In the midst of tharoor controversy let me get some traffic on blog by doing a review of his book 😉 (Ok now its died down but its just shows that how long has this one been in my drafts… sigh)
I am great fan of mahabharat (i know i have said it before) and anything that involves the modern adaptation of it automatically makes it to my to read list.I had heard about the novel quite some time back, bought it but somehow never picked it but when I picked it up some days back damn I regretted why hadn’t I done so before…
Its a brilliant piece of work… the plot is superb. Tharoor has basically intervenes The Mahabharata and the Indian Independence struggle and he does it really well.. The way he draws parallels between the politics than and the pre independence politics is really commendable.The characters are so well thought of… the bhishma pitmah and Gandhi in one called Gangaji in the novel…. the way this particular character is created its amazing there are times when u can see the bishma pitmah and times when u see Gandhi and there are times when you are laughing out aloud the way he has blended them… awesome… there is nehru and there is dhritrashta and there is pandu and may be there is jinnah…. the way he portrays druapadi as the soul of India come to think of quite right isn’t it, both are betrayed and failed by their own protectors
Tharoor has dewled on their weakness and strengths in a way that I thing we can really learn a lot from them and that in his characteristic style of humor. Some of the things make one ROFL and in the literal sense… But at the same every jab that he takes on the characters has some significance and is perfectly valid….I think its one of the best political satire’s I have read in a long long time
Just for example take this sentence from the book… one of my favorites
“India is not, as people keep calling it, an underdeveloped country, but rather, in the context of its history and cultural heritage, a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay.”
Its also a very good book for those who are really not aware of the political scenario of those times and cant really read the history texts….
And yes after a long time I read a novel whose language use of words excellent…. There were times when I had to actually pick up a dictionary to find a meaning or two…
Controversies aside Tharoor is a great writer, he has a unique style of writing and its something he is really good as so Mr. Tharoor just as smita I advice u to please get back at what u are best and give us some good books to read
Monika's World 