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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
Kept me interested enough to finish the book but overall just a so-so read for me.
I didn’t like how much it jumped around between narrators and narrative style (like the vignettes for Sunil Rashtogi seemed very disjointed compared to the structure of the rest of the book, and at the end it started jumping narrators paragraph to paragraph instead of section to section).
Also didn’t like that there wasn’t one single redeeming character. Nobody to root for! I kept thinking someone would emerge, but alas I was left high and dry at the end.
One of my favorite passages was when Sunny explains to Neda how lucky she is to have the privilege of generations of respect and wealth, whereas as Sunny says he comes from a “new money” family so is dependent on his trappings of wealth to garner respect. While Neha can drive a beat up old car and still be seen as respectable enough to attend fancy clubs / restaurants, Sunny must display his wealth and status through constant conspicuous consumption.
*****SPOILERS BELOW****
Here’s my theory of what happens at the end: I think that Dinesh was actually in cahoots with his father Ram and Vicky all along, and double crossed Sunny. He made Sunny think they were overthrowing their corrupt fathers but always planned to have Vicky’s guy kill Sunny’s dad (but not his) when the police escorted them away in a convoy. Sunny is a naive dreamer and everyone is playing him and taking advantage of him all the way through to the end.
I didn’t like how much it jumped around between narrators and narrative style (like the vignettes for Sunil Rashtogi seemed very disjointed compared to the structure of the rest of the book, and at the end it started jumping narrators paragraph to paragraph instead of section to section).
Also didn’t like that there wasn’t one single redeeming character. Nobody to root for! I kept thinking someone would emerge, but alas I was left high and dry at the end.
One of my favorite passages was when Sunny explains to Neda how lucky she is to have the privilege of generations of respect and wealth, whereas as Sunny says he comes from a “new money” family so is dependent on his trappings of wealth to garner respect. While Neha can drive a beat up old car and still be seen as respectable enough to attend fancy clubs / restaurants, Sunny must display his wealth and status through constant conspicuous consumption.
*****SPOILERS BELOW****
Here’s my theory of what happens at the end: I think that Dinesh was actually in cahoots with his father Ram and Vicky all along, and double crossed Sunny. He made Sunny think they were overthrowing their corrupt fathers but always planned to have Vicky’s guy kill Sunny’s dad (but not his) when the police escorted them away in a convoy. Sunny is a naive dreamer and everyone is playing him and taking advantage of him all the way through to the end.
Very glad to finally be finished with this it was way too intelligent for me
Really excellent. Sweeping, tragic, and superbly written, Age of Vice is a richly drawn novel about wealth, corruption, class, and the bad decisions the rich choose to make out of greed, obliviousness, and selfishness, versus the bad decisions poor people are forced to make because there are no better options available.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am hooked and there’s a whole cast of Bollywood actors in my head who would play all the characters. I am watching a movie that exists only in my own brain with this read!
The author combines my two loves: Bollywood and Books! The book is heavy on violence and gore and overall mob antics, but any familiarity with the politics of the subcontinent would let you know that THIS is how it is.
India and Pakistan are deeply enthralled in families that run politics while conducting a shit ton of dirty business on the side. Doing whatever it takes to stay in power.
If you’re not a fan of violence — stay away; but, I, for one, am glad I didn’t skip out on this one.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (because the book did drag in the last part and became a bit hard to finish)
Had too many other books that I wanted to get to
In the early morning hours in the center of New Delhi, a speeding Mercedes careens off the road, jumping the curb and leaving five dead in its wake. When police arrive to the scene, they discover a young servant named Ajay, intoxicated and shell-shocked behind the wheel of his wealthy employers car. Ajay is sent to jail, the dead are forgotten, and life continues on. But as is often the case involving the rich and influential, lies and cover-ups abound. Age of Vice is a sprawling epic that paints a harsh picture of wealth, privilege, and corruption, and examines the depressing fate of all those caught up in its enticing web.
The novel is split into three parts: the first focusing on Ajay, a young servant who's entire life has been spent working for others; Nena, a jaded journalist sick of New Delhi; and Sunny, the charismatic and wealthy entrepreneur who brings them all together. There are additional chapters that highlight Ajay's experiences in jail or provide POVs from minor characters, but the bulk of our story are those three sections. And, like many reviews have mentioned, there is definitely a discrepancy when it comes to the writing quality between the three.
Ajay's story begins eight years before the accident when he's sold into a life of servitude at a young age. His chapters consist of a lot of lists; lists of what he's seeing around him, what he's doing, what his job entails, what tasks are asked of him. Like a fly on the wall, Ajay observes everything with no judgement or commentary of his own. We're introduced to Sunny, but actually given very little info about him besides his daily habits and requests to Ajay. We also meet Nena, but again, everything we know is from Ajay's perspective so it's all very bare bones and surface level. We don't know what's really going on because Ajay doesn't ask, he barely even wonders.
