ROMANCE BOOKS <https://www.thehindu.com/books/> Booze, sex and Goa: Mathew Vincent Menacherry’s ‘Feni Daze’ reviewed by Basav Biradar <https://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/Basav-Biradar-5586/>Basav Biradar <https://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/Basav-Biradar-5586/> DECEMBER 07, 2019 16:00 IST UPDATED: DECEMBER 06, 2019 13:22 IST
SHARE ARTICLE - - - - - <?subject=Booze%2C%20sex%20and%20Goa%3A%20Mathew%20Vincent%20Menacherry%E2%80%99s%20%E2%80%98Feni%20Daze%E2%80%99%20reviewed%20by%20Basav%20Biradar&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehindu.com%2Fbooks%2Fbooze-sex-and-goa-mathew-vincent-menacherrys-feni-daze-reviewed-by-basav-biradar%2Farticle30210165.ece> - 0 <https://www.thehindu.com/books/booze-sex-and-goa-mathew-vincent-menacherrys-feni-daze-reviewed-by-basav-biradar/article30210165.ece#comments_30210165> - PRINT - A A A With clichéd characters and a very male viewpoint, this book could grace a rack of pulp fiction bestsellers Goa. Alcohol. Beautiful women. Sex. Army. Brawls. Dysfunctional families — Isn’t this the stuff male fantasies are made of? Mathew Vincent Menacherry’s second novel certainly reads like one. It is the story of Victor Gabriel, a Catholic Malayali from Mumbai, who is meeting his girlfriend Ana, probably for the last time, over a weekend in Goa. Alongside their adventures in Goa runs the parallel narrative of Vincent’s equally colourful past, tracing his journey from Mumbai to Punjab to Bengaluru to Goa. Rake’s progress Menacherry packs in the experiences of a young boy growing up with an alcoholic father, life in the army and a man’s dilemma about love into Victor, or Vic, as he is called by others. After his mother walks away from her alcoholic husband, Vic channels his angst at the rival gang of boys in the neighbourhood, engaging in vividly described fist fights. On the repeated advice of a police inspector, Vic works hard and gets selected for National Defence Academy. A cadet’s life inside a defence training college is well researched and cleverly used to develop Vic’s character further. [image: Booze, sex and Goa: Mathew Vincent Menacherry’s ‘Feni Daze’ reviewed by Basav Biradar] Upon his graduation as a commissioned officer, Vic goes on to serve a quiet stint in Goa before being transferred to the plains of Punjab at the height of insurgency. As is his habit, Vic falls in love, this time with a Punjabi girl, Simar, and runs into trouble with the then infamous Punjab police, which eventually leads to his unceremonious exit from the army. The lives of ordinary people during the troubled times of insurgency are sensitively represented and come as a welcome digression from the otherwise self-indulgent adventures of Vic. While Vic’s past gives us a glimpse of the zigzag trajectory a traumatised boy’s life might take, the current Vic is “shooting the breeze” in Goa with Ana. It is ironic that despite witnessing the tragedy of addiction in his childhood, Vic takes to the bottle as an adult. Also, despite his many unpleasant encounters with the police, he seems to be looking for a fist fight wherever he goes. Locker room talk The other characters, mostly clichéd (the ever-inebriated driver, the action-seeking bartender, uninformed foreign tourists, corrupt policemen, the rich but estranged businessman father, etc.), add spice to the plot and support the narrative. Vic is the quintessential tough but emotionally vulnerable guy with a troubled childhood, who makes every beautiful woman go weak in her knees. To add to his charm, he is an aspiring writer although we do not see anything in him to justify his dream, apart from his love for Bukowski. Vic is the one who narrates the story — so we see the world through the eyes of this macho man, which involves judging women by their looks and a lot of talk about sex and violence. Drink away your woes The love story of Ana and Vic, intended to be the crux of the novel, is narrated in fragments. Although it is evident that their relationship is on its last leg despite their great physical intimacy, the reasons for the fraying are not clear and hence, do not evoke much emotion. The tragic love story of Vic and Simar is much more layered and makes for an interesting contrast to the über urban relationship of Vic and Ana. Although the novel is set across four different locations, Menacherry does not give us any new perspective on these places. Goa is all beaches and shacks and bars; Bengaluru is all weather, rich people and big houses; Mumbai is crammed life, and Punjab is green fields. As in his first book, *Arrack in The Afternoon,* Menacherry puts booze at the centre of his novel. There are constant references to feni in Goa and to “drink” in the army. And when Vic is not brawling or falling in love, he is drinking. *Feni Daze *makes for an entertaining weekend read, and could add colour to a rack of bestselling Indian pulp fiction. *The Bengaluru-based writer is a theatre artist and documentary filmmaker.* *Feni Daze; Mathew Vincent Menacherry, Pegasus, ₹875* -- FN* फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا +91-9822122436
