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A review by vaibhavsh2624
Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup
5.0
Journalist and Educationist Shubhangi Swarup's Debut Novel 'Latitudes of Longing' is as magical a reading experience as it gets. Longlisted for DSC prize 2019 and JCB Prize 2018 (which was how I discovered the book) the sparkling novel raises the bar quite higher for future novelists of India.
What's it about? That is a question difficult to answer without giving away most of the book, I'll still try to entice your imagination. The book opens with the following line,
"Silence on a tropical island is the relentless sound of water."
.
If I were you, I'd go grab the book now because that first line is all it took to get me hooked.
As the book opens we meet the newly married couple Girija Prasad and Chanda Devi, living on Andaman Islands and navigating the waves of marital life. Girija Prasad, a scientist trying to figure out the way fault lines work under the islands in the early years of Independent India.
But that's just the beginning and there's certainly much more to keep you turning the pages, a clairvoyant who talks to trees, ghosts of British Aristocrats and Indian soldiers, octogenarian lovers, a geologist, a superstitious dictator, a mother struggling to get her revolutionary son released etc.
The writing is fluid, yet keeps the narrative strong and binds the reader, one is never tempted to look away from the pages. The story travels through India, Burma and Nepal reaching the remotest and touching the deepest reaches of your heart, leaving one with a longing so profound that you won't be able to stop thinking about it.
It's storytelling at it's best and I can go on and on, but one must take the first hand experience of being mesmerized by this gem. Don't believe my words, just pick it up yourself and you will be grateful to the author (I certainly am). Highly Highly recommended, if you only read one book this year, make it Latitudes of Longing, a true Masterpiece.
What's it about? That is a question difficult to answer without giving away most of the book, I'll still try to entice your imagination. The book opens with the following line,
"Silence on a tropical island is the relentless sound of water."
.
If I were you, I'd go grab the book now because that first line is all it took to get me hooked.
As the book opens we meet the newly married couple Girija Prasad and Chanda Devi, living on Andaman Islands and navigating the waves of marital life. Girija Prasad, a scientist trying to figure out the way fault lines work under the islands in the early years of Independent India.
But that's just the beginning and there's certainly much more to keep you turning the pages, a clairvoyant who talks to trees, ghosts of British Aristocrats and Indian soldiers, octogenarian lovers, a geologist, a superstitious dictator, a mother struggling to get her revolutionary son released etc.
The writing is fluid, yet keeps the narrative strong and binds the reader, one is never tempted to look away from the pages. The story travels through India, Burma and Nepal reaching the remotest and touching the deepest reaches of your heart, leaving one with a longing so profound that you won't be able to stop thinking about it.
It's storytelling at it's best and I can go on and on, but one must take the first hand experience of being mesmerized by this gem. Don't believe my words, just pick it up yourself and you will be grateful to the author (I certainly am). Highly Highly recommended, if you only read one book this year, make it Latitudes of Longing, a true Masterpiece.