There are some things that I liked very much about this novella, while I found a few things lacking, that would have made**spoiler alert** 3.5/5 Stars
There are some things that I liked very much about this novella, while I found a few things lacking, that would have made this work even better. Assuming that people reading this are already familiar with the blurb, I will skip the plot part.
One lovely technique the author has used is using alternate chapters to dwell upon the present and the past leading up to the present. It provides an interesting mysterious touch than a chronological explanation of the past, and helps the reader empathize with the protagonist Chris, while also giving a background to his family life and linking them to the present events.
The narration succeeds by way of not being over-sentimental or melodramatic, and it gets more interesting every minute. There is substantial graphic violence to it, but it is not surprising given the sadism we have seen throughout real history.
What I would really have loved to see in this work was the same story narrated by the kid Michael, rather than from an omniscient narrator. Put from his perspective, the events would have been more heart-breaking. Although it can be argued that from a kid's perspective, there would be little sensible explanations of the global financial crisis or a family break-up, with some ingenuity, a kid's frantic struggle to re-live his past through the snippets of conversation in his family would have done the trick. It would have eliminated some office scenes, but they could have been reconstructed in his father's tirades at home.
The mystery of his wife Diane and daughter's death is left unexplained, which was a major drawback to me, apart from the fact that the author did use the flashback method without actually reaching to the present chronologically. The last we see of the past is Diane leaving the house while Chris reads her letter, but we know nothing how the revolution erupted and how it reached to this level.
I so loved this work in many little ways, but this lack of proper chronology coupled with leaving the mystery of half his family's suspicious death steals away the satisfaction of having read a good work.
Yet, I'd not give up on this author, there is only a need for more plot-consistency to make it more credible, and therefore, more interesting. Otherwise, it is a novel plot, interesting and gripping in many places, especially coming from a first-time author.
Merged review:
3.5/5 Stars
There are some things that I liked very much about this novella, while I found a few things lacking, that would have made this work even better. Assuming that people reading this are already familiar with the blurb, I will skip the plot part.
One lovely technique the author has used is using alternate chapters to dwell upon the present and the past leading up to the present. It provides an interesting mysterious touch than a chronological explanation of the past, and helps the reader empathize with the protagonist Chris, while also giving a background to his family life and linking them to the present events.
The narration succeeds by way of not being over-sentimental or melodramatic, and it gets more interesting every minute. There is substantial graphic violence to it, but it is not surprising given the sadism we have seen throughout real history.
What I would really have loved to see in this work was the same story narrated by the kid Michael, rather than from an omniscient narrator. Put from his perspective, the events would have been more heart-breaking. Although it can be argued that from a kid's perspective, there would be little sensible explanations of the global financial crisis or a family break-up, with some ingenuity, a kid's frantic struggle to re-live his past through the snippets of conversation in his family would have done the trick. It would have eliminated some office scenes, but they could have been reconstructed in his father's tirades at home.
The mystery of his wife Diane and daughter's death is left unexplained, which was a major drawback to me, apart from the fact that the author did use the flashback method without actually reaching to the present chronologically. The last we see of the past is Diane leaving the house while Chris reads her letter, but we know nothing how the revolution erupted and how it reached to this level.
I so loved this work in many little ways, but this lack of proper chronology coupled with leaving the mystery of half his family's suspicious death steals away the satisfaction of having read a good work.
Yet, I'd not give up on this author, there is only a need for more plot-consistency to make it more credible, and therefore, more interesting. Otherwise, it is a novel plot, interesting and gripping in many places, especially coming from a first-time author....more
So don’t let Rushdie fool you into thinking that “it is Moor/Zogoiby’s story and heck!, they’re somewhat flat, or Rushdie makes an allegory and fails on both counts – both the upperstory and understory are not well-developed – happens when you want to ride two horses at once.” But, oh, dear, it is one horse, not two.
*sigh* this review just doesn’t end. But Rushdie is a crazy fellow, maker of an atom bomb – large scale destruction squeezed into a bomb the size of a fist. But I should end now, though I have a lot more to babble-o-fy about, I know…
What all did I like in this Rushdie, let me sum up fast – the blasphemy, the profanity, the creativity, the chutneyfication of language, the masterly interweaving of fact and fiction, the literary references generously peppered all over the hot, spicy dish, the scathing political references that only a bold, fearless, audacious and blasphemous person can dare to make. (Dear Indian, do you have the guts to call Hindustan Dumpistan?)
I’m quite surprised, (not really, when the readers do not have EXTENSIVE knowledge of India) that the book is rated badly or averagely. Let me tell you, even if it sounds pompous. I’ve read this book the 10th time today in 5 years. I read it for the first time just after I read To Kill A Mockingbird for the first time. (How vastly different the tone, the manners, of the two books!) Then in two years, I read it 8 more times, until I got used to it. I’ve picked it up again after a gap of three years and am actually amazed by the fact that I’ve got a lot more out of this reading than any of those before. Simply because I am far better-armed with Indian History now than I was three years back. My recent obsession with Indian history, mythology and politics paid off today in very unexpected ways.
And yet, I still know I have failed to understand some points he made, and will need to read more history still. And much more of global popular and literary culture as well. I mean, I was introduced to the legendary Johnny Cash and his civil war songs only two years back – how could I have discerned the reference 4-5 years ago when Rushdie brings in a new character, a businessman-cum-charming musician/guitarist singing country songs about trains, named Jimmy Cash (Cashondeliveri)?
So I still don’t know who Kekoo Mody is in real life, or Justice Kachrawala is (the Bofors scandal judge, I think) This little book, didn’t I say, is a dynamite filled to the brim with everything Rushdie could squeeze in…?
If A Fine Balance, a book I love immensely, is one of the finest pictures of the contradictions of modern India, A Moor’s Last Sigh too shares the pedestal. While AFB is stoic, serious and mournful, MLS is loud-mouthed, comic and mocking. AFB is the incarnation of naked, unadulterated pain, but MLS is the incarnation of pain masquerading as comic, insincere blasphemy – the only way left to tell honestly one’s sordid saga without making someone flinch. AFB is the ultimate Indian tragedy. MLS is the ultimate Indian tragi-comedy. Take away from it what you will.
(The review has ended. Don’t roll-o-fy your biggie eyes at me, you chose to read it, Sir-or-Madam, I didn’t force-o-fy your decision. I’m not the impotent Jaw-Jaw all-bark-no-bite-bitch, I bite-o-fy real hard, and I won’t bite so fast, and like little 13-year old Aurora who bide-o-fied her time to kill her grandma Epifania, I will bide-o my time too, to bite-o you. I’m no sweet Mother India)....more
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