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aatyagi01's review against another edition
5.0
Grossly underrated. Humor and intellect mated so gracefully in the pages of this book. Not for the feeble minded, or drama seeker, but very relatable journey of self discovery, although not sure if I would go as far as to validate it as the Indian equivalent to The Catcher in the Rye.
No dull character, no dull dialogue, and any dull, sweaty moment is illuminated with music, the teachings of Krishna, and Marcus Aurelius.
Also, excellent use of vocabulary, the anti-Chetan Bhagat.
No dull character, no dull dialogue, and any dull, sweaty moment is illuminated with music, the teachings of Krishna, and Marcus Aurelius.
Also, excellent use of vocabulary, the anti-Chetan Bhagat.
epgr's review against another edition
4.0
I was well over 100 pages into this book before I could figure out if I liked it or not. Eventually I decided I did, and kept going. I'm so glad I did, because it is a funny book--sort of in that dry, catch you off guard British way. The main character is a civil servant in India who cares more about getting stoned than working. You'll laugh out loud and scratch your head increduously at the same time while reading this book.
michael5000's review against another edition
3.0
Choosing a book from somebody's list of the funniest books of all time is setting up for failure. "English, August," provoked about a dozen barks of bitter laughter from me, but it was also an unpleasant chore to get through. I don't generally think much of the cliche that "I didn't like the book because there weren't any sympathetic characters," but in the absence of a sympathetic character -- or shall I say in the presence of an actively obnoxious character like English, August, Agastya, etc. -- there needs to be some other center of gravity to keep one engaged.
Well, the last fifth of the book is the best; having Agastya turn out to have a talent for administration despite himself, and then to refuse to do anything with it, is a subtle touch. But also a depressing one.
2023: Well, SOMEBODY was grouchy in 2012. I'm bumping it up to three stars on the re-read. Think The Graduate in rural India, with the part of Mrs. Robinson played by a bag of marijuana.
Well, the last fifth of the book is the best; having Agastya turn out to have a talent for administration despite himself, and then to refuse to do anything with it, is a subtle touch. But also a depressing one.
2023: Well, SOMEBODY was grouchy in 2012. I'm bumping it up to three stars on the re-read. Think The Graduate in rural India, with the part of Mrs. Robinson played by a bag of marijuana.
rukmini's review against another edition
5.0
'How old are you, sir?'
'Twenty-eight.'Agastya was twenty-four, but he was in a lying mood. He also disliked their faces.
'Are you married, sir?' Again that demand that he classify himself. Ahmed leaned forward for each question, neck tensed and head angled with politeness.
'Yes.' He wondered for a second whether he should add 'twice'.
'And your Mrs, sir?' Agarwal's voice dropped at 'Mrs'; in all those months all references to wives were in hushed, almost embarrassed, tones. Agastya never knew why, perhaps because to have a wife meant that one was fucking, which was a dirty thing.
'She's in England. She's English, anyway, but she's gone there for a cancer operation. She has cancer of the breast.' He had an almost uncontrollable impulse to spread out his fingers to show the size of the tumour and then the size of the breast, but he decided to save that for later. Later in his training he told the District Inspector of Land Records that his wife was a Norwegian Muslim.
Agastya Sen ('August' to his school friends) is twenty-four when he drifts into the Indian Administrative Service, mostly because he can't think of anything else he wants to do. The novel describes his year of training in small-town India. Horny, supercilious, and a little too clever for his own good, August spends his time in Madna getting stoned, masturbating constantly and lying inventively about his background.
I couldn't stop laughing through the first half of this book. The langauge is rich and creative; Chatterjee excels in juxtaposing words and phrases in ways that startle laughter out of the reader.
The book is also surprisingly affecting when it describes August's loneliness and disorientation. More than that, it speaks to the identity crisis that many middle-class Indian kids go through at one point or another: when your first language is English and everything around you reminds you of something you've read in a foreign book, how authentic an Indian are you?
'Twenty-eight.'Agastya was twenty-four, but he was in a lying mood. He also disliked their faces.
'Are you married, sir?' Again that demand that he classify himself. Ahmed leaned forward for each question, neck tensed and head angled with politeness.
'Yes.' He wondered for a second whether he should add 'twice'.
'And your Mrs, sir?' Agarwal's voice dropped at 'Mrs'; in all those months all references to wives were in hushed, almost embarrassed, tones. Agastya never knew why, perhaps because to have a wife meant that one was fucking, which was a dirty thing.