When the narrative switches to Nena's perspective, suddenly we're given all this context and information that had been missing. After Nena meets Sunny at a party, the two quickly become romantically involved, and now we're given insider knowledge of all the events Ajay has been witnessing but not fully comprehending. The struggle between Sunny and his tycoon of a father, the violence and displacement enacted on Delhi's poorer regions, the corruption spreading throughout the city. Sunny's moods and movements are now explained through Nena's eyes. I found her section to be the most captivating, as the plot unfolds in a tangible way that we're finally privy to. There are still some elements of mystery but that only adds to how compelling Age of Vice becomes at this point. Kapoor really sets up the novel to finish off strong with Sunny filling in those final missing pieces but instead, the whole novel suddenly goes off the rails.
This last section is when the writing style changes the most drastically, suddenly devolving into something akin to slam poetry. The phrases are all short and clipped, often repetitive without divulging anything meaningful or new. Considering the haze of drugs and self pity Sunny operates in, I didn't totally hate it, but it didn't really serve to move the story forward at all. If anything, this last portion of the novel just seemed to drag on and convoluted the strong foundation of everything that came before. We're finally given resolution about the car crash that started it all, but there's not any meaningful conclusion for the story as a whole. It felt almost as if Kapoor didn't know how to end the novel so added in a bunch of side quests for us to go on. There's a whole kidnapping scheme that lasts for like 50 pages, a new character is introduced who suddenly becomes pivotal for the plot, Ajay is brought back only for his life to get somehow worse, questions about Sunny's parentage are brought into play but then never really explained. It's only because I so thoroughly enjoyed the first 75% of the story that I ended up giving it 4 stars after that mess of an ending.
The novel is split into three parts: the first focusing on Ajay, a young servant who's entire life has been spent working for others; Nena, a jaded journalist sick of New Delhi; and Sunny, the charismatic and wealthy entrepreneur who brings them all together. There are additional chapters that highlight Ajay's experiences in jail or provide POVs from minor characters, but the bulk of our story are those three sections. And, like many reviews have mentioned, there is definitely a discrepancy when it comes to the writing quality between the three.
Ajay's story begins eight years before the accident when he's sold into a life of servitude at a young age. His chapters consist of a lot of lists; lists of what he's seeing around him, what he's doing, what his job entails, what tasks are asked of him. Like a fly on the wall, Ajay observes everything with no judgement or commentary of his own. We're introduced to Sunny, but actually given very little info about him besides his daily habits and requests to Ajay. We also meet Nena, but again, everything we know is from Ajay's perspective so it's all very bare bones and surface level. We don't know what's really going on because Ajay doesn't ask, he barely even wonders.
When the narrative switches to Nena's perspective, suddenly we're given all this context and information that had been missing. After Nena meets Sunny at a party, the two quickly become romantically involved, and now we're given insider knowledge of all the events Ajay has been witnessing but not fully comprehending. The struggle between Sunny and his tycoon of a father, the violence and displacement enacted on Delhi's poorer regions, the corruption spreading throughout the city. Sunny's moods and movements are now explained through Nena's eyes. I found her section to be the most captivating, as the plot unfolds in a tangible way that we're finally privy to. There are still some elements of mystery but that only adds to how compelling Age of Vice becomes at this point. Kapoor really sets up the novel to finish off strong with Sunny filling in those final missing pieces but instead, the whole novel suddenly goes off the rails.
This last section is when the writing style changes the most drastically, suddenly devolving into something akin to slam poetry. The phrases are all short and clipped, often repetitive without divulging anything meaningful or new. Considering the haze of drugs and self pity Sunny operates in, I didn't totally hate it, but it didn't really serve to move the story forward at all. If anything, this last portion of the novel just seemed to drag on and convoluted the strong foundation of everything that came before. We're finally given resolution about the car crash that started it all, but there's not any meaningful conclusion for the story as a whole. It felt almost as if Kapoor didn't know how to end the novel so added in a bunch of side quests for us to go on. There's a whole kidnapping scheme that lasts for like 50 pages, a new character is introduced who suddenly becomes pivotal for the plot, Ajay is brought back only for his life to get somehow worse, questions about Sunny's parentage are brought into play but then never really explained. It's only because I so thoroughly enjoyed the first 75% of the story that I ended up giving it 4 stars after that mess of an ending.
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Engrossing, sprawling book that is the first of a planned trilogy. The structure of this book is pure chaos - it jumps back and forth in time and there is no rhyme or reason to the chapter structure - and it took me a bit to get into it as a result. However, the storytelling is riveting and I really wanted to know what was going to happen to these people and in this world. My least favorite part was the section told from Sunny's perspective; I loved reading Ajay's backstory and understanding where he came from. I do think this book is way too long, especially if two more books are coming, but I see the value in the early 2000s India world-building for those unfamiliar with it.
3.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 4.
I both read and listened to this book. I enjoyed reading it more, as I was able to process the names and locations of unfamiliar places more easily by reading. I also liked the text layout and writing style of the author.
I both read and listened to this book. I enjoyed reading it more, as I was able to process the names and locations of unfamiliar places more easily by reading. I also liked the text layout and writing style of the author.