Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Bookless in Baghdad - Shashi Tharoor
Wanted to write about this book and another Tharoor compilation but other books sidetracked me and could not bear to go through another monologue-ish book.
Shashi Tharoor is a favourite of mine - make that all time favourite- writer but have to even add that its primarily The Great Indian Novel that has bent the scale in his favour. And in all honestly none of his subsequent books have lived up to the expectations set in The Great Indian Novel.
This book is a collection of his writings from various publications, his speeches and such - about reading. But it totally fails to impress. The first impression is that of a slightly askew thought process. Like he was not sure whether or not to go ahead with the publishing of this collection. Since most of his essays published here have been published there, there was scant novelty, if you have been trying to keep up with his columns and others.
It feels like a repetitive process, the essays. By the end of the book, I was sure I had read each quotable quote at a couple of times and could now tell you verbatim why he chose The Mahabharata or Bollywood as inspiration or why he wrote The Riot.
Very loosely divided on the various phases of his life or perhaps how his writings evolved.. the book begins with essays on the why for most of his successful attempts, followed by his writings on hallowed writers of the English speaking world, with other meanderings on his views on critics, criticisms and therfores. Of course more follow but by this point I was feeling 'What's the point, really?' Perhaps a little more original content would have been welcome than just a compilation of his already published stuff...
My first novel The Great Indian Novel, as a satirical reinvention of the Mahabharata, inevitably touches Indians in a way that foreigners will not fully appreciate... My second Show Business, did extremely well with American reviewers and readers...With India:From Midnight to the Millennium, an attempt to look back at the last fifty years of India's history, I found an additional audience of Indian-Americans seeking to rediscover their roots;.. In Riot, for the first time, I had major non-Indian chanracters, Americans as it happens...
The basis of all of his novels are citied in numerous styles across many essays. Many such similar instances allude to Indians, Americans, their publishers, their covers, their knowledge of markets.. phew.. like I said.. one keeps seeking for a point.
Of course there is the mindset that though speeches and columns sound similar when put together, they are usually for different audiences everytime, removing the feeling of repetition. But cannot say that is the case for this particular book.
Nehru: The Invention of India lies waiting on my shelves and while I get to it... here is another superb review of the book.
Shashi Tharoor is a favourite of mine - make that all time favourite- writer but have to even add that its primarily The Great Indian Novel that has bent the scale in his favour. And in all honestly none of his subsequent books have lived up to the expectations set in The Great Indian Novel.
This book is a collection of his writings from various publications, his speeches and such - about reading. But it totally fails to impress. The first impression is that of a slightly askew thought process. Like he was not sure whether or not to go ahead with the publishing of this collection. Since most of his essays published here have been published there, there was scant novelty, if you have been trying to keep up with his columns and others.
It feels like a repetitive process, the essays. By the end of the book, I was sure I had read each quotable quote at a couple of times and could now tell you verbatim why he chose The Mahabharata or Bollywood as inspiration or why he wrote The Riot.
Very loosely divided on the various phases of his life or perhaps how his writings evolved.. the book begins with essays on the why for most of his successful attempts, followed by his writings on hallowed writers of the English speaking world, with other meanderings on his views on critics, criticisms and therfores. Of course more follow but by this point I was feeling 'What's the point, really?' Perhaps a little more original content would have been welcome than just a compilation of his already published stuff...
My first novel The Great Indian Novel, as a satirical reinvention of the Mahabharata, inevitably touches Indians in a way that foreigners will not fully appreciate... My second Show Business, did extremely well with American reviewers and readers...With India:From Midnight to the Millennium, an attempt to look back at the last fifty years of India's history, I found an additional audience of Indian-Americans seeking to rediscover their roots;.. In Riot, for the first time, I had major non-Indian chanracters, Americans as it happens...
The basis of all of his novels are citied in numerous styles across many essays. Many such similar instances allude to Indians, Americans, their publishers, their covers, their knowledge of markets.. phew.. like I said.. one keeps seeking for a point.
Of course there is the mindset that though speeches and columns sound similar when put together, they are usually for different audiences everytime, removing the feeling of repetition. But cannot say that is the case for this particular book.
Nehru: The Invention of India lies waiting on my shelves and while I get to it... here is another superb review of the book.
# posted by Janaki @ 1:54 pm 
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