SUCH A LONG JOURNEY
Author – Rohinton
Mistry
Publisher – Faber &
Faber, Year 1991
====
Excerpts :
* If Tehmul- Langraa’s trailing habit
did not irritate them, his scratching habit was certain to. He scratched
perpetually like one processed, mainly his groin and arm pits. He scratched
with a circular movement, a churning, scrambling, stirring motion of his hand,
and those who sought more subtlety in a nickname than Tehmul-Langraa called him
Scrambled Egg. Women claimed he did it deliberately to annoy them. They said
that his hand regularly moved downward in their presence and it was rubbing and
caressing himself that he did, more than
scratching – what with a big packet like that, and no underwear to keep it all
in place. Shameful to have him wandering around dingle – dangle.
* Gustad entered the place hesitantly.
Down the passage, into the cheap perfumed smells and nauseating attar mingled
with body odours. The women waited for customers. Bossoms thrusting. One
dropped a hand to the hem of her skirt and raised it so the thigh was exposed.
* Gustad finished retying the Kusti round his waist
and noted with satisfaction that the two ends were of equal length.
====
My Take : The blurb on
the cover says – “One day he (Gustad)
receives a letter from his old friend asking for help. But he soon finds
himself unwittingly drawn into a dangerous network of fraud and betrayal.”
Despite the above blurb on the cover,
the book has a very tame & timid story. The author mostly describes in
detail (i) life in a Parsi chawl (ii) Family problems of Gustad the main
character, and (iii) Parsi rituals.
It seems that all this is done keeping
foreign readers in mind, to give them a view of Parsi & Bombay life.
The book hardly leaves any impact on
the reader, whether regards the story or the narration.
====
Subject / Type – Fiction
Narrative Style – Stagnates at times.
Readability – Average
Maintaining
Readers Interest – Very less
======
Available on Amazon at the time of posting the blog
Available on Flipkart at the time of
posting the blog
======
Would change depending on sale & stock.
Check current availability and price
Comments
Post a Comment