I feel a book can be judged by the way it transports you into its world. A book is complete for me when the author manages to describe the surroundings and happenings so intricately that I can feel the place, see the people and be one among them - observing the whole proceedings. Storytelling is a complex art and there are very few authors who can manage to do this. Many can write beautifully and impeccably but few can change your world. That's the reason behind RK Narayan becoming a respected storyteller despite his lesser reach to the English-speaking and more literate audience in his times compared to, say, a Jeffrey Archer or an Arthur Hailey.
2 books that I read recently reinforced this belief - Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer and Immortals of Meluha by Amish.
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi is the kind of the great book that I'm talking about. Geoff Dyer transports you to Venice Biennale, the art exhibition full of artists, critiques and journalists. You can feel the Bellini flowing as the journalists and so called artists and art-lovers indulge themselves, see the way some grass knocks off some of them(including the leading man and woman) and understand the longing that the lead journalist Jeff Atman has for his lady, Laura. Jeff is unsure of his feelings for Laura, and is not certain about their next meeting. He enjoys the biennale in its true spirit, forgets the reason why he went to Venice and leaves without the story that he intended to get from Venice. He feels part of the whole milieu and yet doesn't belong there.
And then we see the narrator from Varanasi. He is a journalist too, covering a story in Varanasi - could be Jeff but not very clearly established. He's fascinated by the deaths and cremations in Varanasi and people's frenzy over dying in Varanasi. He makes new friends, falls sick, understands and gets confused about some uniquely Indian things and happenings, and ultimately falls in love with Varanasi.
Geoff Dyer cleverly juxtaposes Venice and Varanasi and flawlessly establishes the effect that these cities have on the characters. When viewed on practical parameters, Venice and Varanasi look like chalk and cheese, but Geoff picks the right kind of instruments to help demonstrate the similarities and you enjoy reading the book and look forward to the next paragraph and the next page.
Immortals of Meluha, according to me, lacks in this department. Amish's idea of recreating the myth of Shiva and narrating a story with a human Shiva is good. In fact, most of the settings and happenings in the book lead to this idea - almost. But when taking up such a huge task, it's extremely important that the author creates the 'new' mythical world in the mind of the readers. Writing that Shiva resides on one side of Mount Kailash isn't just enough. The reader should be able to imagine the snow covered mountains, thick forests and construct an image of the tribals of the area. An odd reference about an armband or clothing simply wouldn't do. Simply saying Nagas are deformed wouldn't do, an elaborate description of their features, body build would create an imaginary figure which will stay with me even after finishing the book.
If the author tried to narrate Shiva's myth in a contemporary way (like Ashok Banker's Ramayana), he should have simply stuck to facts. Otherwise, he should have made sure he created a whole new world for the reader. As a reader who understands Shiva's mythology (to a reasonable extent), it's difficult for me to shed the notions and see him a new light. And a passing reference of his epithets like 'Neelkanth' only confuse me more. Not to talk about lame jokes like "Are you free? - I might charge you" etc. The language used should be simple, but it's disappointing when the reader's intelligence is challenged at times.
The better side of Meluha is that it's a breezy read (finished 390 odd pages in 2 days) and you don't feel you missed much if you ignore some conversational paragraphs and move on. On the whole, definitely not one of the books I'm proud of owning.
2 books that I read recently reinforced this belief - Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer and Immortals of Meluha by Amish.
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi is the kind of the great book that I'm talking about. Geoff Dyer transports you to Venice Biennale, the art exhibition full of artists, critiques and journalists. You can feel the Bellini flowing as the journalists and so called artists and art-lovers indulge themselves, see the way some grass knocks off some of them(including the leading man and woman) and understand the longing that the lead journalist Jeff Atman has for his lady, Laura. Jeff is unsure of his feelings for Laura, and is not certain about their next meeting. He enjoys the biennale in its true spirit, forgets the reason why he went to Venice and leaves without the story that he intended to get from Venice. He feels part of the whole milieu and yet doesn't belong there.
And then we see the narrator from Varanasi. He is a journalist too, covering a story in Varanasi - could be Jeff but not very clearly established. He's fascinated by the deaths and cremations in Varanasi and people's frenzy over dying in Varanasi. He makes new friends, falls sick, understands and gets confused about some uniquely Indian things and happenings, and ultimately falls in love with Varanasi.
Geoff Dyer cleverly juxtaposes Venice and Varanasi and flawlessly establishes the effect that these cities have on the characters. When viewed on practical parameters, Venice and Varanasi look like chalk and cheese, but Geoff picks the right kind of instruments to help demonstrate the similarities and you enjoy reading the book and look forward to the next paragraph and the next page.
Immortals of Meluha, according to me, lacks in this department. Amish's idea of recreating the myth of Shiva and narrating a story with a human Shiva is good. In fact, most of the settings and happenings in the book lead to this idea - almost. But when taking up such a huge task, it's extremely important that the author creates the 'new' mythical world in the mind of the readers. Writing that Shiva resides on one side of Mount Kailash isn't just enough. The reader should be able to imagine the snow covered mountains, thick forests and construct an image of the tribals of the area. An odd reference about an armband or clothing simply wouldn't do. Simply saying Nagas are deformed wouldn't do, an elaborate description of their features, body build would create an imaginary figure which will stay with me even after finishing the book.
If the author tried to narrate Shiva's myth in a contemporary way (like Ashok Banker's Ramayana), he should have simply stuck to facts. Otherwise, he should have made sure he created a whole new world for the reader. As a reader who understands Shiva's mythology (to a reasonable extent), it's difficult for me to shed the notions and see him a new light. And a passing reference of his epithets like 'Neelkanth' only confuse me more. Not to talk about lame jokes like "Are you free? - I might charge you" etc. The language used should be simple, but it's disappointing when the reader's intelligence is challenged at times.
The better side of Meluha is that it's a breezy read (finished 390 odd pages in 2 days) and you don't feel you missed much if you ignore some conversational paragraphs and move on. On the whole, definitely not one of the books I'm proud of owning.
5 comments:
Hey that was very interesting the way describe these books. The first book looks like a great mix of Art meets Love meets culture meets philisophy!!! I am definetly going to read that one. Thanks for sharing :). Your description of it is making me curious to read it..
@Random Roark,
You're bang on about Jeff in Venice... It's an amazing combination of art, love, culture and philosophy. I'd definitely recommend reading it - one of the few unputdownables on my list :)
Immortals of Meluha...magnificient munificence, 10 times in a single chapter...a complete bakwaas write and horror of all...he has a 2nd part coming!!!!
@Maa_Nav I so agree with you :) But I think the idea is decent, just that the author lacks the class and capability to handle such a complex narrative. And apparently there are a lot of people who enjoyed the book!! I don't think I'll buy the following books in the series.
Finished Meluha in one read, at one sitting.
I felt he wrote the book mainly so that it can be made into a movie. Hence the unnecessary masala , and love story. I didnt like the book, but I am still going to read the sequel.
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