> On Oct 24, 2017, at 3:43 AM, Shrabonti Bagchi <[email protected]> wrote: > > Having said that, I also think that the Indian literary novel in English is > going through a very low phase, and most IWE novels are either written with > the college crowd in mind and are of iffy quality or are genre works (and > genre writers do feature prominently at most events)
As an American I confess to a profound ignorance of the Indian literary novel in English, but I did this year read The Hungry Tide, by Amitav Ghosh. I quite enjoyed it, although I thought the ending was much too contrived. I would appreciate suggestions on other books in this category that I can read to fill this lamentable hole in my education. Also, I wonder what, if anything, Silklisters think of “Shantaram,” by Gregory David Roberts, which has been an enormous worldwide hit in the Anglo world; I don’t know how it has fared in India. It’s a literary novel set in India, but it’s by an Austrailian (who lived in India for a long time & is evidently fluent in 2 or more Indian languages.) I thought that book was a decidedly mixed bag. The great parts were really great and the awful parts were really awful. As it turns out, Joe Regal, the author’s American literary agent, who shaped the book and was instrumental in its success, is a close friend of mine. jrs
