An excerpt of an excerpt:
Sartaj walked stiffly to the window. Beyond the fizzing yellow lamps in the compound of the neighbouring building, there was the darkness of the sea, and far ahead, a sprinkling of bright blue and orange that was Bandra. With a good pair of binoculars, you could even see Nariman Point, not so far across the sea but at least an hour away on empty night-time roads, and very far from Zone 13. Sartaj felt a sudden ache in his chest. It was as if two blunt stones were grinding against each other, creating not fire but a dull, steady grow, a persistent and unquiet desire. It rose into his throat and his decision was made.
Twelve minutes of fast driving took him through the underpass and on to the highway. The open stretches of road and the wheel slipping easily through his fingers were exhilarating, and he laughed at the speed. But in Tardeo the traffic was backed up between the brightly-lit shops, and Sartaj was suddenly angry at himself, and wanted to turn around and go back.
And with that, Sartaj Singh is back. He is the police inspector whom you might remember from “Kama,” one of the five novellas that make up Vikram Chandra’s superb second book Love and Longing in Bombay. Chandra’s new tome Sacred Games, a Big Bombay Novel about cops, the underworld, and the meaning of life, was released in India earlier this month. From the excerpt at Rediff.com, which is taken from the first two chapters, it seems Chandra is back in full form: the tone, the pace of the writing feel very much like those of Love and Longing. The big question will be how it all plays out over nearly 1,000 pages. I found Chandra’s first novel, Red Earth and Pouring Rain, too long: the stories within stories within stories, the jumps back and forth from medieval to modern times, from Mughal battlefields to American college campuses, got overwhelming and messy. Love and Longing, by contrast, had a formal structure that disciplined the plot lines and helped the writing soar. It’s my favorite of all the post-Midnight’s Children wave of Indian writing in English.
There are not many reviews out yet: Apparently everyone is still digesting the book. Here’s the bottom line according to Suchitra Behal in The Hindu:
Sacred Games will tempt even the most reluctant reader with the incredible enthusiasm of its huge cast, the energy of its characters and the plots and subplots that make this many-layered story so memorable. Written with a rare combination of humour and anger, it is easy to see why this will become a popular book bordering on the classic.
Here’s Nilanjana Roy in Business Standard:
With a little help from your friends: Sacred Games is thoroughly enjoyable, and ChandraÂ’s protagonists are gripping. Detective Sartaj Singh is still sharp, but heÂ’s older and more cynical than when we met him first. Ganesh GaitondeÂ’s story starts out being the stereotypical rags-to-tax-free-riches gangster saga, but Gaitonde evolves, suffering depression, inflicting betrayal, reaching for philosophy or the fresh new virgin of day, according to need. But this is still a 900-page-long book, and your stamina might flag around the 400-page mark.
Nevertheless, Roy ultimately assesses the book as well worth the effort. Here finally is a comment from blogger Jai Arjun Singh, whose report is well worth reading in full:
At one level, Sacred Games is a fast-paced thriller driven by conversation and incident (this aspect is stressed by the delightfully lurid cover, complete with gaudy title font and portraits of Gaitonde and Sartaj that bleed into each other, the faces sharing a common eye). But running between the pages of this book is another, more thoughtful, more cynical narrative about the nature of identity, and the endless and unknowable workings of action and reaction. This second book is driven by the characters’ interior lives, their attempts to make some sense of their world, and their inherent nihilism.
Sadly, those of us here in the US must wait until January for the release of the American edition. In the meantime, perhaps readers in India could share their impressions of the book. Maybe you might even purchase a copy and send it to us? (Note to KP in Kerala: hook a brother up?) At any rate, I am looking forward to this book, and I confess my expectations are very high.
Having just finished Love and Longing in Bombay few months back, I am really waiting for this book.
It’s a complete drag to have to wait til January. I asked a friend the huge favor of lugging back a copy for me this month…
I tried searching on Bagchee.com, they do not have the title yet.
They mail their books from India.
I just realized, much to my surprise, that there’s no amazon India. Then again, the delivery infrastructure would be tricky …
Can’t wait for this book. I haven’t read a good desi novel in a while.
Awesome! More reading for the end of summer!
Oh Detective Singh, so near yet so far… can’t wait till it comes out here.
Even the tacky luridness of the cover is so perfect in its cheap graphic-ness.
So ready to get my Chandra on 🙂
Ennis: Rediff and IndiaTimes sell books as well.
I don’t know if this’ll help, but apparently, there’s a British edition as well. That’s the edition they’re selling in these parts.
