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 The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. Booker Prize
(Brought to you by kat impatientreader.com) It is the late 1980s in a small town in northern India. A Bengali community feels threatened when the destitute Nepalis decide to rebel against the Indian government. The Nepalis hope to force India to surrender that part of the country to Nepal. The Bengali characters are teenage girl Sai, her grandfather the Judge, and their cook. The cook's son Biju toils in crummy restaurants in the United States. Also, two elderly sisters live down the road: Lola and Noni. The Nepali character is Gyan, a teenage boy who is tutoring Sai. I can't recommend this book. Apparently, though, it impressed Publishers Weekly, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, the Chicago Tribune, and about 55-60% of Amazon reviewers. I wanted to like it. Sometimes the book managed to showcase the rich and glorious setting of northern India. But the cloying writing style made the book a total pain to finish, and the irritating characters didn't help. When the writing style AND the characters don't click with me, I can only give it one star out of five. The plot? Sai and Gyan become infatuated with each other. Then he gets pulled into the Nepali movement because ... well, he's aimless and all his friends are doing it. These two kids are too ignorant to understand politics. But they realize they are now on opposite sides because he is Nepali and she's Bengali, so they call each other nasty names. Meanwhile Biju the cook's son drifts through miserable jobs -- all identical, all vague -- in New York City until he gives up and slinks home. That's it. That's the plot. Meanwhile, the 357 pages of the novel are stuffed with quirky anecdotes that do little to advance the plot. Apparently these colorful bits are deemed too lovely to delete. The writing style is STRENUOUSLY whimsical and overwritten. India is already exotic enough. In this book it seems like candy-land: you find it hard to believe anything. There is no action to cut through all this sugar-frosted lard until the Nepalis finally get it together on page 300, and stage a half-assed protest march. Then we have the characters. Sai and Gyan are too shallow to support a Romeo-and-Juliet plot. The cook, Noni, and Lola are cartoonish. Biju might have been okay had he been developed more. But don't get me started on the Judge! He hates himself because he's not white, and makes everyone suffer for it. It's especially jarring to read -- in the author's precious tone -- about him beating and raping his wife for years until she commits suicide. The only one he loves is his dog. How much do you want to bet something bad happens to the dog? Negative characters are not my favorite thing, but they can be acceptable as long as something happens in their story arc: they gain some insight, they change, or their victims overcome their oppression. Nothing changes for these characters; they just exist in their flat, negative way. On Amazon.com, two Indian readers stated that the author displays no understanding of middle- and lower-class Hindus. They are probably right. The Inheritance of Loss gets one star out of five. If you're truly curious, you can find The Inheritance of Loss on Amazon through this link:
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Noteworthy Links: Wonderquest - Science Q/A! The Connection - Tech blog! Author site - John the Eunuch Historical Mystery series, Cozy Mystery List for all your cozy mystery needs, Obsidian Bookshelf - reviews of gay-themed fiction. |
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