'She's in England. She's English, anyway, but she's gone there for a cancer operation. She has cancer of the breast.' He had an almost uncontrollable impulse to spread out his fingers to show the size of the tumour and then the size of the breast, but he decided to save that for later. Later in his training he told the District Inspector of Land Records that his wife was a Norwegian Muslim.
Agastya Sen ('August' to his school friends) is twenty-four when he drifts into the Indian Administrative Service, mostly because he can't think of anything else he wants to do. The novel describes his year of training in small-town India. Horny, supercilious, and a little too clever for his own good, August spends his time in Madna getting stoned, masturbating constantly and lying inventively about his background.
I couldn't stop laughing through the first half of this book. The langauge is rich and creative; Chatterjee excels in juxtaposing words and phrases in ways that startle laughter out of the reader.
The book is also surprisingly affecting when it describes August's loneliness and disorientation. More than that, it speaks to the identity crisis that many middle-class Indian kids go through at one point or another: when your first language is English and everything around you reminds you of something you've read in a foreign book, how authentic an Indian are you?
elemmakil's review against another edition
3.0
Tämä oli hauska kommentaari Intian massiivisesta byrokraattisesta koneistosta, ja ennen kaikkea sen toimimattomuudesta. Chatterjee osaa myös kirjoittaa siitä, millaista on asua paikassa, jonne ei kuulu, ja siitä, millaista on tehdä työtä joka ei kiinnosta. 3,5 tähteä.
namakurhea's review against another edition
4.0
I couldn’t recall why I bought the book. If you observe my book purchases for a while, you would know I am very biased towards literature from the Southern hemisphere so I believe that was also the case with this one. It’s been gathering dust for a while in my library so I need to thank @alienkeren for nudging me to finally pick it up.
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We follow Agastya Sen, an educated Bengali-Goanese elite who passed the Indian Civil Services Exam and is posted as an IAS officer to Madna, a remote Indian town where temperature gets crazy hot. To be an IAS (Indian Administrative Services) officer is to be a movie star. So one would expect that he would be excited to start such a career. Turns out, nope!! He had his qualms about going to Madna and when he finally arrived, the qualms did not get away and became a full-blown quarter life crisis. His body was in Madna but his head was always somewhere else. Was he just being ungrateful and picky? If not this job, then what else does he want to do anyway?
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The story struck a personal chord with me since for a few years (and especially lately), I’ve been feeling the same way: aways looking outside. However, if you ask me, well what do you want to do instead? I probably will not have an answer.
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OK SPOILER alert now: the story did not get resolved.. like a lot of things in life, I guess. Life is a journey they say and perhaps the point of it all is to continue showing up everyday even though we haven’t figured it out all yet and to do so with grace.
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Highly recommended!! Please also read @alienkeren ‘s review of it. I always love seeing how different people would pick up different themes depending on the current season of their lives. Also, Merry Christmas and happy holidays🎄
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We follow Agastya Sen, an educated Bengali-Goanese elite who passed the Indian Civil Services Exam and is posted as an IAS officer to Madna, a remote Indian town where temperature gets crazy hot. To be an IAS (Indian Administrative Services) officer is to be a movie star. So one would expect that he would be excited to start such a career. Turns out, nope!! He had his qualms about going to Madna and when he finally arrived, the qualms did not get away and became a full-blown quarter life crisis. His body was in Madna but his head was always somewhere else. Was he just being ungrateful and picky? If not this job, then what else does he want to do anyway?
.
The story struck a personal chord with me since for a few years (and especially lately), I’ve been feeling the same way: aways looking outside. However, if you ask me, well what do you want to do instead? I probably will not have an answer.
.
OK SPOILER alert now: the story did not get resolved.. like a lot of things in life, I guess. Life is a journey they say and perhaps the point of it all is to continue showing up everyday even though we haven’t figured it out all yet and to do so with grace.
.
Highly recommended!! Please also read @alienkeren ‘s review of it. I always love seeing how different people would pick up different themes depending on the current season of their lives. Also, Merry Christmas and happy holidays🎄
cecibird's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Read this for a class in succession of Midnight's Children, and I feel that this was very useful to my understanding of Indian literature and the political landscape. At times some prose was interesting, but I just didn't care for Agastya much at all. His situation was relatable, and sometimes I found him funny, but overall I didn't enjoy reading this.
bloodyfool0's review against another edition
3.0
More like 3.5*. Good humorous read and interesting story about a person's life to nowhere.