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kirkrenerivera 's review for:
The Inheritance of Loss
by Kiran Desai
In being the best person we can be in life an essential practice is that of ascribing every person their full humanity, but literature has a hard time doing that. Given the linear nature of narrative fiction-in novels as in film or theater-it's an either-or Sophie's choice game of sacrifice. To showcase one protagonist's drama as primary is typically to relegate others as mere entourage: ancillary, secondary, unimportant. In short, second-class citizens. Given the ambitions Anita Desai appears to have for The Inheritance of Loss this inherent tendency in the novel could be problematic, but in this multi-character, well-populated novel she does something rare and remarkable.
I am reminded of Ninio's Extinction Illusion. Think of a line of choreographed dancers. How many dancers can you follow AT THE SAME TIME? How many different characters in a novel can you be aware of simultaneously? Art sometimes allows you to see things differently, or to see things better. With the humorous verve of a sharp-sighted commentator and the breadth of understanding of a humane historian, Desai accomplishes both here I am sorry it took me this long to read this entertaining 2006 work.
I am reminded of Ninio's Extinction Illusion. Think of a line of choreographed dancers. How many dancers can you follow AT THE SAME TIME? How many different characters in a novel can you be aware of simultaneously? Art sometimes allows you to see things differently, or to see things better. With the humorous verve of a sharp-sighted commentator and the breadth of understanding of a humane historian, Desai accomplishes both here I am sorry it took me this long to read this entertaining 2006 work.