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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
The book is a short read power packed with a lot of contents that brings back the nostalgic memories of a middle-class family, the way they lived and the togetherness and taking decisions together, budgeting and budget cutting and sacrifice by the parents to buy you a new dress in the year helping parents with their work and sharing the happenings of the day to each other about school, work and about neighbours.
The narrator says how his family became so rich by starting a business and the business owner was his Uncle and how their life revolves and what are the changes that happened in their lives after riches and how dependent their family is on their Uncle and everyone trying to make him comfortable and becoming a guard to him as he is the only breadwinner and reason for the rich life they are living.
The narrator always visits a coffee house and loves to hear opinions and talk to Vincent. I loved the character Anita who was the narrator's wife.
It's a good read for people born in the 80s and 90s which can be a reminiscence of some childhood events.
The narrator says how his family became so rich by starting a business and the business owner was his Uncle and how their life revolves and what are the changes that happened in their lives after riches and how dependent their family is on their Uncle and everyone trying to make him comfortable and becoming a guard to him as he is the only breadwinner and reason for the rich life they are living.
The narrator always visits a coffee house and loves to hear opinions and talk to Vincent. I loved the character Anita who was the narrator's wife.
It's a good read for people born in the 80s and 90s which can be a reminiscence of some childhood events.
It's astonishing how much detail, plot and character development Vivek Shanbhag packs into his novella Ghachar Ghochar. Published for the first time in English and beautifully translated from Kannada by Srinath Perur, the book is an epic family saga told in less than 30,000 words. On the surface it's a rags to riches tales as a family just surviving in the suburbs of Banaglore suddenly comes into money after one of the brothers establishes a successful spice company. Almost overnight they go from an ant-infested shack - as aptly described in the blurb - to a mansion which they fill with all sorts of mismatched, but expensive, furniture. This whip-lash transition from poverty to wealth leads our narrator - the younger son - to observe:
"It’s true what they say—it’s not we who control money, it’s the money that controls us. When there’s only a little, it behaves meekly; when it grows, it becomes brash and has its way with us."
Dig a little deeper and the book is a meditation on self worth. For the younger son, who has never had much in the sense of ambition or lofty dreams, this influx of cash is both a blessing - he can sleep in and wallow in his laziness - and a curse - when he marries his wife, Anita, she expects him to get up and go to work. Our narrator is therefore required to face his own sense of value, a difficult proposition when his family questions his purpose. When they were poor he at least could help in the slaughtering of ants that were overwhelming the house. Our narrator, therefore, looks for self worth in his relationship with his wife. The day he gets married to Anita is filled with anticipation, excitement and lust. And yet what becomes clear is that our narrator isn't just in it for the sex, though that's certainly appreciated. What he's looking for, what he desires, what he feels will give his life meaning is having someone outside his family who loves him unreservedly. In one of the many moments of reflection afforded to our narrator, Shanbhag expresses this in the most gorgeous, eloquent prose:
"A woman I didn’t know had chosen to accept me, in body and mind. Perhaps it is this instant that forms the basis of traditional marriage—a complete stranger is suddenly mine. And then, I am hers, too; I must offer her my all. I want her to wield her power over me as an acknowledgment of my love. The rush of these feelings all at once is too much to describe. Language communicates in terms of what is already known; it chokes up when asked to deal with the entirely unprecedented. Similar feelings must have welled up in her, too. Her face was buried in my chest. Her arms tightened around me. I could feel the bangles on her arms pressing into my back. Through touch, through the giving, yielding closeness of our embrace, this unknown woman began to be known to me. I’ve often longed for a comparable experience, but there seems to be none. That sense of strangeness, surrender, dependence, compassion, entitlement, and a hundred other sentiments bundled together cannot possibly be relived. I held her tighter still, then relaxed. I raised her face and through her lips gained my first taste of her world."
I don't want to spoil the novella, but suffice it to say that our narrator discovers that closeness and intimacy is not enough. At least not for his wife who, above anyone else in the book, understands that wealth is a means, not an end.
The near universal praise afforded to this novella by critics is deserved. Assuming its eligible - sometimes it can be difficult to tell with translated works - I'd be stunned if Ghachar Ghochar is not at least long-listed for the National Book Award and next year's Man Booker International Prize.
