no, he's of indian origin, but grew up in.... ummm Sri Lanka? somewhere there.

No, that's not what I mean... I know he's of Indian origin, but the way he writes is so... something.

Rushdie and Naipaul belong to different universes.

Soz, do you have a job?

A few.

I was an English major and LOVE this specific genre, though, so once I've gotten started...

Dag, this is kinda what I'm trying to get at:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V.S._Naipaul

...though what I'm talking about is also purely his writing style.

what group soz? i thought we're talking authors of indian origin, which he is.

his era of darkness (Naipaul's) is great. very good look inside the society, i thought. and i hear my friends from india say that very truthful too. i'm am not that crazy about rushdie personally.

Well, that's why I said it was an interesting question -- _Heatwave_ started the thread so I'll leave it up to her to do the categorization. I'd argue that Naipaul doesn't belong with the group of authors she mentions in her opening post (and who she mused about how to properly categorize).

I do think that if you love Rushdie you might not have much patience for Naipaul, and vice versa. The different universes thing.

I guess that might be so. I'd be in the Naipaul camp then. Though I gotta say I never really gave Rushdie a fair fighting chance. Perhaps I should still. Putting it on my list... Number 157 or so...

What I said is probably too strong, I do like Naipaul -- but I just like him, while I'm a bit batty about Rushdie (have you noticed?)

"The Moor's Last Sigh" is another one of his that I really like. I like most of them except for "Fury," though "Grimus" is obviously the work of an immature talent.

Re: Authors of Indian Origin fan club


I love Rushdie - i've read all his books except Satanic verses.

I loved "Interpreter of Maladies". "Namesake" was Ok - I quite liked it.

I've read only "Such a Long Journey" by Mistry - liked it. Haven't read Divakaruni.

I liked God of small things by Arundhati Roy, but i did not enjoy reading her political essays. Naipaul - I cannot read much - I find too much venom and hatred in his books.

Has anyone read Amit Chaudhuri? I've read "A New World" and "A Strange and Sublime Address".

Another (lesser known) Indian writers I like is Girish Karnad (I have read and seen his plays). I loved his "Tughlaq".

Great thead, Heatwave!

Oh hooray! Club members! Welcome!

I don't much like Naipaul. But let's include him - he is Indian origin (though IMO he's not very happy about it). Haven't read Era of Darkness, Dagmaraka. Actually, haven't read much of him at all - except for one book that I can't even remember the name of...it'll come to me.

It just gets a little hard for me to separate the author from their politics - and so many Indian authors have such strong views on it (e.g. Mistry's Fine Balance was mired in and sullied by his politics). Arundhati Roy is another such author. I enjoyed God of Small Things. Have to agree with Sakhi though, the essays/commentaries she's spewed out since - can't stand it.

Rushdie now. He's just powerful. Rich, complex - and I love love love his language - the way he twists and manipulates it. I love the way he catches the nuances of people and places and days gone by - which I remember - having caught the tail end of those people/places/days. And that's the smallest part of it. Since starting this thread, I've actually put Midnight's Children on my nightstand, hopefully, will read a page or ten every night. Will be interesting to discuss as am reading along.
Haroun was wonderful...I remember feeling sad for Rushdie, muzzled by his own faith. Then he came back!...Moor's Last Sigh, Ground Beneath her Feet.

Dagmaraka, will have to look up Rohit Gupta.

Sakhi - love Girish Karnad. One of our finest actors (Manthan, Nishant, Antarnaad), and of course, Tughlaq was excellent.

And Gustavratzenhofer, don't you like pretty, long-haired exotic looking women?

Politics is so entertwined in this generation's writing, though, isn't it? (I've seen the genre referred to as "modern Indian fiction," btw.) I mean, what would "Midnight's Children" be without politics?

Partition is pretty much the central story of the genre, it seems, whether directly or some sort of Hindu-Muslim conflict (a woman who belongs to one faith is in love with a man who belongs to another, etc.)

I'm trying to remember which Rushdie book instilled in me a fear and loathing of the BNP -- can anyone help?

There are exceptions, of course -- one book I really like that an Indian friend got for me (I'm not sure it was even published here) was "Beach Boy" by Ardashar Vakil -- that one is pretty much pure childhood remembrance, very nicely done.

(By the way, I have most all of my books by Indian authors grouped on a couple of bookshelves, and just noticed that I have Naipaul's "A Way in the World" in there, so guess I'd already made the grouping decision a while ago. ;-))

"Red Earth, Falling Rain," by Vikram Chandra is another favorite.

Re: Authors of Indian Origin fan club


I have "Freedom Song" on my "already read" shelf, but I don't have any particular memory of it! Hmm.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh, I read the jacket, remember now. It's a good one! (Er, three, actually.)

Another one to mention, "Hullaboo in the Guava Orchard." Nice debut! Has Kiran Desai written another since?

http://rohitgupta.xwiki.com

he is doing a rather strange and fascinating project right now, a hip hopera or what does he call it - he acts out his new book around the cafes in Mumbai.

he's not world famous just yet, he's a young interesting writer and a friend. do check him out. especially if you're in the area.

He's my favorite news reader ...I need to read that book. Haven't read Ardhashar Vakil either. I think Kiran Desai has written another book called "Inheritance of Loss".

Has anyone read the Ramayana series by Ashok Banker? Trashy but I think it's worth reading *any kind* of retelling of that great epic.

The hip-hop hopera sounds like fun..let;s see - I hope he comes to bangalore.

Hello? Shouldn't this stay in the 'Books' category? It's about books written by authors of Indian origin.