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A review by mustardseed
City of Devi by Manil Suri
4.0
the joy of reading a novel again! speed reading in 4 days to meet the library deadline~
"i think of all the bodies in motion, creating their own trajectories."
this book became more enjoyable after i started reading it from a broadly satirical perspective (was pretty slow on picking up on that, ngl - maybe a reflection of how much the world is dying? this book was written in 2013 but the depictions, while exaggerated, of religious divide and violence terrifyingly echoes the rise of hindu nationalism in india until today, stoked by the dominant political party).
it's written in the two perspectives of sarisa and jaz, which i felt quite effective - their voices were distinct, and the fact that the perspective only switched after quite a long while, with more frequent change at the end, allowed me to get acquainted with them individually. jaz's voice certainly does make sarisa's sound a lot flatter though because of the dramatism of his character - but i can't decide if him referring to himself in third person is cringey or funny. there are a number of descriptions of sex but majority didn't feel particularly erotic (the straight sex was a bit painstaking if anything, the gay sex wilder but not in detail). honestly the real question i kept hving is why did everyone love karun so much? (or maybe that's the point - that that's just how desire and love works - it just happens, and has nothing to do with the person, but rather the connection.) overall, an enjoyable and well written read, id say good for speed-read but perhaps also for more in depth thought and slow savouring :)
"perhaps this is the place to stop. and acknowledge these myriad paths along which we strive [...] the bruised earth hurtles along, hoping to survive."
"i think of all the bodies in motion, creating their own trajectories."
this book became more enjoyable after i started reading it from a broadly satirical perspective (was pretty slow on picking up on that, ngl - maybe a reflection of how much the world is dying? this book was written in 2013 but the depictions, while exaggerated, of religious divide and violence terrifyingly echoes the rise of hindu nationalism in india until today, stoked by the dominant political party).
it's written in the two perspectives of sarisa and jaz, which i felt quite effective - their voices were distinct, and the fact that the perspective only switched after quite a long while, with more frequent change at the end, allowed me to get acquainted with them individually. jaz's voice certainly does make sarisa's sound a lot flatter though because of the dramatism of his character - but i can't decide if him referring to himself in third person is cringey or funny. there are a number of descriptions of sex but majority didn't feel particularly erotic (the straight sex was a bit painstaking if anything, the gay sex wilder but not in detail). honestly the real question i kept hving is why did everyone love karun so much? (or maybe that's the point - that that's just how desire and love works - it just happens, and has nothing to do with the person, but rather the connection.) overall, an enjoyable and well written read, id say good for speed-read but perhaps also for more in depth thought and slow savouring :)
"perhaps this is the place to stop. and acknowledge these myriad paths along which we strive [...] the bruised earth hurtles along, hoping to survive."