"It’s true what they say—it’s not we who control money, it’s the money that controls us. When there’s only a little, it behaves meekly; when it grows, it becomes brash and has its way with us."
Dig a little deeper and the book is a meditation on self worth. For the younger son, who has never had much in the sense of ambition or lofty dreams, this influx of cash is both a blessing - he can sleep in and wallow in his laziness - and a curse - when he marries his wife, Anita, she expects him to get up and go to work. Our narrator is therefore required to face his own sense of value, a difficult proposition when his family questions his purpose. When they were poor he at least could help in the slaughtering of ants that were overwhelming the house. Our narrator, therefore, looks for self worth in his relationship with his wife. The day he gets married to Anita is filled with anticipation, excitement and lust. And yet what becomes clear is that our narrator isn't just in it for the sex, though that's certainly appreciated. What he's looking for, what he desires, what he feels will give his life meaning is having someone outside his family who loves him unreservedly. In one of the many moments of reflection afforded to our narrator, Shanbhag expresses this in the most gorgeous, eloquent prose:
"A woman I didn’t know had chosen to accept me, in body and mind. Perhaps it is this instant that forms the basis of traditional marriage—a complete stranger is suddenly mine. And then, I am hers, too; I must offer her my all. I want her to wield her power over me as an acknowledgment of my love. The rush of these feelings all at once is too much to describe. Language communicates in terms of what is already known; it chokes up when asked to deal with the entirely unprecedented. Similar feelings must have welled up in her, too. Her face was buried in my chest. Her arms tightened around me. I could feel the bangles on her arms pressing into my back. Through touch, through the giving, yielding closeness of our embrace, this unknown woman began to be known to me. I’ve often longed for a comparable experience, but there seems to be none. That sense of strangeness, surrender, dependence, compassion, entitlement, and a hundred other sentiments bundled together cannot possibly be relived. I held her tighter still, then relaxed. I raised her face and through her lips gained my first taste of her world."
I don't want to spoil the novella, but suffice it to say that our narrator discovers that closeness and intimacy is not enough. At least not for his wife who, above anyone else in the book, understands that wealth is a means, not an end.
The near universal praise afforded to this novella by critics is deserved. Assuming its eligible - sometimes it can be difficult to tell with translated works - I'd be stunned if Ghachar Ghochar is not at least long-listed for the National Book Award and next year's Man Booker International Prize.
Not really sure what to think of this book. IT is well written and draws an amazing picture. But i also would not call it an enjoyable read.
Although from a different culture and with no experience of Bangalore life, I found myself relating to these characters more than I expected.
Maybe we are all a little bit like Malati, and sometimes have days where we feel like Appa. I think the thing that stood out to me the most was the difference in their lives once money had been introduced. I don’t think the money changed them, but simply enabled them to become their true selves.
Our unnamed narrator never sees his own actions as at fault, but acknowledges where he should’ve stepped in to stop others from acting poorly.
I’d recommend this book. It packs a lot in for just 119 pages. The ending was great, and I’ll be thinking about it for some time. The sign of a good book.
Maybe we are all a little bit like Malati, and sometimes have days where we feel like Appa. I think the thing that stood out to me the most was the difference in their lives once money had been introduced. I don’t think the money changed them, but simply enabled them to become their true selves.
Our unnamed narrator never sees his own actions as at fault, but acknowledges where he should’ve stepped in to stop others from acting poorly.
I’d recommend this book. It packs a lot in for just 119 pages. The ending was great, and I’ll be thinking about it for some time. The sign of a good book.
I read this for a book-club. When I finished I wasn't sure exactly how I felt. I gave it a 5 star seeing as I'm thinking about the ending months later. Warning: Don't read it without having someone else to talk to about it.
fast-paced
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Gripping novella but to me it felt slightly mysoginistic/ like 'living in a man's world'! Maybe I am more used to reading and adoring women writing women, so the women characters in this novella didn't really appeal to me. Nevertheless, short gripping read, effortlessly funny at times, and the cliffhanger ending was good.
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
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