Read it on vacation in India. Good book, in the vein of “Love and Longing”, but definitely too long. One of the weakest bits could have been severely edited is the Ganesh-Gaitonde-becomees-a-bhai Origin Story which is not very different from the usual bollywood take, though the filmi style dust-jacket and the caption on the back cover (“To win is to lose – but the game always win’s” or something along those lines, is i think, meant to invoke Bollywood posters) suggests that Chandra wants the whole thing to mimic bollywood – even to the extent that the thugs are too romanticized for my liking. Maybe it’ll all be as new as Vito Corleone’s story to non-desi’s but its probably 100 % predicable to everyone here. Another theme that overstays its welcome is the hindu philosopy inner monologue meanderings on the self and its existence etc, etc, etc. Even allowing for artistic license & suspension of disbelief etc it’s hard to take after a while, especially as put into the heads of unwashed mumbai gangsters. And finally, enough with the India/Pakistan partition already ! I can’t get into it for fear of spoilers but it’s cliched and the symbolism is bollywood overwrought, whether intentional or not.
The best parts are the continuing story of Sartaj Singh, some fascinating new charaters and Chandra’s vision of political manoueverings on the sub-continent as a continuation of the Great Game. There’s a a terrific chapter on a charater who’s a RAW agent – i suspect Chandra’s reused characters from one the stories in “Love and longing” here – the one about the Major – but can’t verify this until it all onlne and searchable. Also, the thriller (ie Sartaj’s investigation) worked very well for me, especially once the nuclear dimension is revealed. Read it, folks, so Chandra can hurry up and write the return of Sartaj Singh !
A very positive British review from The Observer
Order it through Amazon.co.uk – published first week of September. I just ordered my copy.
I’m tempted to buy the book for its cover. Not for its lurid trashiness, but because the illustrator actually drew a sardar who looks like somebody I might meet on the street, rather than drawing what looks like a trimmed beard and a turban on a head without a jura.
ennis:
are you now a cover model? 🙂
From the quoted passage:
What’s a grow?
I do try to stay away from the 900-pagers these days, or the 600-pagers for that matter, but it’s exciting to see a grown-up book be the focus of such excitement.
The book is quite good. Drags a bit in the middle. A desi Godfather. A thriller, not magical realist (for the most part). Photos of the launch party, 50-page excerpt, what the cover says about Asian marketing, more reviews. UK is due out next month, U.S. in Jan. Ennis, I met the cover model, he actually looks like that and is quite buff with a pretty wife (picture from behind here).
Manish, I don’t really know you but I have to say…DAMN, you’re having a good time in India. I’d love to meet some of the women at that party you were at. Is this your life now?
Amitabh:
I can’t get past Manish’s photo’s either. I know Sartre had groupies, and Bernard-Henri Lévy’a wife: wow! I guess Rushdie started it, but i didn’t see the trend (of the indian intelligencia, like their french counterparts, being treated like movie stars) until now. Helps explain why some Mutineers have dropped out of the corporate world to explore their “creative” side.
Nope, it’s the opposite. Crossword books already offers home delivery for free, as do many, many other businesses, because the cost of labor is low.
and
Well, it is Bombay 🙂 You end up with film stars at launches because you don’t have a lot of writer and theater types relative to Delhi and Calcutta.
Wow, what a coincidence … it’s sitting right in front of me, fresh from India today.
Ill One, funny that you’d make this request as I just purchased it on Saturday for a bedridden friend. Say the word and I can send another copy your way. Via India Post it should get to you by, um…January.
At 900 pages it’s the right weight for bicep curls and the right size for a substitute yoga block. So for Rps 650, I’d say yer gettin yer paisa’s worth, yaar.
i’m extremely excited about this. “red earth” was confusing, but so was “midnight’s children”. honestly, i loved the stories within the stories, the jumping around in time, and the countless characters of “red earth”. on one hand, you hand the cycles and “oh, to tell a story, you have to start three generations back” of indian stories, and on the other, you had the road trip motif of american novels. it was a mix that really spoke to me and that instantly made it one of my favorite novels. to be honest, i’m a little disappointed that this new novel will not have the same mythic feel of “red earth” but am still looking forward to it.
Siddhartha, good post on Vikram’s book. Thought this recent interview in the Hindustan Times was intriguing. Chandra lists the top five songs that he will have played at his funeral. It’s quite an eclectic mix, but I like every one of his choices…. If his choice in music is any sign, the book should be great! http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1778907,00110004.htm