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A review by yellowtypophile
Red Earth and Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra
3.0
This was an interesting book. I found it quite difficult to follow - perhaps because I read it on and off over several months, but I've done the same with Vikram Chandra's other novel (Sacred Games, which I enjoyed much more) without a problem.
This book is written as a story within a story for several layers, as is common in Indian storytelling traditions - while this made it a little difficult to follow, for me this was not the main issue. The main story about Sanjay and his life, which runs through the whole book, is what I found difficult. I didn't have an understanding of what the book is trying to do with the story; I couldn't understand Sanjay's motivations, which seemed to change substantially and gain new drivers in drastically different directions every so often. Perhaps it was this aspect which some reviewers apparently called "cinematic".
I noticed a couple stories which are inversions of familiar stories from Hindu mythology and are nice winks from the author to the aware reader - I don't know how many I missed. The example that comes to mind is Sikander narrating his archery lesson where his master has him aim at a bird and then asks him what he sees; when Sikander replies that he sees only the bird, his master tells him that he will only not miss when he sees everything, the mountains and the sky and the ground and the bird as well. This is an exact inversion of the story from the Mahabharata of Dronacharya teaching the Panadavas and Kauravas archery. He asks each of them what they see, and all but Arjuna describe the bird and other things as well. Drona is pleased with only Arjuna, who claims to see nothing but the eye of the bird.
The bits of the book I enjoyed the most were the parts that happened in present times: the descriptions of the situation in the maidan where the highest level of storytelling is happening, and all of Abhay's stories of his times in America. For me these are the parts which flowed the most easily, where it was easiest to empathise with the characters and find the humour and just-feels-right observations that make good writing good. This writing also feels the most down-to-earth; somehow in making Sanjay's thread somewhat grand and far-away, the writing gains some pretenses it could do without. Perhaps this is what makes Sacred Games so good.
All in all: good, but read Sacred Games.
This book is written as a story within a story for several layers, as is common in Indian storytelling traditions - while this made it a little difficult to follow, for me this was not the main issue. The main story about Sanjay and his life, which runs through the whole book, is what I found difficult. I didn't have an understanding of what the book is trying to do with the story; I couldn't understand Sanjay's motivations, which seemed to change substantially and gain new drivers in drastically different directions every so often. Perhaps it was this aspect which some reviewers apparently called "cinematic".
I noticed a couple stories which are inversions of familiar stories from Hindu mythology and are nice winks from the author to the aware reader - I don't know how many I missed. The example that comes to mind is Sikander narrating his archery lesson where his master has him aim at a bird and then asks him what he sees; when Sikander replies that he sees only the bird, his master tells him that he will only not miss when he sees everything, the mountains and the sky and the ground and the bird as well. This is an exact inversion of the story from the Mahabharata of Dronacharya teaching the Panadavas and Kauravas archery. He asks each of them what they see, and all but Arjuna describe the bird and other things as well. Drona is pleased with only Arjuna, who claims to see nothing but the eye of the bird.
The bits of the book I enjoyed the most were the parts that happened in present times: the descriptions of the situation in the maidan where the highest level of storytelling is happening, and all of Abhay's stories of his times in America. For me these are the parts which flowed the most easily, where it was easiest to empathise with the characters and find the humour and just-feels-right observations that make good writing good. This writing also feels the most down-to-earth; somehow in making Sanjay's thread somewhat grand and far-away, the writing gains some pretenses it could do without. Perhaps this is what makes Sacred Games so good.
All in all: good, but read Sacred Games.